The most miserable cities thread got me to thinking about this. I used to work in DC and now work in Alexandria, VA. It takes me an hour to get to work in the morning and about 45 minutes to get home in the afternoon. I get to work at 7:00 and there already is a lot of folks on the road. I leave work at 3:00 and traffic is somewhat lighter. A lot of folks I talk to have no where near the commute but, for me, it's well worth it. I live in a rural neighborhood, can shoot arrows and guns in my backyard, can go hunting by walking out back into the woods 50 yards or drive to thousands of acres inside 20 minutes, raise chickens, will be raising rabbits, bees and, eventually, goats. I would drive another 1/2 hour to get to and from work for benefits like these. How far is your commute and does where you live make it worth it?
My commute is 25 min in the morning and about 35 in the afternoon. It is worth it for me. I can shoot my bow, guns whatever without concern.
My current commute is about 1/2 mile. We live in the historic area of our city. While we love living where we live, it obviously has its pros and cons. Pros: 1) Central location equals convenience. We can walk to our favorite cafe. I can ride my bike the neighborhood market on Saturday mornings. We are 5 minutes from anything we could want to do in the city. 2) Great schools 3) Short commute. I fill my truck up maybe once a month. I love this so much. Cons: 1) While my lot is large compared to some within the city (mine is 0.6 acre), I wish it was more. I was raised on 50 acres that bordered one of the largest national forests in the country. So I miss the freedom to be able to walk out the door and have access to thousands of acres of woodlands. 2) It's atleast a 45 minute commute to any land that I might want to hunt. It's basically land vs convenience for me, and at this time, we chose convenience. The plan for the future is have a place on a lake or some acreage for a weekend getaway and hunting spot. For now, I'll just continue to visit my parents property for my time away from the city.
my commute is about 20-25 mins depending on traffic... mapquest says 22mi door to door... totally worth it.
My work is all over the place.....but, no further (so far) than about 20mi.. Most projects are closer. I can shoot (and I do) anything I want, at home. My "next door" neighbors are on: 25ac; 25ac; 10ac & 17ac.. I walk to most of my stands. I wouldn't trade my situation with anyone I know. I'd also drive a good ways for the right job..............IF I could set work hours so that I could go in super early....and get off at a reasonable time. Sounds like your gig, Bruce. Congrats.
Right now, I live at home [great-grandparents 350 acre farm my parents were very fortunate to buy], and commute about an hour depending on road conditions and traffic. My dad makes the hour commute everyday and has done so for his entire life, he's a small business owner [water&sewer contractor in Minneapolis/St. Paul] My mom is a special ed teacher/department coordinator and has about 45 min commute. Neither my dad, nor my mom minds the drive. I actually enjoy my hour commute [sans the fuel costs] as it gives me time to go through my routine of having a few cups of coffee, enjoying a chaw, and laughing my ass of at a local radio show. The commute home, just the same. It gives me time to "unwind". Life close to the farm is just better in all aspects. I plan to move back out in the next couple of months, and hope to find something close to the farm, and my family. Which in turn means another commute, and I'm okay with it.
If I had the right set-up, I would commute a good distance. I commuted an hour one way a few years ago when I worked in Fairfax. I really liked the job and I lived on seven acres at the time which I also liked, but the commute just ruined my day, especially in the afternoon. I currently have less than a ten minute commute. The former boss at my building used to commute 1.5 hours one way so that he and his wife could live on good property in WV and save a ton of money. He commuted that far for over 20 years. Needless to say, making northern VA money and living in southern WV=loaded.
I don't think I would mind a 30 minute commute, as long as it was free flowing traffic, but the problem here is that anything with a 20-30 minute commute will just put me in the suburbs, and I think suburb living is where white people go to die, so I refuse to do that. It would be either a very short commute (like I have now), or an hour plus commute for me if I chose to move outside of the city. If the right property presented itself, I might be able to convince the wife to move. I'm more open to the option than her since I was raised in a rural area and had to drive 30 minutes to get anywhere when I was younger. She has always lived in the city.
I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy the work I do and that certainly helps make the drive worth it. If I hated my job or the work I do I would probably be more bothered by the drive but it would likely be more worth it. Last year I was shooting arrows at foxes from the bushes by the bird feeders 10 yards off of my patio. They would come into the mulch pile (food scraps) before sunset. It is 33 miles and I can do it in about 40 minutes on a Sunday. A third of the drive is on rural roads.
