TRC wasn't my first job, but it was the first job I had a long commute to from the start. I talked about this some in a previous post but its worth examining in greater detail today.
Previously I always living within at most 10 minutes of my place of employment, which meant I could eat at home for lunch and maybe get a dog hug midday. Even though TRC isn't far down into Austin its always been far enough away from Leander that a minimum 30 minute commute was necessary since day one. Yet it took me years to optimize this commute which lead to me exploring the area around my work on my lunch break early in my time at TRC.
The first week I worked at TRC I tried a different way home every day to see what would work. Some routes were obviously bad, others less so and within two weeks I had a general idea of what worked and what didn't. Within a month I had worked out a route that was overly complicated to avoid traffic that became my daily trip. I would cut over from 183 post-Lakeline behind a golf course, go through a rich neighborhood, go down Spicewood Springs in what felt like an outright rural community with winding creek crossings, and then over 360 to get into my work neighborhood. This was my major commute path for more than the first year, and frankly seeing the open fields on the way to work was a centering process every morning. Especially early in my job when Dave expected me to be at work at 8:30 or I needed to be ready answer support calls at 9 these fields were the pleasant parts of otherwise frustrating mornings.
Most of my memories during this time revolve around either the bad traffic days when Spicewood would be backed up or what I listened to on the way in. Back then I became a big fan of NPR mornings, and in particular in 2013 their "Marketplace Tech" feature would broadcast in the middle of my commute and was used by me to time my commutes. I would also listen to a 24/7 comedy radio station, "All About Android" (an Android podcast back when smartphones were actually exciting), and random audiobooks on my long trip in. Some of this changed over the years: the comedy station went away, I learned of a magic shortcut to cut under 360 to cut the time significantly, I would switch around podcasts but overall this was my route from 2012-2016. I have strong memories of the pasture watering systems I would drive by, or the mysterious AT&T building along the way, or the Spicewood Springs park I always wanted to stop and see (and we eventually went to for our professional pregnancy pictures). I remember Buddy complimenting this longer commute, as he enjoyed how often I would call him on my trip back home and how he got to "ride home with me" through the rural roads or past a particular dentists office that loved to over decorate for the holidays.
During most of this time I would also go for drives in my lunch break. Back when my role with TRC was more defined me having a lunch break was more certain, and I would use the time to drive around neighborhoods near work and get a feel for the part of Austin we were in. Eventually I learned of good parking spots with shade on low traffic residential street near my house, and eventually neighborhoods like Cat Mountain became my second home as I would listen to the same podcasts during my hour away. When Jared was around he would go with me, but mostly this became an anti-social activity as I kept trying to find new places to hide near work. Eventually I found a street with a fantastic view that became my new place to take new hires at TRC but much like my commute this routine changed after about five years and the hiding spots lost their appeal.
Two things changed in the summer of 2016 that altered my commute and lunch breaks forever. The big thing was I got more established at TRC in the sales role and so my schedule got more flexible once Neil left. Basically I started coming in later (ie when there was less traffic) and in turn I stopped leaving during my lunch break (ie I mostly worked through lunch to make up the time). Also around the same time I discovered that the exits on 183 were flawed in their light arrangement, and by "exit hopping" you could basically bypass the worst traffic that I was trying to get past via my daily rural excursion. From 2017 onward I basically only took the old route when I wanted some nostalgia or to see the fields again, but that was rare as post-Finn there always seemed like there was some place I needed to be more than I needed the more peaceful drive home. But the random days I do take the old route its nice to see that it mostly hasn't changed, as if its waiting for me to come take one more winding commute home.
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