Also kinda obvious--get off your posterior!

[Henrietta23]

We walk and hike for fun. I'd love to be able to walk my son to school which is only a mile. But we live at the top of a hill with lots of blind curves where people drive way too fast and it just wouldn't be safe. We have to drive somewhere safe to walk. Closest store is 3 miles and again, there's no safe way to walk or bike down the hill.

 

[dacjohns]

I took my truck in today for servicing. It has over 100,000 miles on it and my brakes were starting to act funny so I decided it really should get a good check up. They gave me a ride to the mall and I mentioned walking back to the dealership. The service manager was rather surprised but I told him I worked in the forest and had to walk a mile plus from the truck to where we are working.

When I walked back to the dealership he was still surprised that I walked back. Shoot, it was a nice day and I walked on flat ground. Piece of cake.

So what's this post all about? Walking and how people can't understand it.

 

[PamsPride]

I am one of the guilty ones that do not walk anywhere!!!!! It is a 45 minute drive into town. We have a 15 passanger Chevy Express....Gas Hog!! This is one area where I truly do not care or try to be conservative...awful I know!
But, I did drive DH's 'go cart' to town when I went shopping today...not so much because it was better on gas but because it is easier to find any old parking spot for the 'go cart' verse my big honkin' van!
And being 6 months pregnant I am just glad when I can walk to the bathroom!!!!




I call DH's car a 'go cart' because it feels and drives like one compared to my van...it is an Alero.

 

[lupinfarm]

I live 14 miles from any town. Our community gate and access to the Highway is 4.5 miles from my house. Our dumpsters are up there also. We have to go up there just to take our trash away from our home, and it is extremely steep and windy.
We work and the children go to school in town. Once in town, we pick up a second car, that we keep in storage, and go our separate ways. Paying for storage is more economical than using two cars to go up and down the hill. (The 14 miles is also mountain route.) The distance between my husbands job and mine is 8+ miles. The children are in school near my side of town, but will go to his shop after school soon, so again, they have to to be picked up. The streets are not safe for them to ride bikes on that many miles.
I use my car for my work. My husband is a mechanic. Cars are a hobby. We fix cars, build cars, break cars, show cars. But we're not always behind the wheel of a car. We ride 4 wheelers, drive 4x4's, ride motorcycles, and travel all over. We have bicycles, scooters, skateboards, a pogo-stick, a pedal car, a track around our property, I mean, we never sit still!
So nahhh, we're not prize winners when it comes to putting away the keys and jumping on a bicycle, but we do our best to keep what we have running smooth and clean....and we help others stay that way too! And we leave one in town and come home together, instead of driving two home!
Tina/tfpets

:O:O you guys get dumpsters?! We have garbage pick up every 2 weeks for only 2 bags, and must be bagged in clear plastic bags. We have a local dump, but it's only operative saturdays, and is closing down soon! jealousssss

 

[GardenSimply]

dacjohns,

After reading the posts and noticing the forum it's in (How to Save Energy) I'm thinking the original idea was to see how many of us are walking/biking, etc to keep fuel down to a minimum? I think that's the idea.

A common thread here is that it is either unsafe, completely impractical, or just plain 'no time, no way to do it'

I fall into the same trap. I do live in a small town that I can ride my bike to anything to in less than thirty minutes. And while most of my clients are online, I do have locals that I visit. The trick is not looking wholly unprofessional arriving in the clothes I can bike in with the 'wind in my hair' look. If it is raining, I have taken the bike for a spin for something personal (if it is not thirty degrees out) but for an appointment with a client? How can I? Besides, riding in the rain is dangerous with the vehicles about, not paying attention.

I had (embarrassingly) forgotten what it was like to go everywhere with small children, recently having kept my two grandchildren, I was quickly reminded of how quickly we don't do a thing and how impossible it would be to live like I live now (a solitary grandmother)

I regularly need a truck to haul our small towns' leaves (I'm the neighborhood 'compost' lady) I collect them from anyone I see who has them in a pile. (hopefully before I catch them in plastic. And for manure and moving compost from one home to another (our tiny community coop) I'M the one with the gas hog Dodge (oh yeah, it has a hemi <sigh>

I'm guessing that all ideas to do differently, find ideas, even if they are far fetched or more cumbersome would be well received? Do I have this right, all?

meandthegals,

Thanks for starting this thread! The more we communicate on how we 'do it' and how well we stick to it, the better we'll all be.

My Commitment: Ride the bike whenever and at all times possible. Make certain to do more than one thing (try to find three or four) to do whenever I DO have to get out. Ride with friends (or pick them up to go w/ when shopping.

 

[dacjohns]

My question was directed mostly to myself. I wrote a post about walking and when I got done I wondered if that was what and how I meant to write. I think out loud a lot. :/

Quite often it takes thought and planning to do little things that can save energy. I could have just as easily walked to the mall from the car dealership but it wasn't until we got in the shuttle heading to the mall that I remembered how close it was. At that point I could have told the driver that I would walk the rest of the way but I didn't. "Why not," I ask myself, "because I wanted to save face I guess."

I have some friends that live about 3 miles from me. I could easily ride my bike but the road I have to travel gets some pretty heavy truck traffic and the drivers aren't used to seeing people on foot or on bikes. It can be downright dangerous. It's scary enough driving my tractor over there when I need to.

 

[GardenSimply]

I know huh? That is the part about biking, especially in rural areas. (and especially with children) the danger involved in getting from one place to another. While I had five acres and were 'out' of larger populated areas, the one big highway connecting us to the (very small) NE OK town we were close to, was a semi thoroughfare. I nearly vibrated off the road every time I tried to ride into the one and only tiny little convenience store there.

It does take thought out plans and it is hard. I think that there is some irony in trying to 'get out' of the cities and move into more rural areas and then trying to get 'back in' to get some of the necessities we need. It's too bad we can't ride a horse and buggy in. At least that is a sustainable form of transportation. LOL

 

[FarmerChick]

Walking and how people can't understand it.

***you are right Dacs....I say something like, lets walk way over there, I get looks of insanity. No, why walk, drive.

People in general now are lazy. Simple as that. With the invention of the car it is normal to drive and walking seems like you are crazy or something..LOL

I went to the mall with Tony and Nicole today. I wanted to walk around the longer way to get to the mall entrance and Tony had a fit....no way he was walking that far when we could just take the escalator up and directly over to the entrance....Please, ya know, a little walking won't hurt..HA HA

yea alot of times the roads etc. are unsafe, but in reality we all can use more walking. nothing wrong with it..LOL

 

[GardenSimply]

FarmerChick,

I second that. Truth is maybe if more of us DID walk/ ride bikes, the trucks and vehicles would become more accustomed to dealing with us all, huh?

The go-cart idea was pretty cool too. LOL

 

[Nifty]

The spirit is willing but the flesh has a bunch of henchmen that keep the spirit "in-line" and tell it to spend all day managing the forums.