After running harder than I like to get a stretch trailer back here from Houston I have a bit of time off. The boss knew what I had to do to get it done and scheduled my next load to let me get some much needed rest.

I dropped the trailer at the yard around 11:00 PM Wednesday night after leaving Houston around 4:40 Tuesday afternoon. I was beat.

My next load is a six stop load, the first of which is only about 5 hours from here, for Monday, so I have pretty much been off Thursday and most of today (I did put my truck in for service this morning) and won't have to roll until Sunday. I'll go over tomorrow and secure my load, but that won't take more than an hour or so.

Oh yeah, the prize. The company recently had a drawing for some prizes for those of us who have managed to stay out of trouble for the past two years. That means the drivers who haven't had any problems with the law out on the road. No log book violations, load securement violations, speeding, or other out-of-service violations. The list was rather short and I was on it.

The prizes included a cash bonus, a paid week of vacation, an iPhone, a laptop, and some other things. I won the week of paid vacation. Of all of the prizes, the vacation or the cash bonus was all I would have wanted to win. I already have three laptops as well as a smart phone, tablets, iPad, etc.

I'll take the vacation whenever I feel like I can afford to take the time off. I'm thinking Winter when it gets really nasty out, I'll take a week off someplace warm.