I live on the Maryland side. I was just going by what people who lived in the Herndon area told me. And those people drove the whole way.
So you left Herndon? The missus and I talk sometimes about leaving the D.C. area. We'd miss the culture, but we like the idea of raising kids in a more conservative rural setting. Decisions, decisions...
The last time I went to visit my Uncle, I asked him why he didn't sell his million dollar plus 3b/2b in Hawaii and move to Delaware near me where he could buy a big place. He said, because then I'd have to live in Delaware. Location people!
This is a constant topic of conversation in my house because I'm sickened by how much more house you can get for your money in Houston where my wife's family lives, just like my brother (who lives on the Upper E. Side in Manhattan) is sickened when he visits me in comparitively bargain-priced DE.
Left DC area in 1997 to go to Nevada. There, a two-hour commute might be 140 miles away. And it was at least that far between towns, out there.
Actually, I lived in Carson City, and it was about a 10-minute walk through the sagebrush to work.