[Heineken]

I can't believe a 200-mile daily commute. I know some people do it, like you, Joel. But it boggles my mind. Not just the expense, but the time and all that sitting.

I drive 150 miles round-trip to my tree farm every week or two, and THAT seems like a strain!

[joelcolorado]

Its a huge strain and I am on call so have to go at all times of day and night. VERY hard on me. I do this about 3 times a week i guess in actual practice, 4 at the most.

My car gets 35 mpg so its about 7 gallons of gas to go to work and back. Time is a huge factor. 1.5 hours each way. All interstate so not as bad as some roads. But at 3 am its rough. Especialy after a 14 hour day. Long road home. Somedays I stop and sleep on the way home.

[Heineken]

You have to get off that treadmill. Somehow. If you don't, gas prices may do it for you.

[joelcolorado]

To move my wife would take a 33% cut in pay. I make enough money that I can afford gas at ANY price. It really doesnt matter if its $4 or $10. It still pays off for me as I have such a good job pay wise. Hours suck for sure tho. Been there too long to quit.Retirement, and medical insurance such a draw for me there.

I know tho, my wife has no clue how hard this is on me. I am getting older and its hard each time. I feel like shit most days.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joelcolorado', 'I')ts a huge strain and I am on call so have to go at all times of day and night. VERY hard on me. I do this about 3 times a week i guess in actual practice, 4 at the most.

My car gets 35 mpg so its about 7 gallons of gas to go to work and back. Time is a huge factor. 1.5 hours each way. All interstate so not as bad as some roads. But at 3 am its rough. Especialy after a 14 hour day. Long road home. Somedays I stop and sleep on the way home.

[Heineken]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joelcolorado', 'T')o move my wife would take a 33% cut in pay. I make enough money that I can afford gas at ANY price. It really doesnt matter if its $4 or $10. It still pays off for me as I have such a good job pay wise. Hours suck for sure tho. Been there too long to quit.Retirement, and medical insurance such a draw for me there.

I know tho, my wife has no clue how hard this is on me. I am getting older and its hard each time. I feel like crap most days.

[joelcolorado]

She is sympathetic to a point. Wants me to quit that job but I cant. Too many years in. When you are not doing it yourself, its not the same as doing it.

However, she works some 85 hour weeks so hard to get any sympathy. as you can imagine.

[Heineken]

How much longer until you can retire?

[joelcolorado]

ONLY 8 years. She is sympathetic. When I go to bed at 10 and the phone rings at 12 and I get up to go to work she says..sorry...and rolls back over. hah

Its bad but its what I do. Lots of men doing similar as my company has a habit of consolidating and ppl cannot move for many reasons. the only other thing i can do is get apt but i dont want to live apart from her. She is my soulmate, high school sweetheart and I love her so. She needs me home too as she works TOO much.
She has had 4- 21 days in a row of 12 hour days. so she works hard too. She has 3 phones and a pager. IMAGINE our evenings out?

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joelcolorado', 'O')NLY 8 years. She is sympathetic. When I go to bed at 10 and the phone rings at 12 and I get up to go to work she says..sorry...and rolls back over. hah

Its bad but its what I do. Lots of men doing similar as my company has a habit of consolidating and ppl cannot move for many reasons. the only other thing i can do is get apt but i dont want to live apart from her. She is my soulmate, high school sweetheart and I love her so. She needs me home too as she works TOO much.
She has had 4- 21 days in a row of 12 hour days. so she works hard too. She has 3 phones and a pager. IMAGINE our evenings out?

[joelcolorado]

Heres the deal. People come in who are sick and need to be seen. They dont want to wait til the next day. Most ppl take it for granted that there are more than enough staff to be available night and day but there is not.

So how long do YOU want to wait to see a doc if you are really ill or hurt? There is the answer. The employers say, that is our hours, take it or leave it. It is not any better anyplace else right now. Very long hours, shortage of docs and nurses.

And yes, i can stay over a night or two a week. But when I get to the motel, I think, hell, I coulda been home in the time it took to get supper and a room. So I just drive it, nap at the McDonalds halfway home and make it somehow.

It is hard. Dont get me wrong, and yes, I am dead on my feet a lot of the time. Just what we do I guess. Too old to start another career. So i am stuck.

[Newfie]

Joel,

My situation is not nearly as extreme as yours but still similar. Right now I am not traveling much, a blessing, but previously I spent 4 days a week in either Washington or NYC for three years. Train ride after train ride after train ride. My wife is a psychoanalyst in private practice. I very seldom spend a night away from home, no matter that I have to get up and do it again the next day, and the next.

There is a fair number of people who commute regularly on trains 2 or three hours each way, daily. For years. Their fellow travelers become their friends and community. They see each other day after week after year. I could not do it.

I understand your situation and hope I never have to go through it. What I did do was bad enough.

My sympathy to both of you, jointly and individually.

[TWilliam]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joelcolorado', 'H')eres the deal. People come in who are sick and need to be seen. They dont want to wait til the next day. Most ppl take it for granted that there are more than enough staff to be available night and day but there is not.

[thuja]

I have posted this before but I think the push to live rural that I see here is fairly elitist and classist advice. It takes a small fortune to not only buy land and home, but then to create infrastructure to live there as well as commute to a distant job or try and "live off the land" which requires a chest full of gold coins while you are trying to live self-sufficiently.

As a city dweller, I have fixed up my house to be as tight as possible. I heat by wood. I grow a large garden, catch my own water and have a bunch of chickens. I fish, hunt deer and elk out in the country and can bike a couple miles to my job at the hospital.

Now saying that, I am well set up for the initial stages of Peak Oil. But eventually the price (and availability) of wood and staple food (rice/beans/flour) will soar. This next phase will destroy most city dwellers and likely me as well.

Those rural folks who have enough money (key point), little to no debt and a spread large enough to provide themselves with most of their own food and wood will do much better.

So its a wealth issue. Encouraging middle class folks to try and make a go of it out in the sticks is generally terrible advice. Once they can't pay their bills because all the rural jobs have dried up they will be hurting...hard. And likely they will pack up and move back to the ugly city...

[Ludi]

Those are good criticisms, thuja. But I'm not totally convinced it is "elitist" to want to live in the country, and to try to make a go of it. My husband and I work at home and make a small income by "elitist" standards, usually around $30,000 a year after taxes. That's two people making about $15,000.00 each. We were fortunate to have good paying jobs in Los Angeles for about four years after we got married, and were able to save money and buy land for cash. The land here is much more expensive now, but there are many areas in the US where land is as cheap as it was here back then.


I don't encourage anyone to move to the country unless they are sure they want to and are prepared to do what it takes. People should live where they feel comfortable and safe. I've also posted quite a bit about how I think folks in the country are likely to have to do without supplies and services much sooner than folks in town.

[thuja]

Yes Ludi- I think the time to "go rural" was a while back when you could purchase the infrastructure for an oil-free life. With inflation what it is now, it will be incredibly difficult indeed for folks to make a go of it...especialy in a time of increasing joblesness which will hit rural areas first.

Going rural...for the rich only?

[MrBean]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('thuja', 'I') think the push to live rural that I see here is fairly elitist and classist advice. It takes a small fortune to not only buy land and home, but then to create infrastructure to live there as well as commute to a distant job or try and "live off the land" which requires a chest full of gold coins while you are trying to live self-sufficiently.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('thuja', '
')Going rural...for the rich only?

[MrBean]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('thuja', '
')Going rural...for the rich only?

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MrBean', '
')Please explain.