I have a ~20 minute one way commute to and from work. It's about as far as I would like to go. I never have traffic (all rural commute), and it's easy, but it's ironic that I live rurally, but yet I'm commuting to another rural workplace:D
I have a 50 minute drive in the mountains of south west Va. The road is great with very little interstate. Snow and ice are a bummer. My biggest problem....DEER. I have been driving the same route for over 25 years and have over 25 road kills to my credit alone. Not to mention the little lady and our 2 sons.(car whistles dont help.) But I love where I live. I am the guy that lives at the end of the dirt road with no neighbors, surrounded by private mountain land.
This topic is really hitting hard on me right now. It's been a subject of debate in my mind for quite some time. I know most of you live in rural areas, and I'm completely jealous of the freedom that large lots of land allow, and the peace, and the quiet. I love that. Every time I go to my parents, I find myself sitting on their back deck, watching the sun set over the pasture. It's beautiful. It's quiet. It's peaceful. I love it. I think to myself, "I wish I had this" ...but then again, I love being able to wake up Sunday morning, walk down to the cafe on the corner with the wife, and enjoy some beignets with coffee while discussing sports with the owner. I love the fact that our kids will be able to walk to the local elementary school (one of the best in the city) that is only 2 blocks away. I love being able to run to the store real quick if we are missing an ingredient for dinner. *sigh Where is this utopia where I can have large acreage with the convenience of city life?
I drive about 25 minutes to work each day. When we move in the Spring, it'll be about the same. It's actually closer in distance, but the roads are more rural. Our new house will be about 5 miles away from my family's 175 acre cabin land. It's also "out there" more. I can shoot my bow in my yard now, and it's a nice 1 acre lot a few miles outside of a small town. In our new home, I could walk out the front door and pop off a clip out of my pistol and the neighbors will just smile.
in dreams.... my wife and I are in a similar situation... like in suburbs, kids walk to school starting at 2nd grade, reasonable commute, nice 'city' stuff close by, etc... but when we visit my folks in AL we hate coming home... we now own a piece of land down there (20ac) and plan on relocating someday soon, maybe in about 8-10 yrs depending on how things go... only downside is job and schools and the drive to any modern conveniences... nearest shopping mall is 45-60 mins away... best pizza around is pizza hut (ugh!)
There really is no such thing unfortunately. I'm currently in Macomb, IL for school, which to me is a pretty big town of around 40,000 when school is in session and 20,000 in the summer. Sure, it's really nice having a lot of eating locations nearby, shopping, etc, but I'm too used to home. Home is a small town with about 250 people, a bar, a church, a post office, a ma and pa restaurant, and a town hall. We have about a 15 minute drive to go get gas and groceries in another small town area, and to do REAL grocery shopping where you don't get ripped off we have to drive about an hour. In my opinion it's definitely worth it, because I like living in a rural area and having our hunting land about 1/2 mile down the road. My dad used to have about an hour and a half drive each way to work, and had a car specifically designated as a work car because of how many miles he put on it. However, he now has about a two minute drive because he switched jobs. He's a lot happier now that he got this job however, because three hours round trip to get to and from work was pretty ridiculous.
I'm currently driving 58 miles to Harrisburg and i freakin hate it. Nothing like filling up my truck every 3 days. Hopefully i'll be transferring soon to centre county and we'll be moving.
I have about a ten minute drive to work. From work I have anywhere from 400 yard walk to a 2 minute drive to go hunting (depending on what part of my land I hunt). I aint complaining about it that's for sure.
It's funny that this topic is coming up right now. My wife and I are in early stages of planning a move that I anticipate we will do sometime in the next 1-2 years. I'm currently driving 22 miles to work every day, however we both want to get out of the suburbs very badly, and closer to her family. If we end up where we both want to be living, it will be 63 miles for me, but my wife's commute will be nearly the same in length. With that said, we will be within walking distance to all of my inlaws. I don't like the idea of the commute, but I hate living in the suburbs more than anything. We are in a nice neighborhood, but I feel like I've sold my soul for the past 12 years in pursuit of a bigger paycheck. I simply hate it, and don't want to raise my kids in the suburban environment. Literally every weekend we end up traveling away from home because we have no family or things we enjoy close by. If things work out as planned, we will end up within walking distance to the majority of her family, who we both get along with very well. We will be able to turn our kids outside and not worry, be within walking distance of all of my inlaws so we can participate in more family activities, and I'll also be able to walk out my door and hunt several hundred acres exclusively. My job previously offered for me to work remotely full time, but I took a recent move up in the company and I'm not sure if the same offer still stands with my new role. I'm hoping that they will at least let me work 2-3 days from home though. Regardless, what we have planned is to make the move after our vehicles are both paid off, and I'll likely buy the cheapest Hyundai or something similar with a 100,000 mile warranty and throw it on a 3 year loan, and just plan on it being a disposable car every 4-5 years.
