I can normally make the 18 mile trip to or from work in 25 minutes. There's construction on the highway that causes some congestion, especially at peak hours. Fortunately, I can normally avoid the peak hours by getting to work by 7 AM and driving home around 4 PM. Of course, accidents change the traffic flow. Fortunately, I have two alternative routes that I can take and I listen to the radio for traffic reports.

I don't enjoy reading on moving vehicles, so even if practical mass transit were available, it'd still be time wasted for me.

Like you, I came here because of a job (Air Force stationed me here). In the end, this place became home and I stayed here even after getting out of the Air Force 10 years ago.

There are thousands of California transplants here. Many of them arrive complaining about the high taxes and intrusive government in California, then begin complaining that we don't have this and we don't have that. Sure, if we did all of those things, we'd end up as screwed up as the California they'd fled.

If I'd wanted to live in a congested city were mass transit had a chance of being practical, I'd have moved to one. However, that kind of life is the last one I'd willingly choose. Contrary to what some people seem to believe, freedom of choice means more than the right to have an abortion. It also includes the freedom to choose where to live, to choose how to educate your kids, to choose what religious values (if any) to believe, to choose what kind of food to eat and what kind of vehicle to own, and a host of other choices.

I tend to bristle when someone starts lecturing on how others don't "need" certain things so those things shouldn't be allowed. I don't know you and would never presume to dictate any choice you would make for your family. I tend to be hostile to those who try to lecture people they don't know about how they should live their lives or what they should be allowed to own. With personal freedom comes personal responsibility, something too many people have also diluted in the name of social engineering.