Early to work, early to bed — with time to spare

By Lisa Biedenbach | Thursday, September 8, 2005, 09:23 AM

Just for the heck of it, I counted the number of cars I spotted in traffic this morning on my commute to work. From my departure in Ross at 4:50 a.m. until my arrival at work at 5:30 a.m., I spied 113 vehicles, give or take a few I may have missed.

My route every morning begins on U.S. 27 and takes me to Struble Road to Hamilton Avenue to Meredith Road to Daly Road to North Bend Road to Winton Road to Spring Grove Avenue to Knowlton’s Corner to Ludlow Viaduct to Central Parkway to Liberty Street.

The lack of vehicles on the road means my ride and drive to work is relatively painless. Yesterday, the biggest obstacle to an aggravation-free commute was a litter of young kittens crossing Spring Grove Avenue at Knowlton’s Corner! I had to stop and wait for the frisky felines to cross the street! I guess they were hunting breakfast around the Dumpster at White Castle.

On the ride home yesterday afternoon at 2:30 p.m., in our continuing effort to combine errands on one car trip, Bob and I dropped off a bag of homegrown tomatoes at my sister’s and then stopped at Office Max and Wal-Mart on Colerain Avenue. It is so pleasant to do errands when the stores are not crowded. We have almost eliminated non-essential car trips.

Bob remarked on the drive home that many of his coworkers have opted now for carpooling and as a result there are fewer and fewer vehicles parked in his company lot each day.

For us, the early arrival at home in the afternoon means that we eat dinner earlier (we’re nearly early bird special cooks now) and we get another hour or two to do household and yard chores —although last night I curled up in bed at 7:30 p.m., a book tucked under my arm.

I am still not adjusted fully to getting up so early. My mind wants to stay up late but my body is unwilling!

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