At the time
of writing this description, December 2015, we approach our 5 year
carfree anniversary – wheee! It’s been
quite a ride, mostly on 2 wheels. Meet
our family, enjoy our love story, and be inspired to quit driving (if your
city’s infrastructure safely allows), get fit, and have fun traveling outside
the box….
WHO WE ARE
Our household
is composed of
2
parents, 5 teens (no kidding, 5 kiddoes, ages 13-19) or …
3
earning income, 4 studying/supporting
4
adults, 3 minors
5
of driving age, 2 not
6
able bodied, 1 handicapped
7
suburban bike ninjas, 0 drivers!
We are
employees, interns, volunteers, world schoolers, committee members, advocates, activists,
actors, film producers, bloggers, bookworms, nature enthusiasts, dog lovers,
dungeon masters, vegans, fun fanatics, and generally busy community
members. Not driving does NOT mean being
stuck at home!
HOW WE GOT HERE
The biggest
caveat to our story is LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. We moved from the Phoenix metro area to the
Portland metro area in December 2009. LOCATION
was the ultimate factor that made not driving a safe and realistic choice for
us – a location with decent sidewalks, good bike lanes, accessible mass
transit, conveniently located community amenities, and a growing culture supportive
of active transportation. Not that everything
here is perfect, but things are headed the right direction, and a darn sight
better than what we left in AZ at the time.
From our minivan-dependent life in a sprawling car-centric metropolis
where we sped along highways daily (often for an hour or more) and drove kids’
bikes to the park for a safe place to ride while parents had none to pedal
themselves…
2010 - YEAR ZERO – FROM HANDICAP
PARKING SPOT TO BIKE RACK
The first
year in OR – call it year zero – our minivan’s gas consumption dwindles from
weekly to monthly refuelings, in part due to conscious effort to keep outings/activities
as local as possible and in part due to more walkable/bikeable grocery
shopping. Mom and kids enjoy a lot more
exercise and outdoor time, and by the first hints of spring, Dad surprises
everyone by getting on a bike. Back in
the early 2000’s, his doctor’s orders pursuant to a spinal condition were: “No
standing for more than 10 minutes at a time, no sitting upright for more than 5
minutes at a time.” That condition left
him for many years with few options other than reclining, oxycodone for pain,
and oversized portions of food to feed a growing depression. Newly available microsurgery in 2008 was helpful
enough to put an end to oxycodone, but was not a cure-all. Could have been the wind on his first ride,
but it was as if new life was breathed into Dad, who realized that biking hurt
less than walking and remembered from his long-ago days as a bike commuter that
it’s a lot more fun than driving too. By
fall, someone jokes about ways to save during family budget planning:
"Well, we could get rid of the car." A pregnant pause, a thoughtful
silence, glances exchanged, another examination of the numbers, more
conversations, protests from some, long looks at maps, first attempts at mass
transit, bike trailer shopping, gear check, a plan to ditch the minivan, and soon
we’re parking at the bike rack instead of in the handicapped spot. Although the minivan still sits in a parking
space awaiting its fate, we declare December 25th our carfree
anniversary after a successful convoy to the library with the new bike trailer
and a sighting of two eagles on our ride home.
2011 – YEAR ONE – RIDING ON THE
SIDEWALK
On
hand-me-down and second-hand bikes, on foot, by bus and light rail, we learn to
make our way around town and farther away to downtown Portland. We bike on the sidewalk because the kiddoes
are small-ish, Dad’s physical handicaps make him a bit unstable, Mom was taught
growing up that the sidewalk was the proper place to pedal, and who in their
right mind would actually want to share the same road space with large, loud,
dirty, noisy, scary cars when the sidewalk is so conveniently and reassuringly
separated from them? Dad’s weight
plummets by more than a hundred pounds, and Mom enjoys the best physical
fitness of her life, and only getting better.
Before the end of the year, Oregonian reporter Casey Parks publishes a story (including video interview) about
our car-free lifestyle,
so even though we’re just getting started, we’re feeling pretty cool as well as
stronger, healthier, and happier.
