Personal daily commute record set tonight.

[gassy]

18 miles---2 hours, 45 minutes. Damn near peed in my pants. 18 miles, 2 hours, 45 minutes. That's what snow in Chicago does to people. I'm sure many have has worse.

[red-beard]

My worst commute was a week of commuting between Wash DC (Alexandria VA) and Dover Delaware.

Worst single commute: Ice Storm, 1 hill: 6.5 hours to go 2 miles.

[Joeaksa]

Whats snow? I seem to remember it way back in my childhood but its a distant foggy memory...

If its going to be cold I want it to snow and be able to play in it. Like the Rockies. Either Montana, Colorado or Idaho... Otherwise I am going to "live warm" so to speak.

Joe A

[RoninLB]

The bride does a usual 2hr door to door commute to NYC every day. It's about 20mi.

[Joeaksa]

Ron,

Does she drive or use public transport? Jeez that sounds like a lot of time for 20 miles. Hope she is able to do something with the time involved.

Joe A

[RoninLB]

Hi Joe..

I just dropped her off at the "Good and Plenty" express. That ride is 55min once it gets rolling. Then there's the time getting to the station. Then the subway after she gets to the city. Then the hike to her building. She refuses to work on the Island or even anywhere else in the US. And she's a major find to any firm she chooses so getting another job is no prob. I've been trying to hook her up around here before all my hooks retire. No go.

She hangs with other white collar office people on the train. The inner office yacking that goes on is wild. How much Ivana Trump spends on cloths/mo. Who just spent $12M on lawyers breaking some guys balls because he screwed him out of $3M. Who's 12yr old kid just paid $9M in back Fed taxes. These are the people who know what's happening before the power brokers do. You can't find that in northern Idaho.

She loves it all. She's been involved in city RE + for over 20yrs and there really is no substitute for NYC for that kind of action.

[ken_xman]

My wife got stuck in the NYC blackout a few years ago, and sat on the steps to grand central. I guess that would make her commute something like 8 hrs.
My record is 3.25 hrs ....snow storm, 45 miles.
We live 1.5 hrs from NYC, I work in westchester. Days like today... I work from home.

[legion]

Yeah, mine was bad last night because of the snow. Took me 10 minutes instead of the usual 5.

I was on Nextel with a friend last night, he was driving from Northbrook to Hoffman Estates. He was over two hours into his journey, and no where near home. He said that he only got to shift into second gear twice the whole trip...

[rattlsnak]

33 miles @ 1:30-1:45 hours, on a NORMAL day,. ATLANTA,. arghhh....
rain, or wrecks? geez,. forget it...

[RKC]

Yes, last night was tough. Long bus ride from N. Michigan Ave. Eventually got off the bus and walked since it was clear we weren't going anywhere. Had new shoes and no hat. Got to the train station and found it was delayed.

Left office at 4:25pm. Home at 7:00pm.

Felt pretty tired and pretty grumpy. Then a small boy my son's age was killed when a plane ran over his car in the middle of a Chicago street, so I pretty quickly was able to see how good things actually were in my life.

Brought in some firewood, ordered a pizza, and watched Elf with the kids. Plan on sledding and cross-country skiing with the kids this weekend, maybe build a snowman. They love it. I can see their point now that I'm off that bus!

I'm a triathlete and a skier, and watch/login to the weather channel everyday - everyday except yesterday. Today, I'm working from home, and spending most of my day on Pelican!

[EdT82SC]

I can understand Ron's wife, but I think the rest of you guys are crazy. I'd move to a smaller house if I had to to get close to work. I work 4 miles from home, and on a really bad day the drive can take 30 minutes (couple times a year), but most days under 10 minutes. When I was in college one summer I worked in Los Angeles, and the drive was 33 miles and 3 1/2 hours of driving round trip. So I moved my day earlier (6am to 3pm) and cut the commute time in half, and though better that drove me crazy by the end of summer. I prommised myself then I would never have a long enough drive to work that I'd call it a commute.

[notfarnow]

I lived in Montreal for a couple years and hated the traffic... I easily spent 1.5 hrs on the way to work, and then the same on the way back. It was WAY faster to take the commuter train and subway... maybe 45 minutes tops.

Now my commute is 20 minutes tops, 10 miles. Plus, I usually work from home a couple days a week.

