I live about 15 miles from my office in Arlington and aside from 1.5 miles, it is all highway driving. In most places this would make it about a 15 minute commute; but not in Northern Virginia. My morning commute is usually 40 minutes and my evening commute 40-45 minutes. Right now the time I go to and from work revolves around the kids (this will change at the end of the month when Drew is back for good) so for right now, I have to deal with it. So, I started slugging! What is slugging you ask? Well, slugging is when you allow complete strangers into your vehicle so you can ride in the HOV lanes. Sure there are benefits to the environment, blah blah blah, but it really comes down to saving me time!
This past Tuesday was my first go at it. Mom had always told me not to pick up strangers, but there are many times I didn’t listen to Mom, so I gave it a go. I was naturally a little hesitant and wondered if I was a complete idiot. But like all of the stupid people in horror movies who go looking for the strange noise, I went looking for my strangers.
There is a website devoted to slugging that shows maps of where all of the slugs are waiting for a ride. You ride up to the line, yell your order: 2 (the number of people you can take) for Joe’s Taco (the place you are going), and they get in the car.
The two people that I picked up the first day were pretty nice and one of them gave me the lowdown. I wondered if people talked, if you listened to the radio, or what. Apparently there is no protocol and it all depends on the people. I don’t want to turn my music up because I guarantee the people I am driving probably don’t like the stuff I listen to. It is very awkward to be driving people and not talk though. So, we talk.
The benefits of slugging are pretty cool, the downside is I used to spend the drive home cranking the music and just winding down from the day and clearing my head. I will continue slugging and probably just start turning the music up. Heck it’s a free ride for them!