Summer Goal - less car, more bike

This site is not about politics.
It is about one family trying to be use less of the earth's natural, and somewhat unnatural, resources.
Politics aside, we think it is never a bad thing to treat our earth well.

I also would like to add that our family does not consider itself an ideal example of green living. If you want to live a greener life, do not look to us for assistance.
We are just trying our best to be kinder and gentler to our world.
One baby step at a time.


Miles 10-20

The seed to have a "greener" summer was planted in my head months and months ago (all puns intended). A few months ago the bike path near our house was finally completed. A stretch of it runs about 1/2 mile from our house and goes right by the pool club. So, I thought, maybe we should really make an effort to use the car less this summer and bike as much as we can. The path also travels right into town. It is about a 3 mile ride to town which would enable us to ride to Stop and Shop (I have a basket on my bike ready for groceries), the drug store, and most importantly Friendly's Ice Cream Restaurant.

When the winds howled outside during the winter, I was comforted by my warm summer thoughts of biking by bucolic, verdant fields with the sun shining on my back and my children riding by my side telling me what a genius I was for planning this fun-filled "green" summer.
I was determined to make it happen.

Well, as the saying goes, be careful what you wish for.................

About a week before school ended my dear husband was in a car accident. He was fine, but his car was not. We are still waiting to hear about the total damage but in the meantime we are a one car family. The insurance company offered us about $1. a day for a rental car. Hmmmm.
Gene needed a car to get to work. So, he gets my car. He needs to work. And, my idea of a green summer suddenly becomes an enforced reality. If I want to go anywhere, I have to ride my bike, so do the girls. It's okay. We were planning for this. I don't need a car. Again, be careful what you wish for..............

Last Friday was the first official day of summer. As luck would have it, it was a glorious sunny day, the first in weeks of gloom and rain. The girls both had friends over and between swim team and play dates we rode back and forth to the pool three times. I had put an odometer on my bike this spring and it hadn't been reset so it was on mile 10 when I started riding Friday morning. I decided to keep it going all summer instead of resetting it each time I ride, so I will use it to see how far I go this summer. On Friday I went from mile 10 to mile 16. I realize this isn't that far but remember I was keeping up with active 10 and 12 year olds. I was tired by the end of the day.

Saturday Sophie had her first swim meet and had to be at the pool very early to warm up. We had to bring supplies for the day so Gene and Sophie took the car over at 8:00 in the morning. Hannah slept in so we biked over a little later. I was a little tired from the day before but I have to say I enjoyed the nice, sunny morning ride. And, in case you were wondering, Hannah wasn't muttering any words about me being a genius on this early morning ride. It turns out that 12 year olds don't really like to be physically active before noon. We kept our distance as we rode silently to the club. Saturday turned out to be an extremely hot summer day. Sitting in the hot sun was draining. Once Sophie was done with her events Gene and Hannah were ready to go home and cool off. I let Gene have a turn at being green, and they rode the bikes home. Sophie and I rode home in the luxury of the air-conditioned car. I know it would greener to roll down the windows and not run the AC. But hey, baby steps.

On Sunday I did a HUGE grocery shopping. I usually go out once a week and shop for the week but I always know I can run out easily to buy things that I forgot. Not so easy now. So, on Sunday morning the family sat down and we brainstormed EVERYTHING we might want to eat during the week. I know that in some families, people eat the same thing day after day for breakfast and lunch but in this house we are mood eaters. Nobody in this house eats the same thing two days in a row. Well, Hannah likes peanut butter for lunch every day but sometimes she likes it with jelly, sometimes with banana, and other times with Nutella. So, it is very hard to plan a menu for a whole week. What kind of breakfast mood do you think you'll be in Thursday? Will it be a bagel day? A cereal day? A fried egg day? It's just hard to know.
I guess I am sympathetic to mood eating because I am a mood eater myself. When you are in the mood for a fried egg, cereal just won't do the trick. However, I can't buy everything that everyone might be in the mood for so we had to plan a menu. It was a difficult task for my family but we managed to get through it and I went to the store and bought an enormous amount of food. It may seem a little absurd, afterall, Gene is home with the car in the evenings, and I could go shopping then if need be, but it seemed like a challenge worth taking on. Of course, by Monday evening, day one of our week, we already realized that we had forgotten dishwashing soap and Sophie was hankering for some chocolate soy milk (apparently a mood drinker in addition to a mood eater) so within 24 hours of my huge shopping trip Gene was on his way back to the store. Once a week shopping trips might not be the thing for us.

We were looking forward to our Monday morning ride to the club but we awoke to the sound torrential rain. What? Rain was not part of my summer dream? I don't know why since it has rained nearly every day for the last month but for summer reason I never accounted for rain in my day dreams. Whenever my kids don't want to go outside in the rain, I always say, "Why? You won't melt." Now, I found myself saying those very words in my head, 'you won't melt. your bike won't melt.' Then, on monday morning, our first day of the first full week of school, I caved. I called a neighbor and asked her to give Sophie a ride to swim team. She was happy to oblige. Sophie was less than happy about going to swim team, "but mom, it's raining".

"What" I dared to say, "you won't melt." Then I continued, "besides, you are going to get wet in the pool anyway. What's a little rain?" She looked outside at the buckets of water bouncing off the drive way and looked at me like I was nuts.

Her ride came and she obligingly got in the car. I was nice and dry in the house. I rationlized it by saying she was still being green by carpooling. But, I felt bad that on day one, we had caved.
Sophie was also given a ride home so I never had to venture out in the rain on Monday.

The one thing I had really never given thought to when I thought of our car-free summer was the rain. Not only did impede our bike riding but it also kept us inside, unable to go anywhere to escape boredom. No trips to the mall, the bowling alley or the Pizza place. If it continued to rain what would we do to escape the boredom? I need to think about this.

On Tuesday morning, we woke up to gray dreariness. We were all cozy on the couch enjoying a morning of coffee, juice and bagels (Tuesday morning's menu). None of us had any desire to venture outside but Sophie had swim team at 9:00 a.m. I could have easily called the same friend to drive Sophie, and actually another friend called to offer a ride. But no, we had made a committment and we were going to follow through. So, Sophie and I donned our bike helmets and at 8:50 we were on our way. It was actually kind of nice. The morning was cool and the bike path was dewey and quiet. Sophie and I didn't say much on the ride but no one complained either. No one was calling me a genius but no one was calling me an idiot either. On the way home Sophie's best friend joined us on her scooter. The two of them rode ahead of me and I hung back and listened to the giggling chatter of two almost 10 year old girls. When we came to the part of the bike path where we needed to turn to go home they went in the opposite direction so they could get a treat at the corner store.

I know that my kids don't have as much freedom as I did as a kid. My parent's never drove me anywhere. Riding a bike wasn't being green it was just a way to get from point A to point B. Sometimes I feel sad because I know what they are missing out on by living in a world that is afraid of school shooters, kidnappers and terrorists.

So, when I watch Sophie and her friend head off in a different direction than I am, giggling and chattering in their 10 year old way I feel happy that they are experiencing something that I took for granted my whole childhood - freedom to explore their world. Maybe our journey to use less energy and be more green will lead us down many such unexpected twists and turns. Stay tuned!