Traffic : The New Commute

As I have been figuring out the best way to get from home to work and back, I have tried driving different routes and trying different times of the day.  Right when we first moved into our house, I snapped this photo from on top of a ridge along the way to work.  There is wide shoulder where you can pull over, and I am tempted to pull over and watch the sunrise form time to time.

I thought I had found my perfect route, allowing for the occasional delay due to an accident.  And by occasional, I mean there is an accident on 7800 South or Redwood Road almost every day. The statistics may not hold up to my claim, but it seems as if there is an accident somewhere along these roads each day.

Unfortunately, my perfect route got hit with a double-whammy:

1) There is a lane closure on 7800 South which has caused east-bound morning traffic to back up about a mile. Ugh.  The message boards say that this will only last through September, so there is hope for relief in sight.

2) School started.  Because there are so many schools here, there are just as many school zones, and the traffic to get in and out of a school parking lot spills on to the roads, and backs up the traffic.  The way I first knew that school was officially in session was when I sat at a stop sign in traffic for 10 minutes the first morning due to my proximity to a high school. School starts at 7:30 AM, so the traffic starts up right when I would normally head to work.

Needless to say, I have a new route and a new schedule.  I have started leaving for work at 6:45 AM and there doesn't seem to be nearly as much traffic.  I used to leave at 7 AM in Iowa, but it was more to maintain my schedule rather than to avoid traffic.  One thing I have really enjoyed is seeing all the great sunrises on the way to work.  The mountains here are just so beautiful.  Here is a sunrise from this morning.  Pretty spectacular!