A little while ago, I shut down my blog "Carfree Family." For those of you who stumble across me again, we are the family that lives in Santa Fe. When our children were 4 and 2, we sold our car and embarked on our grand experiment. We made it for almost eight years without a car. In general, it was a joy not to have one. We did not find ourselves caging rides off friends, and the weather seldom daunted us.
Almost a year ago, my mother passed away. With my daughter moving to a charter middle-and-high school that was some distance out of town down a not-so-good road, I decided to use a little of the money to buy a car. My wife had also grown weary of her trek up to work at 6:30 in the morning when it was dark, snowy and icy and in the single digits. I couldn't really blame her. When you commit yourself to an out-of-the-ordinary lifestyle, you can push yourself through some very difficult circumstances, but at some point, you just get tired of pushing.
I had joked in my final Carfree Family post that I might buy a Vespa and start wearing bowties. I did not start wearing bow ties, (though I'm still thinking about it. We all love the bowtie wearing Doctor Who). I did, however, decide to buy a Vespa.
So in one short year, we went from being a Carfree Family, to a family that bicycles a lot, but has a Subaru and a Vespa which are pressed into service more than I would like to admit. It's been a cold snowy winter, but it is now turning unseasonably warm. It's good that the ice is gone, and we can stop using that as an excuse to drive.
My daughter, however, will have track practice every day soon. That means more trips on the Vespa and sometimes the car.
I thought I had "Carfree Family" backed up on the computer. I did not. I deleted its associated Google account, so I'm afraid that record of our time as a non-motorized family is gone forever.
I'm not particularly fond of the digital world, (which is why I was trying a period of time with no email), but I thought I would reserve this blog name. I enjoyed writing about bicycling. I may get back around to it.
