A Year Without Cars

So, I had this idea. I have been wondering if I could really get by without a car. Here in New Jersey it seems almost impossible but, then again, one of the guys I work with rides his bike to and from work and everywhere else. He does not own a car. Of course, without a car, I could not have gone on the vacation I just came back from. I have come to the conclusion that it's all about making choices. So my idea is to try and go for one year without driving my car. I was considering trying to go for a year without getting into any car but unfortunately the fact that our culture is "car-centric" makes this somewhat impractical. I won't say it's impossible because, as I said before, lifestyle choices determine what is possible in regard to transportation. Things I can do on my bike include getting to and from work, shopping for a few days worth of groceries, heading into town for breakfast and coffee, and generally getting to anyplace that is within twenty miles of home. Things I can't do on my bike include getting to the airport, going to home depot and picking up building supplies, driving another person anywhere as a favor, going someplace more than 20 miles from home and other things like that. Weather is not really a factor unless it's extremely bad. But if the weather is that bad, I am probably not going to drive anyway.

My goal is to choose to bike whenever there is a choice. One of the obstacles that will make this hard sometimes is the huge number of hours I spend at work but I will choose to ride as much as I can. Today I rode into work but I hitched a ride home with Cathy. I started at 8:30 am and did not leave the store until about 9:40 pm and the thought of riding 45 minutes in the dark was very intimidating so I took the easy way out but I will do the round trip on Tuesday regardless of what time I am done working. Each day I will update my blog with my progress, or lack there of, presented for entertainment and benefit of anyone who would care to read it. Maybe we'll learn something, maybe we won't. One down, three hundred and sixty four to go!