As Cindy mentioned we have been home in Vegas for the last week. Partly waiting for a load, but we have one scheduled for next week and I did take a tradeshow booth from Vegas to L.A. and it paid good enough to drive down there and drive back to Vegas empty. I almost had something for the return, but it fell through and wasn’t ready. (That would have been sweet!) I’ve always wanted to get to a point where we can take the winter off. We almost have this year, we worked till Christmas day and didn’t go back till January 10th. worked the rest of the month (kind of, hung out in Florida most of the time) and for February, we won’t work till the 16th and except for that short hop to LA and back we’ve enjoyed the time off. It feels good to have all the bills paid for February, including the rest of the down payment plus all new equipment for our new trailer and money in the bank.

The trip$ are getting better and better. We only drove 10,000 miles in January and that’s pitiful for a team. but it was our second best month ever for money. It’s not how much you drive, it’s how much you make! My dispatcher called me and said he almost had a team load to Saint Paul, which would have saved us the airfare, but for a team-pad-wrap load it only paid $1.65 a mile (which would have been $1.28 for us). He said he tried not to laugh too hard at the guy. And it would have messed us up for the Florida trip. Which is paying a lot more, plus a room, plus the same rate back to Vegas.

Things are going really well right now. But I know and it’s always in the back of my mind that it can all come crashing down at any time. Sometimes it feels like a big gamble, new truck, new trailer, new equipment and the insurance payments for everything. It could all come crashing down in a heartbeat and it wouldn’t be pretty either! But from everything I’ve read, the economy is still going strong and the only wildcard is if something stupid happens in Iran, then all bets are off! It’s not as if I actually know what I’m doing. I feel extremely lucky most of the time that I’m around decent people that know what they’re doing and share their insight with me. A big part of it is that we do a good job and the right people have noticed. When we make money, they make money. It’s a great system! But, it’s always a big risk. Hopefully it will be Risk Big, Win Big and not Risk Big, Lose Big. So, we are counting our blessings and enjoying it while it lasts.