@Darth Lefty - I favor longer routes to avoid traffic situations and otherwise less desirable roads. Just do it!

Two happenings on my commute this morning. First I must have not turned off my headlight after riding in yesterday morning. Battery was dead; wouldn't turn on at all. Luckily I recently purchased a headlamp to use on a camping trip. It came with batteries too. So I went back inside, opened it up and put it on. It was bright enough to get me to work.

Then, about 3 miles from work, this one road I take usually has very light traffic. But I see tons of cars on it and assume the main highway just south of there must have a wreck or detour or something. I had to wait a bit to turn right and was worried about the volume of cars that would be going around me.

But that concern disappeared when about a quarter mile down the road the cars were backed up and not moving/barely creeping due to the upcoming stop sign - 1.25 miles away! This is a two lane (one lane each direction) quiet country road with no shoulder. Therefore I did about 1.25 miles of in the grass riding, passing cars like they weren't moving (oh wait, they weren't).

The attached map shows the straighter Highway 73 with red on it. The more curvy road just above that is my normal route. It has the dark red traffic indicator on it. The grass was wet from the dew and now my bike has grass and leaf clippings caked on it. Looks like a cleaning will be on tonight's schedule.