Gasoline crack of history

It recently occurred to me that my husband and I have been sharing a car for the past 2 months. It also occurred to me that it hasn't been much of a problem. When our son came home from college this spring, we told him he could use our second car for work, and we would borrow it from him when it was needed. And, aside from moving our daughters into a new place, we haven't had to borrow it. I find that kind of interesting. We have discussed going down to one car before - after all, we are 'retired' (in the loosest sense of that term). But it has never been seriously considered. Now I'm beginning to think about it.

How are we getting by with one car? Bikes and buses. If we can bike anywhere, we usually do. Today Tom biked a couple of miles to Big Beaver, where he picked up a bus heading downtown (to United Way in Detroit). He puts his bike on the front of the bus and uses it while downtown. I biked to exercise and back. We have been doing this for a couple of years now, and now it just seems natural to get out and bike places -- and we're always looking for another way to get in some exercise.

This past week we also celebrated our 30th anniversary, and instead of taking another long-distance trip (last year we went to Wales), we decided to stay local and do things we enjoy. Who knew it would be so much fun to tour the DIA, have tea at Greenfield Village's Cotswold Cottage, see Manhattan Transfer at the Power Center in Ann Arbor, or enjoy a beautiful morning eating breakfast outdoors at Zola's? We agreed that it was just as much fun as traveling, and without some of the hassle. We do enjoy seeing new places and visiting different countries, but we were surprised at how much fun a local vacation was.

So with all this lifestyle adaptation we are just beginning, I read something yesterday that really struck me. I was finishing up the book, Second Nature - A Gardener's Education by Michael Pollan (really excellent by the way), and I came across this quote by a man named J.L. Hudson (no, not our J.L. Hudson): "We have only a brief moment in history when fossil fuels will continue to allow us rapid worldwide travel. Let us use this time wisely." He refers to a quote from a man named William Burroughs: "Migrants of ape in gasoline crack of history." Is this true? Do we live in a 'gasoline crack of history'? Is life as we know it quite fleeting, and will the age of easy global exploration one day be a thing of the past? It reminded me of a discussion we heard while on the above-mentioned trip to Wales, all about peak oil. Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum production is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. No one really know when peak oil will be reached - some say it has already come - but the main point was that if we want to do research on other sources of energy, doing it before peak oil, when we are still flush with money, makes sense.

So anyway, all of this is swimming around in my mind when I hopped off my bike this morning and entered the community center to exercise. I almost passed an elderly woman who looked at me and spoke in a thick accent, saying: "Good for you." I wasn't quite sure what to say, but soon it occurred to me that she might have seen me get off my bike, so I said thank you. Then she said: "If everyone did what you're doing, we wouldn't have so so much pollution in the air. I used to ride everywhere, but here they don't want me to." Given her age and the fact that our city isn't the most bike-friendly, I understand what she was saying. But what a shame. I have a feeling that if she were to be born 100 years later, she might receive a different message.

Vacationing without a car 2

Our goal in Washington DC was to locate close to public transportation, and Tom found a great hotel right across the street from the subway. DC has a wonderful subway system, and we had no problem using it to get our luggage to the hotel, and then on our daily adventures. I had a flashback to our time on the subways in Tokyo.

In Williamsburg we stayed at Kingsmill, a resort about 4 miles from Colonial Williamsburg. Tom had found a bike rental place ahead of time, so on our first full day there we hopped on the Kingsmill shuttle, and they dropped us off to pick up our bikes. You might notice from the picture that my bike was rigged with a piece of cardboard on the back (no fender - I wanted mud protection) and a nice little basket in the front. The owner of the shop was happy to accommodate my requests. It was wonderful biking to and from our destination, and we really got a great cardiovascular workout from a couple of strategically placed hills.

I will say that we, as bikers in Colonial Williamsburg (and Kingsmill), were definitely an oddity. We did see a few other people biking, but it was unusual. That surprised me. The place is huge and it's nice to traverse it by bike.

One thing that posed a challenge for us: eating. Since we were there for a week, we wanted to buy groceries, and not eat out all the time. Kingsmill did not have a grocery nearby, and we did not encounter one on our 4-mile rides to Williamsburg. So we fired up the computer and made use of Google maps...and found a store about a mile out on the other side of the colonial area - no problem on a bike.

So my main message about a carless vacation is that it's a lot of fun, but it requires flexibility and a bit of work. We're scheduled to do the same thing again next year. We've already inked it in.

Vacationing without a car

Tom and I recently returned from another trip without a car, and we really loved it. We wanted to get to Williamsburg, VA, and decided to take the Amtrak train. The whole thing is a process, certainly not as easy as driving, but train travel has its rewards. Here's how we did it: First, we found out that we would have a short stopover in Washington DC, so we decided to take advantage of it, and we simply extended the layover to a few days of sightseeing. So the trip became a 2-city vacation. And who can resist a trip to the capitol?

The next obstacle: we found out that we had to board the train in Toledo....at midnight (boarding it in Detroit would take us to DC via Chicago). No problem - we were up for an adventure. We took a bus from Ann Arbor and arrived at the terminal in Toledo to discover that the train was an hour late, so we boarded at 1 AM. We were in a sleeper, which meant we had a tiny room - and let me emphasize the word tiny - and it was a goat rodeo figuring out how to undress and get into our little bunks. But we managed - sleep was a powerful incentive. We actually slept pretty well. Do you have any memories of your mother rocking you to sleep? Not quite like that, but you are rocking.

Now let me tell you some wonderful things about train travel. The next morning we woke up, showered (!) and headed for breakfast in the dining car. We shared a table with a nice couple traveling out to their daughter's wedding. Yes, people actually seem to like each other on trains, as opposed to how we barely tolerate each other on planes. The atmosphere is so relaxed, mainly due to the fact that on a train the one thing you have a lot of, in addition to leg room, is time. So we shared a leisurely breakfast and then went back to our little room to find the beds had disappeared and in their place were 2 comfy chairs with pillows. Due to some very admirable engineering, the bottom bunk transformed in the daytime to chairs, and we saw that the top bunk had been sort of pushed up and attached to the ceiling. So, given the fact that we had had an abbreviated night, we fell asleep and awoke just in time for lunch. We arrived at Washington DC's Union Station refreshed and full. When was the last time that happened to you while traveling by plane or car?

This is getting long....the next post will describe how we got around once we arrived in DC and Williamsburg.

Wales

Tom and Peggy took a trip to London and Wales to visit a number of centers/organizations for sustainability: Bioregional in London, Centre for Alternative Technology in in Machynlleth, Wales, and Sustainable Wales in Porthcawl, Wales. Here are our notes: Wales Trip. Take a photo tour on our Great Lakes Green Initiative Flickr page.