Philadelphia Freedom

My pessimistic side looks at my employee benefits package and laments the paucity of vacation days. Having only 6 vacation days each year is discouraging. I’ve been in the workforce since January 1982 … not always with the same employer, of course, but I still think I should have more “fringe” benefits than I currently enjoy. And my complaint isn’t just about the number of vacation days; it’s also about how I have to use them. My vacation days are tied to my anniversary of employment and I can’t use any days that I haven’t earned yet. I can’t take off an entire work week until the beginning of October, and I must use all of my vacation time before the end of November. That’s a narrow window at a time of year during which I would prefer not to travel. I still associate vacation with summer. That’s what it was when I was a schoolboy, and that’s what it remains in my mental image of a perfect vacation.

My optimistic side looks at the fact that I work remotely, 100 percent of the time. And because I literally never have to go to the office, I am free to work anywhere that has a reliable Internet connection and a router with an open Ethernet port for my Voice-over-IP desk phone. Such conditions exist in my house, of course, but they also exist at Mom’s house.

Greetings from suburban Philadelphia! After working overnight on Tuesday, I packed up my home office and drove to Pennsylvania. I burned a vacation day by taking Wednesday night off, but the rest of my time here will be a working “vacation” during which I use no additional hours. Yesterday and today were my “weekend” and the new work week doesn’t begin until 12 midnight Eastern tomorrow night. I will be here at least until next Thursday, and perhaps until April 13. The exact date depends on the weather and on Mom’s willingness to put up with me.

The latter seems more secure than the former. We had a big family gathering today in celebration of my mother’s 90th birthday, the most important reason for me to be here right now. But I don’t deny that Philadelphia’s weather has its own appeal. During the next week, the average afternoon high will be about 63° here and only about 49° in West Bend. That’s a big difference. Today I rode outside in shorts for the first time this year. Next week I might be riding with bare arms. There will be ups and downs in the weather while I’m here—rain might cost me a couple of opportunities—but there shouldn’t be any snow or days that are so cold that I can’t ride. If there’s an unexpected return to winter conditions here, then I will head back to Wisconsin where such weather is more of an expectation than a disappointment.

I don’t have any big rides planned for this trip. I will be happy with a steady diet of 25-30 miles on every day with fair weather. And if this trip ends successfully, then it will serve as a model for future trips. Time with Mom is precious, and I simply do not accept that it should be confined to a handful of days each autumn.