2+2=4

I have another equation for you, but let me provide you with some background information. An empty highway or a city street lit up by lights at night with a favorite CD playing are moments I cherish. There is something about an open road that I truly enjoy. Driving with friends is always entertaining, but when I go alone it provides the greatest sense of freedom, I am able to think about what is going on in my life. I am able to go back in time and truly think.

However there is only so much driving I can do. The new Explorer I've been driving is no long so new. It already has over 1000 miles on it. Now that I am in my region traveling that number will grow only quicker. Empty road, plenty of time, many thoughts result. So just how many highway signs and dead bugs am I going to see on the windshield? The engineer in me still does random calculations in his head.

800 miles a week. 52 weeks in a year. So that is 41,600 miles. Now lets say I average 60mph. Highway speeds are 70 and towns are usually in the 35-45mph range. So 41,600 miles divided by 60 mph is 693.33 hours. 24 hours in a day. The number is now 28.33. That is the whole month of February. That is 28 days of nonstop driving. It's 2am I'm tired I need to pull over. Can't. 28 days of avoiding potholes, wishing for more CDs, sun in the eyes, truck stops, tailgaters and making business calls on the cell phone.

I'm not done calculating. I can't emphasize how much time I spend thinking when I'm driving alone. Now lets say you spend on average 8 hours sleeping, 1.5 hours eating three meals a day, and another 1.5 getting ready for the day or for the night. So now the day instead of 24 hours is composed of 13 hours. So taking the previous 693.33 hours and dividing it by 13 is slightly over 53. So you can look at two months of every youthful year of mine is spent behind a steering wheel. Not the most glamorous job.

But Dave you're making good money. Maybe so, on the road lots of time another calculation. Let's take out the added value of not paying for a car and insurance as well as benefits such as medical insurance. The reason being I don't know what dollar value to assign to them. I've started to calculate that I will be putting in 80 hours of work in every week. 80 hours of driving to my next dealer, time spent in the office, time spent at the dealerships, and the ever-depressing time spent in hotels alone pulling up reports. Taking my salary pre-tax and dividing it by 4160 hours (80 hours a week x 52 weeks in a year) comes up to a dollar value of just slightly over $10. Wow, I am living the American dream. Truthfully, I want to live all of our childish dreams.