I drive a lot.
I live in the Willamette Valley but drive to work in Bend, Oregon on the high desert – that's 130 miles each way over the Cascades at Santiam Pass twice a week. Generally I work from home on Monday and Friday and I'm in the office Tuesday though Thursday.
Until recently I kept an apartment over in Bend, but I gave it up and either stay at a hotel or just crash in the office. I tend to work long hours and with a recent rent, electric and cable-modem rate increase I just wasn't getting much value out of the apartment.
And so I drive. A lot of folks think I'm crazy, but I love to drive. And frankly, I've had to commute to work in some horrific traffic (I've commuted in LA, Boston, and San Francisco), so the scenic lightly traveled roads over the Cascades is a very pleasant drive in comparison.
Of course, weather can be a problem in the winter. Santiam Pass can get pretty nasty at times, but ODOT does a good job keeping it clear.
It helps that I drive a Jeep with snow tires and chains in reserve. I don't worry about getting up and down the pass as much as I do about someone in a hurry running into me. I've not seen many cars in the ditch but I have seen a lot of SUVs.
In the summer time with the Jeep I can take some interesting shortcuts. The picture above is one I took heading home this past summer.
What do I do to pass the time during six hours of driving every week? Listen to
podcasts. There's so much to listen to that I would never have time unless I had
this block of time.
