Happy New Year

Tonight we will be celebrating the arrival of 2018 by getting on an Amtrak Superliner bound for Chicago at precisely 11:59pm. It seems a fitting way to end this December #OneLessCar experiment and a fitting way to greet the next year, which I hope will be ripe with opportunities to go farther in our active transportation journey.

While I need more time to discern whether we can fully commit to the car-free lifestyle, I can say I feel really good about how this December experiment has gone. As was the goal, the Mazda never left the driveway. Our family biked, bussed, and trained not only across our city but across the country. In fact, the car fast felt pretty normal to me, since our car usually sits 6 or more days a week as it is. Using our MetroMile (Three cheers for pay per mile car insurance!) tracker, Parker figured out the car has actually not moved since November 22nd. And while there were a few times not using the car made things more complicated, I would say the hardest part of this month has been the daily blogging—which has also been the most rewarding.

I don’t have a crystal ball and I hesitate to make traditional resolutions, but as I look forward to cresting the hill of another year, I am grateful for more time to explore car-free and car-light living. I am grateful for more time to think and write about the issues of economic privilege of being able to choose whether to have a car or not that I don’t think I have fully explored. I’m grateful for more time to practice taking life at a slower pace. I’m grateful for more time to work toward making the streets safer for all users. I’m grateful for more time to feel the wind on my grinning face and the giggle of my children in the background as we fly down the last hill on our way home.

Thanks to all of you who have ridden along on this December experiment. I hope you will continue to tolerate, indulge, engage, challenge, and encourage my family and I in our bike-loving ways in all the wonderful ways you have this month. Thanks for all the great conversation, reflections, and miles pedaled together. Cheers (I’m toasting with my favorite Contigo travel mug full of tap water but it seems right somehow) to another year of many more.