Fuel

I noticed yesterday that gas was up over $3 a gallon again. With soccer winding down, I'm thinking conservation again.

Being that we're a way from anywhere (Clif Bar's 2 Mile Challenge will get me precisely nowhere), it's almost necessary to drive for anything. I try to park in one place once I get there and walk to the different stores for my shopping. I drive in one direction for any "big box" shopping kept to one day a week, the library, grocery store and small-shop shopping, which is in the other direction, on another. Hopefully I keep my car in the garage for the other 5 days.

Thing 2 wants to start riding bikes to the store. I've thought about this in the past, and have even picked out a bike trailer to haul the stuff. But I'm pathetically out of shape, and our area is very hilly. I used to ride all over the place in my younger days, and I'd enjoy riding again. Heaven knows I need the exercise, but....

The roads we live on are heavily travelled by huge trucks that don't give a hoot if you're on the road or not. They frequently cross over the center line as you're coming at them in the other direction (in a car, I mean). There are several blind corners, and Mr. E is terrified that I'll die, and has strictly forbidden Thing 2 from riding on the road. Lots of bicyclists travel around here - it's very pretty - and I haven't heard of anyone killed or injured. I checked the local papers online, and even the big papers, and can't find anything for this area. Of course, even if a house burns down around here, it doesn't make the news.

Mr. E's answer is to drive our bikes down to the trails, and ride from there. Which is fine for a ride, but Thing 2's purpose (and mine) is to ditch the car in the first place. Get your exercise in while doing the shopping.

I guess I'll need to actually ride a bit before I start worrying about shopping on bike. Until then, I'll fork over the money for gas, and keep my shopping trips to a minimum.




If anybody knows what happened to Path to Freedom, could you please drop me a line? I haven't been able to view their website for days.