Sunday, March 09, 2008

Car free and happy in Silicon Valley

I didn't mean to become car-free in Silicon Valley. Like luck or love, it happened, literally, by accident - a glorified fender-bender at that.

Rather than repair the twisted nose of my aging Ford Focus last March, the insurance company gave me a check for $6,800. I had three choices: 1) Buy another car. 2) Save it for a leave of absence to write a book. 3) Paint my old house.

I painted the house and, boy, it looks great in blue-green. You see, the boss nixed the leave of absence and I thought a new car could wait for winter. I wanted to pass the summer biking to work and around town, acquiring an athletic tan and thunder thighs.

But then a funny thing happened. I quickly discovered something surprising - I actually enjoyed being car-free. I felt fine about distancing myself from auto addicts.
Read more in the San Jose Mercury News. Companion articles: How many vehicles per household in Silicon Valley, and Mr Roadshow's I love to drive.

3 comments:

Noah said...

As a Focus owner and a webmaster of the most popular Ford Focus Maintenance website, I am offended.

Or, not really. About being offended, that is. My Focus doesn't see many miles these days either.

cafiend said...

I was in college when the intoxication of car free life took hold of me. I would suddenly realize how many miles I had covered that day, just in the course of normal activities and feel amazing energy. It wasn't some revolutionary political statement or grim resolve. It just felt really great. If I biked I had a certain set of challenges to meet, but if I had driven I would have to meet the challenges of traffic and parking, fuel and upkeep. Everything has its price and provides its rewards.

Yokota Fritz said...

I'm more "car light" than car free, but I have a similar story. My car died a few years back and I never got around to replacing it. Like Citizen Rider, I just bike because I like it.