Know Your Routes

I'm becoming a bit notorious for my constant whining about my hour commute to-and-from work everyday, but complaining about it somehow helps to ease the pain. To be quite honest, after the first few weeks I became numb to the monotony of it all. At 5:30 AM, I'm in such a zombie-like state, I rarely remember the drive to work. By 4-5 PM, I usually dilute my consciousness by calling or texting* several people, or tuning out my hatred of East Texas drivers by elevated volume levels of my iPod.

One of the biggest things, though, is keeping the drive fresh. I'm not the kind of guy who drives the same route to-and-from work, and a trip from North Longview to South Tyler offers a lot of route-variety.



HWY 31 / I-20 / HWY 271
This is generally my preferred route of choice for the morning commute. The stretch of I-20 between HWY 31 in Longview and HWY 271 in Tyler is pretty spectacular about 25 minutes before sunrise. The little traffic on the interstate at this time is fast-moving, but inconspicuous.



HWY 271 / FM 1844 / Judson Rd.
Provided I don't have to make any stops in Longview on the way home, I'll take this route for my return trip home in the afternoon. I opt out of the I-20 corridor at this time of the day because of the nastiness that consumes South Longview (particularly the McCann/Marshall intersection) between 4-6 PM. It's a quaint little route that runs HWY 271 for three-quarters of the trip, and meanders through "downtown" Gladewater before connecting with FM 1844 that juts right over to Judson Rd. about a mile north of our house.



McCann Rd / HWY 31
Sometimes I like to change it up by taking Highway 31 between cities. It's nice enough for a change of pace, but definitely the least desirable of all routes. The entire stretch of highway (save a couple of passing zones) is only two lanes and runs through some pretty hillbilly neighborhoods as well, so slowing down from a speed of 70 mph to 45 mph for pulling-out pickups is not uncommon.

Forgive me this brief little tangent. I'm just so very tired.

*I find it odd that the computer dictionary doesn't recognize "texting" as a word.