According to the Transportation Research Board, the number of Americans spending an hour or more commuting to work has grown more than 50% in the last ten years. I spent two years working construction and fighting the morning and evening rush hour mayhem. I found driving on four lane highways at five to ten mph annoying and dangerous...but necessary.
Now I work within walking distance of home and quite enjoy being car-less. For thirty minutes I stroll, collecting my thoughts and watching people make coffee, scratch themselves as they retrieve the morning paper, walk their dogs...as I pass coffee shops and bakeries, wonderful aromas fill my nose. I have a favorite tree. He or she is an enormous big leaf maple that stands next to the baseball and soccer park a few blocks from my house. He or she spreads a magnificent canopy over both the street and part of the ball field, playing with the morning light. I say hello on the days I pass. I take a different route every day for the sake of new things to look at...and just because.
Walking wakes you up.
There's no one to get mad at.
You're not at the mercy of the Traffic God who blocks intersections, causes other drivers to go insane, makes lights conspire against you etc...
Use your feet!
