Your faithful Montclair blogger normally writes about everything and everyone else, but today she’s rejoicing in the fact that she won’t be “car camping” anymore.  Based on three years of commutes between Montclair and Palo Alto, that added up to roughly 750 round trips and at least 2,250 hours behind the wheel!

Whenever I would mention my doubly-awful commute to neighbors or friends, the reaction was almost physical and quite consistent.  I was barraged with these questions about the daily journey:

• When do you drive? How long does it take? – Either early or late, which means before 7:30 am or after 9:00 am to Palo Alto; and after 6:00 pm back to Montclair.  It typically takes under 1.5 hours each way, but add another half-hour for accidents.

• Are you crazy?  I would never do that. – Remember that dotcom people do insane things.  It’s worth driving because living in Montclair makes me remain sane.  Plus the work is interesting to me.  ‘Nuff said.

We know that Montclair is filled with commuters who head to all points, every weekday morning.  According to old U.S. Census data, some 25% of 94611 residents spend at least 45 minutes commuting daily and 62% of us drive alone to work.

Well, I’m not saying you should ever follow my pitiful example and work in Palo Alto – but I can confess all this now because my super-sized carbon footprints have gone away.