A few more words about my last post

I want to share with you a few more thoughts about why I hate driving a car. 

Though I love the convenience of it. 

For example today my work took me 25 miles from home to a remote office in the hills. I would not be working at this particular job were it not for my car. When I left work, it was snowing pretty hard. If you have ridden 25 miles on a bicycle in a driving snow or rain for that matter you'd know what a miserable experience that can be. My car is warm, relatively safe and I can even listen to music. In a snow storm at night it becomes an almost ethereal experience. 

I would never set out to to ride my bike through a snow storm on purpose. I'm know folks that through no fault of their own or may by choice do ride in adverse conditions. I will if I have to. In fact I have. I don't like it and there are alternatives.  But I digress.

Monetary gain or loss is only part of the equation. Today the money spent driving (Fuel) was more than compensated for by how many dollars I earned. So today was profitable. For me however, there is a hidden cost that I simply cannot ignore.

Here is a direct link to such a discussion:

http://www.lindenwood.edu/jigs/docs/volume4Issue2/essays/52-70.pdf

I think about this stuff when I drive my car. Whether directly or indirectly by driving I cause misery to someone somewhere. This is an underlying theme for me. I cannot talk about the importance of true justice in the world AND drive an automobile. 

Years ago, I was a participant in certain "ahem" shall we say recreational activities involving illegal substances. I was a college student living and studying in Latin America. I began to see that my behavior was not a victim less crime. 

This is still true today. In fact I just read a brief in the NY Times or somewhere about this. The example given was the war waged in Mexico of the cartels and the people. It's terrible. U.S. demand for drugs produced in Mexico and other Latin American countries is contributing in large part to the deadly violence that plagues some areas of the country. In some instances the authorities are powerless to stop it.

I drive, therefore I am part of the problem. I will ride, thereby becoming part of the solution. My next installment might even have to do with setting an example for the physical, spiritual and mental wellness that cycling can provide. Thanks for reading this.

THIS CAR IS KILLING ME!

Every time I put gas in my car I feel like I'm getting scammed!

I think I'm pretty well over it and of course most folks are going to say that it would be nuts to give up one's car in the dead of winter while living in rural Vermont. Rural Vermont? That's redundant.

What was I saying? Oh yeah.

I often feel like I have to make a choice between eating better or feeding my car. Between the price of gas, insurance premiums and the low monthly payments I signed up for when I bought the stupid thing, the balance of my bank account hovers at around, hmmmm, zero! 

Well, OK it's not that low but it does make it hard to save money. And why have we all been brought up to believe that having a car equals success. I hear people say stuff like that all the time. For example, I recently heard someone say, "If I could get my license back, then I could get a car and then I'd be all set". Or something to that effect.  That part about "getting their license back". That speaks to a different issue. But I digress.

Not to mention that I've gained about 5 pounds with all that butt sitting I do. Though I suppose working at a bakery doesn't help.

 I will force myself to ride, take a bus, hitch hike or walk to where I need to go. Because this shit is killing me.

 I've lived car free before, for about 3 years. I saved a ton of money and while it's true I didn't go very far from home I actually felt more free.

Now here is an interesting tidbit: In a recent search around the internet (and granted I couldn't possibly find nearly a tenth of what's actually out there), most of the blogs I searched about cycle commuting for the most part are oriented toward urban areas.

So, now I'm on a quest to find a blog about rural cycle commuting.

I'll keep you posted.