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How A Horrible Commute Led One Couple To Make A Big Investment

Gabriel Spitzer
/
KNKX
Daniel, Mary and Buttercup Bone, in their trailer home in Seatac.

This story originally aired on December 2, 2017.

If you think your daliy commute is bad, please meet Daniel Bone. He maneuvers a large cement truck to the many different construction sites in the Seattle area.

A few years ago, Bone's commute from an idyllic five-acre farm in Yelm, Washington, was daunting, but doable. 

"I'm 62 miles out from our home in Yelm, to where I work in Seattle. In the mornings I could drive it, an hour and ten minutes, comfortably. Coffee in hand. Well rested," Bone said.

But, over the last six years, the commute swelled day after day, into an unbearable amount of time each day.

Heading to work, "It grew to an hour and forty five minutes. And going home in the evenings it could take as much as three hours to get back to Yelm," says Bone. 

Bone spent so much time in his car, that he removed the center console to fit his banjo. He'd practice plucking with his right hand, while holding the steering wheel of his slow moving Prius with his left hand. (He knows this is a no-no, but swears he never had an accident.) 

When he got home at the end of the day, he'd be a wreck.

"Shower dinner, and I'm out on the couch, like a light."

Bone and his wife, KNKX personality Mary McCann,  decided rather than spending countless hours on the road, they'd invest thousands of dollars in a one bedroom trailer near SeaTac airport. Today, they divide their time between the trailer and the farm. 

In this story, Bone and McCann talk to Sound Effect host Gabriel Spitzer about how they came to this decision and what it's done for their lives. 

Jennifer Wing is a former KNKX reporter and producer who worked on the show Sound Effect and Transmission podcast.
Gabriel Spitzer is a former KNKX reporter, producer and host who covered science and health and worked on the show Sound Effect.