For the past several years, I had a carpool buddy who made the ride not only bearable, but even enjoyable. I dare to say that I probably learned even more during that time than I did in the other years combined. Unfortunately, his job was cut due to budget issues, and even though he would be hired an administrative role that opened up, our carpool was over. Quite frankly, the prospect of facing that hour commute on my own again was one of the larger motivating factors for my looking to work elsewhere.
Today, I've discovered that I have a new hour-long (or more) commute. At least this time, I will have Rowen as a passenger for most of it. Due to the release times of Rowen's school and Connor's cross country practice, I have to drive a route that is quite inefficient.
To get to Rowen's school on time, I need to leave my school at about 3pm. I drive across Soldotna, past my house, and all the way to Sterling. There I wait in line (grateful for my Prius' battery-powered idling) to pick up Rowen. I then need to drive past my house and through Soldotna again to get to Skyview in time to pick up Connor. Today, we arrived precisely as Connor was leaving the building and heading to the parking lot. That was about 4pm.
Now, I had to run a few errands (picking up a package at the Post Office and trying to get a prescription), so I do not know what the actual run-time would be to get home. However, I suspect that the experience requires for me to sit in the driver's seat for about an hour and twenty minutes.
At least it is only that long of a commute in the afternoon.