Family Reunion

I went out to a family reunion for the weekend of the 4th, and as is our tradition, instead of renting a car, we rented bikes.

It became a tradition when we realized that the best way to see just about any city is by bike.  It goes slow enough past you that you can really take it in, and it gives you a close interaction with the people around you.  Additionally, parking is anything but an issue.  And while we haven't had an issue with anything being stolen, we're covered by our Visa if anything does happen.

Admittedly, they cost more than renting a car would.  Even with gas and insurance a car for 2+ people is only about 150 bucks.  But 2 road bikes and a trailer will run you well over 200 for a weekend.  But we don't own a car out here, and we just apply the money we save by not having a car toward getting bikes when we're on trips like that.

And if you're wondering how much money we save by not having a car: We owned a car for a year after we'd lived here for 6 months.  In that year, the cost of owning the car (gas, service, insurance, tickets, etc.) came out to 26 dollars a day.  The cost of what we do now (cycling, walking, buses, trains, taxis and renting the occasional car) is closer to 6 dollars a day.  In our book, the choice is clear.  Life is more fun without a car.

Recently two of our friends out here were forced to give up their cars: one had their license expire and had no way to renew it, the other had their car impounded and no way to recover it.  Now nearly two months later they are as strong of advocates of the car-free lifestyle as we are.  Sometimes it just takes a little doing.