It's a Team's Life
Home for the holidays or not....
We are heading into a busy time of the year and at the same time planning on when we will get home to spend time with our family over the holiday.
Over the years we have experimented with going home for most of the major holidays and staying away from home during the holidays and hauling freight. Each segment of trucking is different and for us it works well to stay out over Thanksgiving and out till as close to Christmas as possible and then go home till after the first of the year.
We start planning our home time for the holidays in September. Our first plan is to stay out till close to Christmas. This will keep us away from home for about three month and without planning it is a hardship. I enjoy decorating so while we were home in September I grabbed a few of my Halloween decorations, my truck Christmas decorations, and my Christmas Cards that I will send while out on the road.
We have found that the TA/Petro serves a very nice Thanksgiving dinner and we do our best to stop by one of these locations for lunch. In years past we headed for home or a parents home for Thanksgiving and we realized that we were cutting out a big chunk of our income potential. We found it was hard to get back in the freight loop for a few weeks and go home for Christmas. Since we were short on loads we would only stay home a couple days at Christmas and get back on the road. We often would get a load right after Christmas that would unload before the first of the year and then we would sit till at least the 2nd before we would get another load. That is when we decided to spend more time out on the road to make the extra income that would allow us to spend the time over Christmas and New Years at home.
It is easier to stay out on road during the holidays as we have each other. Many of the drivers we talk to during this time of year have a plan. Most drivers who are not going home for the holidays plan to work over Christmas and then have a family gathering at a later time.
When not able to go home for the holidays enjoy what you have and enjoy the sites and sounds of the times instead of wishing for something that probably will not happen. In our line of work we are able to see a lot of amazing Christmas light displays all over the country, the radio plays Christmas tunes that I enjoy listening to and the songs are even more amazing when on an interstate going through snow country and the roads are dry and the moon is shining on the snow. I buy some type of scent for the truck that reminds me of the smells of Christmas such as spiced cider, a wood burning fire, or an apple pie baking. The holidays are what we make them at home or away from home and we have the power to control our thoughts and emotions.
Bob & Linda Caffee
TeamCaffee

Saint Louis MO
Expediters 8 years been out here on the road 13 years
Expediting isn't just trucking, it's a lifestyle; 

Expediting isn't just a lifestyle, it's an adventure;

Expediting isn't just an adventure, it's a job;

Expediting isn't just a job, it's a business.