12/31/07

Well, another light day today. I hung around Portland this morning and then got my assignment this afternoon. Back east on I-84 for a few hours. If I could get a dedicated run along that route, I might be convinced to move up here with the hippies. Nah, who am I kidding? It is one of the easiest routes anywhere though. I've stopped in Umatilla for the night and found that someone in the area provides free wi-fi. Groovy.

My load is scheduled to pick up tomorrow morning just across the bridge in Wallula, Washington. From there it's supposed to go to... Wallula, Washington. They do that sometimes. Apparently the customer just said they need a truck and nobody knows where the load is going just yet. No big deal. Hopefully it's somewhere far, far away from the northwest.

I didn't get the big finish I had hoped for, but the 217 mile dispatch will put me right at 5,100 miles for the pay period. Considering that I haven't worked very hard at all, I guess it's not so bad. The next pay period is only a five day thing, so a decent dispatch tomorrow will kick that off to a good start. I hope. Hey, I'll be making .37 a mile tomorrow too, I think.

So it was 126,948 miles for the year. I was home for 77 days (what!?!), so that was certainly the biggest factor in my miles slowing from the 147,000 I had from July 2006 through June 2007 (my first twelve months). When I first started I ran my ass off and hardly ever went home. There were numerous times this year that I spent a day at home on account of freight passing through the area. The rest were actual home time. I have to admit that I thought 60 days would be a high estimate. I had no idea I was home that much. If I can be off work for two and a half months and still make more than the 10,000 mile monthly average that I was told to expect... well that ain't too bad.

The nice thing about getting out of the first year is that the income is a lot easier to earn. My gross wages were $47,618. That's almost exactly what I made in the first twelve months, even though I drove 20,000 fewer miles. Getting through that first year of wage increases certainly has its benefits. To be honest I was hoping that 2007 would be over $50,000 but I gave that up a while back. I reached the .36 pay rate some time in May or June (can't remember) so I spent roughly half the year at my current pay rate. I had to acknowledge that, once I get drunk for a day or two, I tend to drag my feet about getting back on the road. Every time a couple of days off turns into a week off, it costs money. If anything kept me under $50,000 it was myself.

So, what will '08 have in store? It will have a half hour drive to a customer in Washington. I can tell you that much for certain. Beyond that, I guess we'll just have to find out. Happy New Year everyone.