One interesting thing about my job is I don't get paid overtime, but comp time. This means I get time and a half time off versus getting 1.5 times my hourly rate. If I worked 41 hours, that extra hour gives me 1.5 hours off. As you can see by all the traveling I do, it's nothing to work 45-50 hours a week and start accruing this comp time. After a while, this amounts to weeks off and I estimate that I take 2-3 months off per year because of it.
Now with accruing all this comp time, I rarely ever touch my actual vacation time that is also accrued. My balance was over 170 hours before July. I figured it was time to burn this vacation balance a bit and have a little mini summer vacation in July.
I chose July because I was invited to a wedding on July 1. My girlfriend was also able to get off of work for that weekend was going to ride with me when I drove up. After that we'd spend time exploring Wisconsin and then I'd bring her to Minneapolis to fly back to Austin on July 5th. From there, I'd head up to Canada and do some exploring there.
The plan was, after dropping Victoria off, I'd drive to Winnipeg and spend some time there. I wanted to retrace the trip I took there a few years ago. After Winnipeg I'd drive the Trans-Canada highway to Thunder Bay, but this time the threat of a blizzard would be small.
After all the driving, I planned to spend a few days in Thunder Bay for Bluesfest. The Barenaked Ladies and Randy Bachman were headliners, so I thought it would be cool to see them. Plus, I love going to Thunder Bay anyway. After Thunder Bay I wanted to go to Toronto and hit up every Great Lake, as well as Niagara Falls before I came back into the USA.
When I got back in the USA, I'd head to another music festival, RockUSA in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. From there, I'd spend a few days rocking out and head back to Marshfield. I'd relax for the week after and then attend a wedding planning party my friend was putting on and then my 10 year class reunion the next day. When the class reunion was done, I'd spend the rest of the weekend in Marshfield and then head back to Texas that following Monday.
I know I had a lot of ground to cover and I'd see a lot of amazing things. I'm happy my job allows me this amount of time off and July is going to be a heck of an adventure (also with a ton of driving)! Due to the lag to actually get all the content together and presentable, I'll be posting about my trip throughout the month of August.