[VINMAN]

When I moved from NYC to NJ 15 yrs ago, my daily commute was about 35 min, now it has increased to an Hr and 15 min, sometimes Hr and 1/2. Its 32 miles door to door. The traffic sucks!! They have built so many new houses in this area that the roads cant handle the volume of new cars. God forbid you have a little bit of rain. Snow, dont even bother leaving the house.
The sad thing is most of the traffic is caused by a one lane on-ramp onto the Garden State Parkway that backs traffic up for miles. They are adding a second lane to it(that has been a 3 yr project) which supposedly will cure the problem, but I doubt it.

[KNS]

It will cure the problem for a few years. They did a study in LA a few years back. Every time a new lane was added to a freeway it brought the volume of traffic back down to what it was approx. six years earlier. Six years go by - you are now back to the same level of traffic.

[arcsine]

One reason I moved out of Seattle was that there were times it would take 2 hours to go 6 miles. No snow, no accidents. Just a bridge shutdown somewhere in the city. Got better things to do with my time.

[masraum]

Well when Houston evacuated for Hurricane Rita I had a buddy who spent about 15+ hrs trying to go about 20 miles. I evacuated the day before and it took me about 5 hours to go 15-20 miles.

I got lucky, there we pets that died because they were in the back of pick up trucks, a combination of exposure to heat and carbon monoxide is what did it. Pretty sad. If this sort of thing happens again I'm leaving before everyone else does. There will probably be a bunch of people that just don't leave. That'll be the time that it actually hits and devastates the place.

[CamB]

Just went home at lunchtime - its only about 15 mins. I think it is about 4 miles. I've never measured. I can do it almost as fast on a bike at rush hour (more like 20+ mins). I hate waiting in traffic, so couldn't move further from the city than I am now...

[Erakad]

My commute from Alexandria to work is 10 miles...my record:
2 hrs 15 min!

[livi]

I guess thats about the only favorable aspect of being a Porsche nut in Sweden (besides getting the euro 231 hp models ). The traffic is generally very sparse compared to what a lot of you guys encounter on the roads. I have a 30 miles commute, takes 35 minutes (more or less according to speed limits).

[legion]

This was my weekend:

Saturday, December 10, 12:00 p.m.

My friend Mike calls. He is hosting a poker game that night (which I already planned to attend). He lives in South Elgin. The game starts at 7:00, but he invites me to arrive early if I want to. I accept. Rather than leaving at 5:00, I will leave when I am done cleaning the house.

3:00 p.m.

I depart my house. Before leaving, I check the forecast in the Chicago area. It says "light flurries with no noticeable accumulation". In the interest of better gas mileage, I take two of the four 60 lb. sand bags out of the bed of the truck. So I have 120 lbs. over the rear axle instead of 240 lbs. I should be at Mike's house by 5:00.

3:15 p.m.

I purchase supplies for an evening of poker playing and finally hit the road. I didn't anticipate the liquor store being so busy. I set the cruise control for 70 mph for a nice, leisurely drive.

4:30 p.m.

I hit I-355. Some snow, but no accumulation.

4:45 p.m.

I'm in the middle of a &**()_( blizzard! Traffic is now doing 20-30 mph. I can only tell where the lanes are because that is where there are two parallel wheel tracks. Some idiots (and I see plenty) can't figure out which sets of wheel tracks go with what lanes and end up straddling two lanes. Some bigger idiots (in big SUVs) decide that 80 mph is a perfectly safe speed when you have 50 feet of visibility.

5:30 p.m.

What should have been a 20 minute trip on I-355 takes an hour. I *finally* hit Route 20. I exit. It becomes immediately apparent that snow plows have not been out. I don't see one the entire rest of the trip. There 1-2 inches of snow compacted into a slippery mush on the road. I still have 20 miles to go…

6:00 p.m.

I learn to pray for flat ground. If I stop at a stop sign or red light on an incline, I worry about getting up the hill when it's time to go. If I stop on a decline--I worry about even stopping. Have I mentioned how fun it is to drive a 2 wheel drive pickup truck in the snow that has rear drum brakes, no ABS or traction control? Each start from a dead stop is much like a "drifting" competition, as the truck wants to go sideways. Each time I have to stop I hit the brake pedal (softly, so I don't lock the brakes), and it's a good 10 seconds before I feel the truck start to slow down. My stopping distance from 20 mph is something like 1500 feet. The whole feeling is more like driving a large boat, as there is no immediate feeling in the steering either. My heart is pounding; adrenaline is rushing. My senses are hyper-alert. I stop using the gas pedal and either let the truck idle to move forward, or (very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very gently use the brake) to start slowing down the second an intersection appears from the storm.

6:45 p.m.

I finally make it to Mike's house. The last snowflake falls just as I put the truck in park. I crack a beer. I proceed to lose all of my money. I'm happy to be alive.