Resting in Rochester

I'm in Rochester New York today waiting for my Monday morning delivery.  I got here Saturday around 2:00 in the afternoon so that I would have time to take a 34 hour break.  That magic number of 34 hours is what allows a truck driver to re-set his hours on his 70 hour clock.  It's kind of confusing, but it's a good thing to do because it allows you to run harder and get more miles accomplished, and if you have a good dispatcher, like I do, he's paying close attention to how you're managing your hours.  When he sees that you are keeping time available he's more free to send you the good runs with lots of miles on them.  Time management and math skills are very helpful to one's success in this field.

One thing a truck driver has is a lot of time to himself.  I think it works against some of them - sometimes you can spend too much time thinking on things that will drive you crazy.  I think of my dear wife often.  I feel for her being there at home alone.  I wish I could be there for her more often - I talk to her everyday but that's not the same as a tender embrace, or a shoulder to lay her head on.  I miss looking into her beautiful eyes when we're talking, I miss the gentle touch of her hand.  After thirty years of marriage just the touch of her hand still makes me weak in the knees and dizzy in my head.  There's a sparkle in her eyes that I've never seen in anyone else's.  Who can explain the feeling of affection between a man and his wife?  Jane Austin spoke of a woman's "charms and allurements".  Well, I'm not a Jane Austin expert, but I know there is no other woman on this earth that has ever even come close to "charming" me than my dear "Beloved".  The mystery of her allurement cannot be explained by me, it's spiritual, it's pure, and it comes over me at times like a wave of fresh pure clean unadulterated emotion - it's a foretaste, if you will, of the unending pleasure and enjoyment we will have in eternity with the Bridegroom Who sought us and brought us into His kingdom.

Oh boy, you see what I mean about having too much time to think.  I better stop this train of thought before I say something I'll be chastised about when I get home.  Which brings up another thing about this crazy job - coming home.  You look so forward to getting home, but it's hard to just jump right in there and assimilate your life right back into your family's life when you're gone most of the time.  They have schedules and plans that don't include you - their lives have to go on without you while your gone and you just popping in for a few days doesn't really change that.  It's something that causes many truck drivers problems at home - I've discovered a long list of divorced truck drivers that testify to this difficulty.

Okay, I've got to change gears here, I'm going into the realm of "TMI".  I try to exercise and walk when I can out on the road.  When I'm taking a 34 hour re-start like this weekend I have plenty of time to do that.  Yesterday evening I took a lengthy and brisk walk here in a beautiful farming community and ended up back at the truck stop with this sunset taking shape as I arrived.

Well, I better close this post for now.  I'll let you know as soon as I can what my next adventure will be.  It's one of those things about this job that's unpredictable.  Tomorrow morning when I send them an e-mail saying that I'm unloaded they will send me my next assignment.  I don't have a clue what I will be doing until I get that message, and then it's "off to the races".  It's really kind of fun though - I could be storming across the country or I could be just traveling over to the next state - I never know.