When I worked a four-day work week schedule I had a rotating day off.

You couldn’t choose to have Friday off all the time; only third shift had the privilege of Fridays off every week–that was their permanent day off and one of the perks for third shift workers.

The rest of the crew didn’t seem to mind or resent that as each team member on either first or second shift was allowed to take an occasional Friday off.

The other way to get an occasional three-day weekend was to take a Monday off when your day off rotated around to that.

I used to enjoy my Monday three-day weekends of course.

But after working four-day work weeks with rotating days off for a while, I came to like having Wednesdays off best.

Break in the week

Two on.

One off.

Two back on.

That was the motto when the weekly schedule for first and second shift workers rotated around to a Wednesday day off.

Many of my co-workers least preferred having Wednesday off and I get it.

If you had Monday or Friday off on any given week you had a three-day weekend.

While Thursdays were always a busy work day of the week–both then and now, they were like Wednesday similarly unappealing save for the fact you only had to work on Friday before you had the weekend off again.

Once I had a few Wednesdays off under my belt I rather looked forward to the middle of the work week break up.

Wednesday is a day when everyone who isn’t sick is usually at work.

When you live in a place where traffic makes even the most fun mountain roads miserable to navigate, having Wednesdays off makes it feel as if you own the roads instead of them owning you.

You can actually leave for a mountain day trip from a place like Denver or Boulder and more fully enjoy the Colorado lifestyle when there’s hardly anyone but you on the roads after rush hour has passed.

And that was how Wednesdays were for me once upon a time long ago.

Talk about clearing your head.

Whatever was on your mind as you drove up into the mountains soon drifted to the furthest reaches of your brain. You were feeling free. Free of everything that seemed a burden just prior to leaving for the drive.

As soon as you reached a favorite breakfast spot in the mountains you were ready to put the feedbag on. The food always tasted better when eating at higher altitudes.

Don’t know why that is and really don’t care to investigate. I just enjoyed.

When breakfast was done I got in the car and drove a bit further before finding a nice hiking trail I could wear off some of the food in my belly.

I hadn’t even so much as thought about work until now–which is alright as I’m writing this many, many years removed from these mid-week adventures.

That is how hump day came to be my preferred day for soul-searching not to mention my most beloved 24-hour period to just do what I want to do–and all before the influence of a certain camel who became famous for hump day in an insurance commercial.