Robert may have been right. He said a few months back that I wouldn’t last.

As it is, I’m having a blast not having a car. If my life were staying the same as it was even five or six months ago I wouldn’t even think about getting a car. Here’s the rub. My photography business is really taking off.

I’m booking all kinds of unique gigs. Pet shoots, a promotional shoot for a clown, family shoots, engagement shoots, weddings, band shoots.  the sessions are scattered all over central Pennsylvania. Here’s the problem. Every time I book something I get this sinking feeling like, “how am I going to get to this session?” Then I ignore it because I think, “I’ll just rent a car” or “I’ll borrow my girlfriend’s.” Well, I’m getting tired of borrowing Joy’s car. And if I do a $150 session it’s hardly worth renting a car for $60-$100 dollar plus gas.

My dad told me about a car he found out about. It’s the classic nice car owned by an old lady that was hardly driven. It’s a 95 Escort for $1300. If I can talk them down I might just go for it.

Lately I’ve been walking. I have walked to work 3-4 days a week for the last month. I’m not even really sure why. I have enjoyed the slow pace. I turn on a podcast and kick it.

Today it’s been raining all day. I walked here in my rain suit; however, my bike was at work all weekend. I have to ride a few miles out of my way to drop off my rent check. I was thinking of all the ways I could get a ride. Today’s one of those days where I really did not feel like riding in the rain.

Then I decided to not be a pansy and go ride. Now I’m actually excited to get out and ride in the rain.

The last three weeks or so I’ve taken to walking to work. Honestly, I’m not sure why. Riding my bike takes a quarter of the time. I just like the pace.

Today as I was walking it started to snow! This is not that ridicuous except that it was in the 60s yesterday. There was a guy mowing his lawn and the weeping willows are budding. Thankfully, it was a shortlived sqaull and amounted to nothing.

The weather’s been weird over all. It’s been very windy the last four or five days. I hate the wind (as you know). But now it’s cold.

Anyway, I’m still at it. I don’t have any plans of getting  a car.

I hate to ride in the wind. Yesterday we had gusts up to 25 mph. Riding in the wind can turn my 2.5 into an unpleasant ride. I don’t like the extra effort it takes to get where I’m going. I don’t like never knowing when a gust will come and force you to get your balance. I would rather ride in ten degrees (which I did over the winter) than ride in the wind. Now if it’s a cold wind then I’d rather stay home.

Yesterday I ended up walking to work. I heard the wind slamming my apartment and made up my mind I’d rather walk. Besides, walking is turning out to be quite pleasant. I end up walking one or two days a week.

Car-free commute has fallen into a normal part of life. This is not a bad thing. As a matter of fact it’s a very good thing. I want to make status-quo not having a car. I want to prove it can be done. Trust me. I used to drive a lot. The fact that not having a car is normal life for me proves that anyone can do it if they really want to. I suppose it’s finding the value in a smaller sustainable life.

I’m looking forward to riding around town and doing stuff after work now that it’s getting warm. Not that I couldn’t do that all winter, but when it was 20 degrees I didn’t venture out when I didn’t have to.

Sorry I haven’t been posting much. I’ve had my head in my photography business: Event Horizon Fotografie. I really should have a blog about that.

I noticed that a local news channel is doing a segment called “Project Economy.” I thought a piece about being intentionally car-free is fitting. So I emailed them and suggested it. Surprisingly they agreed. They are coming to the office on Thursday to “follow me home.” I don’t know if that means they are going to drive beside me or what.

I’ll be sure to post the youtube link when I have one.

This evening I was to go a Technology Gala. My company was nominated for some awards.

It made for a comical situation. I didn’t want to ride because this event needed a suit. I have nowhere to put a suit on my bike, as of yet. I saw my manager’s name on the invite for the event and was assuming he was going. I figured I could get a ride from him. Never assume. He wasn’t going.

I had to ride my bike.

I had my suit rolled up in my panniers. I had forgotten any shoes except my buckle dress shoes. So I was riding towards downtown in my bike gear with dress shoes when my pannier fell off my bike out into traffic! Again!

Fortunately, neither I nor my pannier were hit.

It was the same thing that happened last time. Something snapped the brace off my fender.

My conclusion? SKS plastic fenders suck. A little rock got in there and snapped my fender! I’m going to have to try the chromoplastic. I need fenders, but I don’t want ones that break for no explainable reason.

I ended up walking my bike home and skipping the gala.

My girlriend just sent me a text message that said she killed a butterfly with her car. It was probably the second butterfly of the year. That my, friends, is reason enough to get rid of your car. Think about the butterflies!

