Car-Free Life

On Monday, I began my Car-Free life. Old run down Stacey was dropped off at Hector’s (my mechanic) and I told him I was not interested in taking her home with me. He decided to buy her for a handsome $400 and I hopped on the Metro to head home. We will see each other once more when I drop off the title and clean out the few things I left in her interior. I always imagined this day would be difficult, but quite frankly.... I feel liberated.

And a little scared.



Living car-free has been a goal of mine for about a year now. Quite honestly, I despise driving and all of the hassle that comes along with it. Although Stacey and I had a pretty good 7 year run together, she’d begun to feel like excess baggage. No radio, dented up, no heat in the winter, heavy, useless baggage.

Those of you who know me know I am a pretty not good driver. Occasionally I run over curbs or back into things. The roads will be a safer place without me.

Gliding along the bike path to work this morning, I felt great.

I tried to think of all the gains and losses that would come from ditching the car. No more parking tickets, no more worrying if Stacey will randomly stop working in the middle of the road (which she did fairly often), no more road rage, no more stressing about the substance leaking out of my car, and no more ridiculous gas prices. What I will gain is more exercise, more money, more time to relax (versus spending the same time sitting behind the wheel), more friendly waves as I cruise by people on my bike or scooter and more earth friendly ways to travel!

That is not to say that I don’t have some serious fears. I do. But I am coping with them. Reading How to Live Well Without Owning a Car by Chris Balish is helping.

I worry that I will miss the freedom to just hop in the car and go wherever my heart pleases. I worry that my friends will get tired of having to pick me up if we plan on going somewhere more than a few miles away. I worry I will be simply too tired to bike home or wait at a bus stop after working for 12 hours, and become a burden on Jim because he will inevitably come pick me up if I complain enough.

I have yet to purchase my scooter, but hopefully that will happen on Saturday. Also on my list of car-free living items to buy:

- bike helmet
- lock
- kickstand (current bike does not have one, pain in the ass to have to prop it up every time I need to do something)
- basket for bike
- bicycle shorts (my yoga pants got caught a few times today, scared the hell out of me)
- extra shampoo, conditioner and soap to keep at the gym (if I get too sweaty and need to shower)

Once I get my scooter, I will assess accessories I need to get in order to ride comfortably.

Expect lots, and lots of pictures.