Commuting - Pics of my commute.

I finally got a chance to take some pics of my commute. Most of the falls colors are gone after the first couple of wind storms we've had. Today was also a windy day, I was fighting a headwind the entire way there. Here's some pics of the rural area where I live.

As I make my way from Port Orachard to Tacoma, I pass through downtown Gig Harbor. I nice little town on the water. From there I climb a long 1 mile hill starting about 12%, levelling 3% in the middle, then finishing off with about 8-10% at the top. It's about a 320ft climb. Not too bad for a daily commute.

As I approach the Tacoma Narrows bridge, the construction site is pretty vast along a several mile stretch of the highway. You can see the new and old bridges off in the distance.

Once I reach the bridge, the wind really picks up, being elevated over the Narrows. In a storm, it is common for me to fight a 30+mph cross wind while crossing the bridge. The second pic is a pic from the middle of the span, about 150-200ft up, and you can see whitecaps in the water below. That is NOT a calm day for boating. The last pics are of the east side of the bridge, where you can see the spinning equipment used for spinning the wires across the span of the new bridge. A marvelous feat of engineering for the eye to behold.

I finally made it through Tacoma to work. I work at a hospital, and finally a couple pics of my office in the building across the street. I am very lucky, my boss never tells me what to do, because he knows nothing about engineering, so he leaves it up to me and the other crew members. I am alone on my shift with no one to bother me, and I have my own office.

To top it all off, I have my own personal bathroom with a shower, and a locker. I also keep my bike in my office, and I can lock down the whole building, nice and tight. I can roll my bike out into the plant to spray it down, and give it a wash n' lube anytime it needs it. For commuting, my work conditions are ideal. It's nice being the Chief Engineer.

All in all, my commute is about 22.5mi one way.

Is your desk always that clean or did you spruce up for the pics?

;)

Nice pics. Thx for posting.

Sadly enough, my desk really is that clean. Being a hospital, we are so compulsive around here about cleanliness, it rubs off on you after awhile. Just don't come to my house and look at my workshop, you'd probably get killed by tripping over something. :D

note to self... gotta be the chief in order to obtain ideal commuting conditions(nice office,shower,clean bike anytime w/no worries,etc). lol

nice pics, thanks for sharing.

Rich

What a great commute! Don't think I could cross the bridge in windy conditions.

Wow. Nice pictures. I notice they wash the streets down before you leave home. ;)

What is this a picture of - the bike lane on the bridge? ;)