The California man determined to have the longest commute in the United States finds his seven daily hours on the road "exhilarating."

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David Givens leaves home before dawn every morning to get from his 7 ½-acre ranch in the Sierras to his office at Cisco in San Jose, where he is at his desk by 8 a.m. His 186-mile-each-way commute won him $10,000 in a competition sponsored by Midas Muffler that attracted 3,000 entrants.

"When I get in, I'm pumped up, ready to go," Givens told the San Jose Mercury News. "Everybody else is dragging in looking for the coffee pot. I just drove 200 miles, dodging rain, fog, deer, elk and everything else. No problem."

Givens spends $200 a week on gas even though he drives a thrifty Honda Accord. But he said the price is worth it for the lifestyle he and his wife enjoy on their ranch, where she trains search dogs.

In the Bay Area, that much land would have been unaffordable, he said.

So every day, he leaves the office at 5 p.m. and gets home around 8 p.m., having driven most of the way across California twice.