The day off that wasn't.

That was my day. Today.

I had battled with myself yesterday, whether to drive over to Roscoe and do some prep work for trucks coming in today. I didn't go. So that meant today, I had to go.

I woke early. Took a leisurely bath, read a little, and then found some old jeans that would do for work jeans. About ten 'til seven I walked in the kitchen and got my phone, and other pertinent papers, and I sat down to put my boots on.

When I got on the road, I took my phone from my pocket, just to be sure the ringer was on. It was then I noticed I had a call from a truck driver at 6:42 in the morning. He was having a problem.

Luckily, he was in the route to the shop at Roscoe. I stopped by and checked on him, and we both thought we might have found a faulty sensor. I went on to the shop to service the equipment and get out some tires we were planning on mounting on this driver's trailer.

When everything was ready, I started to drive back to check on the driver when I saw him coming down the road. He rolled in, the engine silent. He told me it would run for maybe five minutes and then quit. We decided we would put his trailer in the shop and while he worked on the trailer, I would take his truck to Volvo.

But while we were formulating this plan, the truck took a turn for the worse. The time period it would run was decreasing with each time.

I talked with Pepa and he told me Jason was leaving for Florida with a RGN trailer that we could load and haul the truck, so I made a quick call to Jason.

As soon as the driver had all his stuff out of the truck, we headed for town. In the first mile, it died twice. When we hit the highway, I ended up pushing him most of the way, not wanting to delay Jason's time of departure. We got the truck loaded and ready to hit the road.

Jason did tell me they were going to eat lunch at Big Boys Barbecue in Sweetwater, so I would have time to take the driver back to the barn. I told Jason to call when they were ready to hit the road.

The driver and I returned to the barn and began working feverishly on the tire work. We had just finished the last one when my phone toned. I hit the road to meet Jason in Abilene and help him unload the truck with the problem.

As luck would have it, when I drove up, they needed a boost on the truck on the trailer. I got my cables, and as I did, I noticed I had a low tire on my pickup. By the time we had unloaded the big truck, my tire was almost flat!

Dang the luck.

Jason aired it up and I headed for the tire shop in Abilene.

$17.50 for a light truck flat repair! I'm in the wrong business. That is the first light truck flat I have paid for in a long time. The tires on our other vehicles came from another shop and their deal is if you buy the tires there, they will fix any flats for free! I think they had only fixed two for me in the last several years.

When they were through with the repair I made a b-line for the post office. Krl and I both were confident we would find the mail box stuffed with month end checks.

The truck with the problem and the pickup flat weren't the end of my problems for the day. When I opened the mail box, it was empty!

That never happens! Especially on a Friday or Saturday at the end of the month!

When I told Krl, she thought I was kidding too!

Soon enough, she realized I had no hidden checks!

I made my way in to the bath and started a shower. I was filthy!

After I showered Krl had a short list of items we needed from the store. I begged off for an hour of downtime, just to relax.

During this time, my phone rang and it was the truck driver. He was just leaving the shop. Three hours after I had left. Immediately I was furious with him. I thought, "Was he riding the clock or what?"

He told me he had to go and fuel the replacement truck, then he noticed a nail in a tire and he dismounted and repaired the tire, then he hooked to his trailer and moved it from the shop and began closing the shop. He had already put away all the tools.

He told me the last thing he did was help Pepa hook up a tractor to a plow.

I pay this man $12 and hour when we are in the shop, time and a half (or $18 dollars) over eight hours in a day. In my books those are pretty good wages.

But, my thought was, I would have gladly paid this man his wages if he had been around to help Pepa on May the eighth. That would have spared Memama all she is going through.

I got over my mad.

Hope you had a day off and it went well.

FATHER, I realize days like today make us appreciate good days even more. You are good!