Let me introduce myself and then introduce what I will be adding to the blog.
Generally speaking, I am a sarcastic, straight forward, overly analytical person (which is why it's good Tabby married me. She evens me out). So if I write something that seems outrageous, it's a joke. I'll try to keep myself toned down but sometimes I get carried away :). Also I like computery gadgety things... So I may talk about those things too.
So, yesterday we sold our car... and now we don't have a car. "WHAAAT" you say "HOW WILL YOU GET AROUND?! HOW WILL YOU LIVE!?" and to that I reply "BICYCLES! The way of the fUuUtUrE man" (in case that's too confusing it says future... see, sarcasm) in my best hippy conspiracy theorist voice. We are going to attempt (at least for 30 days) to live without a car. We live so close to everything it almost doesn't make sense not to. So I am here to write about my experiences biking. (It just now hit me, this would probably be way cooler for those reading if I took pictures huh... I'll do that tomorrow I guess)
So, first let me talk about why we decided that biking could work for us. In Boise it's generally fairly flat, and there is a bike path that doesn't have vehicles that will take you just about everywhere you need to go (at least within a few blocks). From our house to Trader Joe's (which I will let my Wife write about how to live on Trader Joe's for fairly cheap) it's only 1.7 Miles, or a 10 minute bike. We have a trailer for carrying our daughter that has a trunk space for groceries. Also, Trader Joe's is the heart of the downtown community so its a 10 minute bike to see all of the beautiful sites of Boise (and 99% of the ride is along the Boise river and through the park/right next to the Boise Zoo... kind of sweet if you ask me) It takes us 10 minutes to get to Trader Joes by car... so were not loosing any time there. I live 6 miles from work (but its the only part of town that has some real hills... and there's 4 of them quiet nicely spaced to kill my 240 pound out of shape butt. I do a lot of hill walking.) So that takes 40 minutes to work and 25 home (the down hill parts are easy!) It took 15-20 minutes to drive that before, so I am loosing a bit of time there but, it will get easier as time goes on.
So, that being said... it just makes sense for us to AT LEAST try it out. (worst case, we hate it and go buy a car) There are a few deterrents though... the big one being single digit temperatures and mild sporadic snow from late October through February. So that's going to be interesting, not 100% sure how to handle that yet. As well, its a little scary trusting drivers around here, they aren't very bike conscious. If you make it 1 day without a close call, that's a miracle. So toting around our 9 month old daughter does scare us a bit. Well just have to be more cautious.At any rate, hopefully you have gotten a taste of my personality, and my new found purpose for blogging. Hope you enjoy reading as we go through this journey we hope to inspire others to give it a try and provide tips that we discover for making the transition easier. Or maybe in a week well decide we hate it and that no one should do it... who knows but hopefully it will be a fun ride (get it...)
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