♪ welcome back to the most news in the morning. 42 minutes past the hour. what we're about to show you is an eye-opening example of the squeeze the recession has put on the middle class. a gm worker faced with a choice, either follow his job south or start all over with two kids and wife and a mortgage. instead of uprooting his entire family, he decided to try to commute from work from outside milwaukee, wisconsin to outside of dallas, texas. carol costello takes us on the grueling ride on this "a.m. original". >> reporter: it's 5:00 p.m. on monday and steve pearl is off to work. wisconsin is his home but it's not where he works. >> i have a job in texas that pays me good. >> reporter: you heard right. 12 hours after saying good-bye to his wife and two teenaged kids, steve pearl arrives at the gm assembly plant in arlington,