Dream life: Row, row, your boat to work, gently down the river (VIDEO)

Commuting can be a nightmare, but not for Gabe Horchler. The fittest 71-year-old this side of the Mason-Dixon line found a way to beat Washington, DC’s notorious traffic, by rowing right passed it.

Instead of sitting on gridlocked highways for hours every day, Horchler cycles 15 minutes from his Maryland home down to the Anacostia River, hops into his fiberglass row boat for a five-mile water leg, and then cycles on another bike to his job at the Library of Congress inside the District.

Almost 20 years ago, Horchler realized the river ran parallel to the Anacostia freeway and that’s when he decided to commute in this unconventional way.

The self-proclaimed “river rat” loved the idea of rowing from his home in Cheverly, Maryland after spending years commuting by metro and motorcycle.

Horchler gets to enjoy fresh air and exercise - and like Ed Begley Jr's car in "The Simpsons", it's powered by his own ‘sense of self-satisfaction’.

“Disconnected from my phone computer or TV, the din of traffic is faded, and there’s not a building in sight,” Horchler says.

Since he’s not Superman, Horchler rows one way a day, taking the metro and bicycles on the return trip. He then reverses the order the next day.

He’s also sensible about the weather and doesn’t row between December and February due to freezing temperatures.

Horchler says he regularly sees “all kinds of wildlife” and has spotted fish with tumors from pollution.

Horchler will soon retire and has no plans to stop rowing.

“I hope to go even more, just not to work,” he says.