I knew this wasn't going to be easy.

This weekend reminded me of why I liked having our Jeep.

We went up to the cabin in the Uinta's and really enjoyed it up there. It rained, the sun shined, the wind blew, we saw the most amazing display of stars and the milky way that I have ever seen, but then Sunday morning came and I felt rushed that we had to hurry and get things cooked, and cleaned, and packed so that we could get the car back in time. Plus we had to give ourselves extra time to clean it since it was the first trip that SUV had probably ever made off pavement. Then I started thinking, hmmm...we really used to do more hiking, take the dogs places, and just go more places in general before we got rid of the jeep. What will happen when it starts snowing and we want to take the dogs snowshoeing or skiing, or whatever? It is gonna get pretty damn expensive to 'rent' a car each time we want to do something.

Not saying that I want to go out and buy another SUV or truck right away, but it makes me wonder where the middle ground is. If we were just 'city people' who didn't really enjoy hiking and camping and playing outdoors then being totally car-free would be soooo much easier. But we have 2 big dogs (kids can go on public transit, dogs can't) which makes doing any outdoor stuff a big ol' pain in the ass for the most part.

Hopefully happier thoughts for the next post...

It's not always gonna be sunny in SLC

Yesterday it rained, and today it rained again...nothing crazy but enough to think...'hmmm, a car would sure be nice right about now'. We ended up biking to the gym yesterday, but luckily we waited long enough that it had stopped raining although the roads were still pretty wet and a bit slick. We learned that my breaks work fine in the rain, but Jakes'...not so good.
We went the entire weekend without a vehicle. Friday night was a company picnic at Sugarhouse Park, which I helped to set up, so I rode the bus home after setting up then rode it there and back with Jake later on that night. Saturday we rode the bus to 'Dancing Crane' so I could get  a new purse. Then we rode the bus back downtown and went out to eat/drink at Red Rock, then on to the Greek Festival. Sunday we went down to Taylorsville via bike --> trax --> bike...then back via bike --> trax --> bike. This next weekend we are planning to go up to the cabin, so we'll be getting the SUV from Ucarshare... ahhhh...

What being car-free means...

Carfree = free from your car, free to walk around fearlessly, free to breathe easily, free to spend your money elsewhere, free from your small slice of the oil supply chain, free to be healthy, free to feel the wind in your hair (Taken without permission from carfree Portland...but I'm pretty sure they are the sharing type, especially if it's advocating...ummm...car-freedom)

1 week car-free

So we have made it through our first week without our beloved Beep. Here is what our postage size stamp apartment looks like now: (actually it has looked like this for awhile, but now that we are using our bikes more we had to make them a bit more accessible, my mtn. bike isn't even in this shot)...

 

Winter should be interesting, although I don't really want to think about that just yet...I'll wait to worry about it when it gets here.

As for now things are going good, haven't changed too much from before but a few things do take a bit more planning (laundry, groceries, etc). I think we put at least 25-30 miles in this weekend on foot (including Monday) hiking, biking, and just walking all over the place so hopefully it'll start so show on my belly ;) 

S'all for now...

First car-free weekend

Well, for our first car-free weekend, we got a car. No...we didn't buy one, but we 'rented' one from ucarshare.com for Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning. In hindsight we really only needed it for Saturday and could have returned it Saturday night, but oh well.

 

We picked up the car we reserved online, the ford escape hybrid, at the Salt Lake Frontrunner station. This is actually really convenient for us since we can just jump on the trax by our house (city center) and ride it down to the frontrunner station (all of which is in the 'free fare zone').  You use your 'ucareshare' card to unlock the vehicle you have reserved, then get the keys out from the glove box, then you are ready to go. There is a gas card in the glove box so you can get gas if you go below 1/4 tank...but we didn't even get close since it's a hybrid and used only a tiny fraction of what our jeep would have used for the same distance. It drove so quiet and smooth, yet another big difference from the jeep...it took a bit of getting used to but both started liking it after awhile. 

After picking it up we headed home, got the dogs, and went up to Millcreek canyon. Happy was kinda bummed that she couldn't hang her head out of the back window like she could in the wrangler, but she got over it pretty quickly.  After our hike to dog lake we headed down to Jake's sister's place, dropped the tired puppies off, then went with his sister, Ian, and their baby to their bro and sis-in-laws house to BBQ and visit. Then we just drove home and parked on the street...so it just sat at our apt. overnight and into the morning...while still paying by the hour. Doh...

Overall it was really pretty cool, almost like getting a new car for a day (...yep, it still had it's 'new car smell'). Next time we'll plan a bit better so we aren't paying for it to just sit on the road while we sleep, but it was a good 1st outing. We are even thinking about renting it for the max (6 days) and taking a trip with it...it's cheaper than flying, taking the train, or probably even the greyhound (ugh...).

Location, location, location

Okay, so today would be our first full day of not owning a car. It isn't actually all that different from most other weekdays, since we have'nt really been driving much. One thing that's different is that we walked to the laundromat instead of just driving. It's only a block away, but in the past it was just easier to load up beep with the laundry. Oh, and then I wouldn't really need to help Carla with it. (we do have a laundry room in our apartment, but it's usually full.)
We also walked over to the grocery store while the clothes were in the wash. This is a good thing to learn how to do; planning ahead.
Yeah, we live close to a few grocery stores, coffee shops, laundromat, restaurants, library, etc.. We already walk to most of them, and bike to any that are farther. It's not like we woke up one day and said "let's sell our car". We've been planning to do this for awhile and to prepare ourselves we have limited our use of the car, and moved to somewhere that is close to both of our jobs.
Not saying it's impossible to go carless in the suburbs or anything, just a little farther to walk to places. Walking isn't all that bad.

I am all for going car free or at least reducing the use of your car. 

A year and a half ago I sold my '67 VW bug and "swore off of cars", unless a dang good reason came up to have one again....Well, a year ago while on my "pitstop" in SLC visiting family and such, I find out I am pregnant. I decided on staying in SLC for the support of family for a while. The first 5 or 6 months of pregnancy we were car free.. relying on the SLC public transit system when you feel you might puke at any moment keeps things interesting. I rode the UTA to work and my doctor's appointments. I didn't like the idea of riding a bus with my newborn baby and we bought our Volvo. We ended up  using it to go shopping and visit friends, to take me to work and to go to the mountains. Xims (my baby) liked riding in the car half of the time, and the other half of the time she would be screaming... trying to drive with a crying baby = not fun. About a month ago the Volvo was stolen from our driveway. The first few days after, I was angry and depressed about our situation. We started walking a lot, the grocery store, the ice cream shop, to Gramma's house... I was getting in shape. We took the bus if it was a long trip. Through all this I would just put Xims in a sling and she LOVED it! We got used to having no car with a baby in this city. The only times it bothered me was when I wanted to go to the mountains, a friends house or buy more than a bag full of groceries... oh and walking so much with an 18 pound baby in flip flops (my shoes were in the car). Overall we had more time for each other, we smelled the flowers on the way, and I could comfort Xims at any point of our travels easily. Car less life was alright!

The police found our car  a few days ago  still intact! After experiencing the pros and cons of having a car/not having a car I want to  keep our driving to a minimum. It will be nice to go camping.

-Jen