First off, hi. I am still here. I’m still car-free. I haven’t written in a while because, honestly, not much has happened. I ride my bike to work most days and walk every so often. The weather has been shifting. It’s been warm for the last few days. That’s pretty exciting.

So far I’m not even tempted to get a car. At this point, it is just a way of life for me now. At first I was getting used to it. I used to make plans and forget I didn’t have  a car. My plans are shaped around whether I can get there and how. It just happens naturally though.

I like that my world has gotten smaller. It’s such a less hectic and cluttered life. The pace is much slower.

The good news is, I paid off my credit cards! I went from $8,500 to $0 in ten months! I’m so excited! I know that selling my car was a large factor in getting there so quickly. I saved several hundred dollars a month that I could put straight towards the debt.

My dad is still trying to get me to get a new car. He’s telling me about all kinds of hybrids and cars that are sold in Europe that may come to the U.S. I am not ready for that. Now that the credit cards are paid off it’s time to tackle my student loans, all $39,000 of them.

On the phone today my mom started telling me a story. She and my dad were eating dinner at a restaurant. It was raining. I’m convinced it was raining to add a dramatic effect. While they were eating they noticed a cyclist wearing a bicycle jacket similar to mine. I’m convinced his jacket was similar to mine for dramatic effect.

Apparently this chap was lying in the middle of the road. His bike was off to the side. It’s not clear how he got there. A kind woman stopped and held an umbrella over him until the ambulance came.

My mom said, “that could be my baby boy (as she sometimes calls me).” Now, she knew it wasn’t actually me because I live fifty miles away. What she meant was, “Bicycles are dangerous. My son rides his bicycle. Therefore my son is in danger!”

My parents have expressed their displeasure with my car-free lifestyle. They are not displeased that I come across as some environmentalist hippie. They are not worried about the great lengths I am going to save money.

They are worried about my safety.

Seeing a guy lying in the middle of road in the rain was not the best thing for them to see.  Now, no matter what argument I throw at them my parents will see my face mentally photoshopped over this guy’s face.

Speaking of bicycle safety. I have never felt unsafe on my bicycle. I can think of a host of reasons why it is a safe form of transportation. I have 180 degree eyesight (not including my mirror). I can hear my surroundings in stereo. I’m a smaller target. I have multiple lights, and I wear bright and clothes. Most importantly, I obey traffic laws. I am a predictable rider.

Ken Kifer makes an interesting point. He says that 90% of bicycle accidents are caused by motor vehicles hitting the cyclist. Also, out of the 5,600 pedestrians that are hit each year, only a small fraction are hit by bicycles. No automobile drivers are killed by bicycles. Sounds to me like the car is really the dangerous thing here. As a matter of fact the table (taken from Ken’s site) proves that point. 1 in 6,000 (and I’m rounding down) is killed in car accidents while 1 in 75,000 is killed in bicycle accidents.

Ken makes another interesting point. He lists the top ten causes of death in 1995 (it’s dated now, but the point remains). Notice that 5 of 10 causes of death could have been prevented by cycling. So it is more dangerous not to ride.

The Top Ten Causes of Death for 1995
Cause	No. of deaths		How to avoid (cycling-related methods only)
Heart Disease	737,563		Exercise	Diet	Stress Management
Cancer	538,455
Strokes	157,991		Exercise		Stress Management
Lung Disease	102,899		Exercise
Adverse effects	93,320
Pneumonia, flu	82,920
Diabetes	59,254		Exercise	Diet	Weight Management
AIDS	43,115
Suicide	31,284		Exercise
Liver Disease	25,222
National Center for Health Statistics

So there you go mom; that guy wasn’t hit. He slipped on a banana peel. That could have happened to anyone.

I ride to and from work just about every day. We had a solid month where the weather didn’t get above freezing, even during the day. That meant every evening as I was gearing up at the office at least one person would say, “you’re crazy.” or “you’re insane,” and the ever creative, “there’s something wrong with your head!”

For a while I’d just reply, “yup!” Then, I thought about it. These same people go skiing and don’t think that’s crazy. In my opinion skiing is even worse because you’re out playing in the snow. I usually remind whoever is calling me crazy that while I might be crazy I’m actually quite warm. At which point I bore the person with a winded description of my gear.

Last week we had a day in the 60s and it’s been over 40 every day since last Monday. A few fellow riders actually rode in last week. I even rode home with another rider. Something I haven’t done in a long time. While the weather is supposed to drop back into the 30s this week I think the worst of the winter is over.