Spoiled Commuter

For the past three years, I only had to drive 10 minutes, 4 - 10 miles, for my commute to work. Sure I encountered some idiot maneuvers but on the whole, the entire trip was stress free.

Now, I have been commuting 62 miles round trip daily for a month and I have realized a couple things: 1) I have been completely spoiled for commuting, 2) Driver have gotten crazier and more negligent over the years and 3) Every time I make it to work or home in one piece is a freaking miracle.

The morning commute is usually not too bad but if there's a Statie or lots of tractor trailers on the road, driving becomes a whole new game. I do admit, I did enjoy driving behind an armored car acting like a tank in the fast lane a couple weeks ago. I saw him ride up drivers' asses and force them to change lanes. I got to enjoy the speedy wake. Then there is the mysterious spots where everyone drops down to 50mph for a mere hint of Statie. He doesn't have to be on our side of the highway or even in his car for every driver to freak.

The evening commute is when I chant internally, "I'm going to get home." over and over. People are distracted or shipping strange fauna in the passenger seat. I swear to God this actually happened. I passed a car going 45mph in the fast lane and I looked over and all I could see were palm fronds. The worst spots are the 3 to 93 transition (no one knows how to merge and ingore the fact that there are 2 additional lanes), the 95 split (the whole slam on the brakes and cut across four lanes of traffic section) and around the Needham Highland exit (catching route 9 backup). When I get out of my car at home, I feel like countless years have been taken off my life due to stress.

Luckily, if this job does go perm, I'll be moving within 30 minutes of work - no highway. Woohoo!