Discussion: boom! you hitting it.

boom! you hitting it.

2 weeks to the Birkie, now things are starting to get good. Have to drive 1.5 hours to Greenbush for excellent ski conditions. But worth it. Glad I own a hybrid.

when did you get a hybrid? i just got one too.

Had one for 2 + years. Half the reason I get to the dealer for recalls.

Chi town must be jealous that we got wheels.

.i bet you have a Prius, new or used?

2014, formerly rental

What in the world prompted you, after years car-less, to buy a ton of deteriorated non-renewables, to sit in your driveway and pollute your property and neighborhood for the next several years?

I was hoping you'd soon move closer in, for better transit and Forest Park access. Like the Central West End? With the $6000/yr that Prius will cost you, you'd have a nice rent subsidy...and still have some left over each month for a few good meals! :-)

Hey Soupbone...where are you staying on Friday night, Feb 19? I understand that the Hayward dorm now has a limit of 250, which has been reached.

chi, last time i broached the subject, you said go ahead - you paid your dues. are you reneging on me?

Chi town How can a person travel comfortably and see the country side close up without wheels getting them there? Don't say book a flight and rent a car every time you want to stretch out and travel on short notice.
When you confine yourself to a busy city with poor quality air it's time to move to the country. You know raise pigs and chickens. Grow fresh gardens that you can eat from.
By the way we stay a ma and pa hotel in Spooner, that still uses a metal key to open. Could never stay in a dorm or gym floor like that.

Congrats Rudy on your environmentally sound vehicle!! Now let's go some places!!
Hope to see you in Arizona some point at the Orienteering Fest.

....are you reneging on me?

Yeah, maybe I am reneging on you. How long have you been car-less? More than my 37 years? It is a shock to think of you as just another driver, rather than as a more intelligent 'creative' traveler. What were the reasons you decided to spend the money, time, and exasperation dealing with the car culture?

yes i feel a bit of culture shock, but i hope to retain the wisdom and tenacity carlessness conferred upon me. several things, selfishly the ability to reach natural areas and races more easily, the ability to visit my sons and travel w them, and more altruistically (not a dirty word by the way) the ability to help my father and his wife, take some of the burden from and repay my girlfriend, be more helpful in general...did you know that in Atlanta (and probably many places) people need to take bus 2 hours to get to a min. wage job...and 2 hours back...thats 4 hours more a day away from your family, chores, etc. No wonder there is a tipping point when poverty becomes an overwhelming and untenable proposition.

When family or friends, such as Soupbone, come to visit me in Chicago, I usually try to pay for all transit, and a generous share of the bar tab if I can. And I think they actually ENJOY the experience of getting around town without a car, dealing with traffic, and trying to find parking. So I don't feel indebted to them. And I feel no obligation to 'pay them back' by buying a car of my own. And if I need to be 'helpful' by moving stuff, I can always rent a car, van or truck, by the hour or by the day.

Dunno about St Louis, but I'm sure there are many suburbanites who have a 2+ hour commute to work WITH a car. After all, most cities have spoke-like highways leading to the city center, and a beltway. Out west, 3-hr commutes by car are even becoming accepted because of real estate prices and unsalable homes.

But most jobs these days are not being created downtown where the highways lead. They're increasingly in distant suburbs. So many commutes are on overloaded expressways, or hop-scotching across the spoke-beltway layout on secondary roads. So a 2-hr commute is becoming more and more common, whether by car or transit. At least with transit you can sit back, forget about stop-n-go traffic, road rage, and accidents...and lose yourself in a good book until you get there!

But of course you know all that!

Every one has choices, 2 hour commutes is time away from family's etc.

I do not live where there is good public transportation with not very great schedules to the city. Hence I own three vehicles. Oh and like 15 gas combustion machines to tame my wild woods and improve my landscaping on my 5.4 acres.
By the way, none of my stuff is used for recreation, just work and transportation. Unless you consider driving to recreation areas for recreation a bad thing.

My quality is not so great outside Kenosha but has to be better than being directly in the city??