2012 – YEAR TWO – SUBURBAN BIKE NINJAS
After everyone’s
online and Mom’s on-road bike education from the League of
American Bicyclists,
plus a few close calls on sidewalks, we migrate from sidewalks into bike
lanes. And learn that bikes really can
make left turns in traffic! For some of
us, this shift in self-confidence means faster and farther travel by bike,
while smaller family members are less keen about getting off the sidewalk. We are surprised to receive an Alice Award in
May from the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) for “outstanding achievements
and dedication to building the future Oregon where bicycling is safe,
convenient, and fun.” For us, the award feels
like a call to action, especially after being dubbed “Suburban Bike Ninjas” in
the awards video. We start posting more
on social media, attending committee and public meetings about transportation system
decisions, and delivering CSA shares by bike trailer as nonprofit volunteers. Overall, 2012 is a 2nd year of
getting stronger, healthier, happier, and more efficient in our non-driving
travel.
2013 – YEAR THREE – TAKE THE LONG WAY
Since using
the bike lane on larger arterials is a bit spooky for some, we revise our routes
to avoid traffic, taking longer, more creative routes on multi-use paths and
quiet streets. Turns out the longer
rides not only feel safer, but also equal more fun and exercise. We explore new, farther destination in
addition to new routes. The parents get
a chuckle listening to the teens discuss polite ways to turn down car rides
from friends because they actually prefer walking to being driven. We sign up for the National Bike Challenge
to discover that we’re averaging over 1,000 miles of pedaling monthly yielding
an estimated >1,000 pounds CO2 saved by not driving, all while
having an incalculable amount of fun.
Winning our independence from the minivan changes our perspective on
everything. We find ourselves with a
growing intolerance for distracted drivers, a shocking outrage at the true
costs of driving to the environment and public
health, an unwillingness to accept the “acceptable
losses” of a car-centric transportation system, and an associated
willingness to speak up louder for safe and connected active transportation
options.
2014 – YEAR FOUR – A VIEW FROM OUTSIDE
THE BOX
Our
viewpoints become more and more bike-centric.
The passing cars (and the cars we pass during rush hour standstill) seem
somehow foreign and the idea of traveling inside one seems almost alien to
us. We can hardly fathom how much time
we once spent driving and recoil at the thought. As everyone is growing up and heading off in
different directions with different interests and different friends, we wonder
how we would have managed by minivan.
For years we had lamented the one car family dilemma, when the real
solution turned out to be replacing four wheels with fourteen. The kitchen never stops fueling our travel,
and some days it’s difficult for some of us to eat enough. There’s no thinking twice about seconds. But who can complain about that? We all feel a deeper connection to nature
communing with the sun, wind, and rain, and listening to the music of the birds
and the trees as we travel, to say nothing of encounters with coyotes, owls,
beavers, raccoons, and more. The mainstream
acceptance of roadkill in the bike lane is inconceivable to us, and we ponder
the role of the transportation system in an overall culture of violence. Needless to say, it all makes for interesting
dinner conversation in between many bites.
Did I mention how much we’re enjoying the vegan fuel as well as the fun
of the ride?
2015 – YEAR FIVE – … ALREADY?
We are all
busy working, interning, volunteering, taking classes, being social, speaking
up at advocacy events, grocery shopping, community gardening, doing basically anything
and everything we used to think required a car to get there. Quite frankly, we wouldn’t know what to do
with a car if someone gave us one. Our
most frequent use of cars these days is checking reflections in a parked car’s
window to make sure helmets are on straight before departing the bike rack. We
are experts at finding the safest bike routes, mapping mass transit trips, dressing
in layers, and carrying enough extra socks on rainy days. We enjoy the most
stamina and best physical fitness (yet) of our lives. More than anything we are
grateful for biking’s role in Dad’s return to life from a gloom of pain,
depression, and obesity – the biggest and most wonderful change from 5 years
ago! And the most important reason why – in addition to falling more deeply in
love with biking, nature, and fitness – our carfree family story is truly a
love story!
