from the oregonian

portland drivers may face new fee

Driving is expensive.

Gas
Insurance
Registration
Parking
Maintenance
Portland fee?

I love how the comments on the articles quickly revert to the "why don't they tax the bike riders like they tax us?" argument.

Because people should be given every incentive possible not to rely on their cars so much.

april 28th

yesterday I walked to work in pretty steady rain. again, my jacket kept me completely dry, so it wasn't a bad experience. at the store, I worked on a couple projects in down time, including trying to gain some order in our back stock room, which had fallen into severe disarray. I was rewarded by finding a chest full of hidden treasure buried deep under a pile of clothes. a cooler full of BEER! I hung around for half an hour after closing the doors and celebrated my discovery before heading out. With my newly invigorated beer muscles, and the motivation of getting back to the house in time to catch the second half of the blazers playoff game; I power walked home, and shaved nearly 10 minutes of my previous fastest time. Again, I was rewarded for my efforts, and got to catch their VICTORY.

april 27th

7.2 miles
307.56 miles cumulative
12.3024 total gallons saved

beast of burden

this morning I got up and walked to the pet store to get the cats some litter. I grabbed a 40 pound bag, shouldered it, and walked home. A little later, I walked down to new seasons and grabbed two bags full of groceries to make today's meals.

I spent most of the rest of the day reading/watching/listening to the news about the swine flu.

I'm glad I had the flu last week and not this week. Without health insurance, that could have been unnerving!

april 27th

5.92 miles
300.36 miles cumulative
12.0144 total gallons saved

dog mountain

Today I went for my first real hike of the year. I walked 2.1 miles to a friends house, and then we went into the Columbia river gorge to hike to the summit of Dog Mountain and back. We started the hike at river level in southern Washington, and immediately began the steep ascent. There were a fair number of people on the trail, but as we climbed to higher elevations, the crowd began to taper off. At the trail head, cold winds were whipping off the Columbia, and although once we got into the trees, the conditions improved, they quickly deteriorated again as we gained some elevation. Over the last mile of the hike before reaching the summit, the trail breaks out of the trees, and without their protection, we experienced some pretty extreme winds, and at times were steadily pelted with hail. The visibility was poor at best. At times, it was difficult to see more than 30 yards or so due to heavy fog/cloud cover. Still, despite not being able to see the far off views of the gorge and the distant mountain peaks, the conditions provided a unique and enjoyable atmosphere to the trail. After reaching the summit, we chose to take a more steep descending trail than the one we took up; which completed a loop to the trail head. The first mile of the descent was similar to the last mile of the climb, in that we weren't sheltered from the elements; leaving us to deal with considerable winds and precipitation. Once we hit the tree line, things improved again, and we had a pretty easy time returning to river level. On the way back, we alternated between walking on flatter or more technical parts of the trail, and running down the steeper portions. My mr790's really got to shine on the trail running portions. It was hard to call the second half of the trip "hiking", as it felt more like controlled falling, but the constant battle against gravity and momentum proved to be quite a strain none the less. After we returned to the car, we stopped at the walking man brewery in Stevenson for lunch and beer before returning home.

this is from the first clearing. we started at river level, and by the time we reached the summit, had climbed about twice as high as we were at this vantage point.

the forest was really moist from precipitation, snow melt, and fog. there were a lot of neat mosses and lichens on the trail from start to finish.

these plants all pointed towards the sun and could have been mistaken for dead if it were not for the dense buds that tipped each.

this is just as we climbed out of the trees. the fog immediately enveloped us, and got thicker as we climbed higher.

this is the "view" from the summit. Despite the top mile of the trail being exposed, the summit is protected by a small grouping of trees. It was a nice reward to get out the high winds and hail for a few minutes. If the fog hadn't been so thick, this would have been a great view of the Columbia river gorge, with Oregon and Mt. Hood towering over it in the background. Still, the fog was neat to climb in. Every step was a surprise because you could never see far enough to know what laid ahead.

here is a photo of me at the summit. The trail appears to continue climbing from this vantage point, but the end of the trail was a few yards further from this grouping of trees.

taken just below the summit.

on the decent, a break in the fog allowed a brief view of the gorge.

walking with wood

Yesterday, I walked to get a haircut and back. I was going to walk to the post office to get my passport photos taken, but it turned out that I missed the time cut-off for photo services there. Instead, I walked to home depot to get some supplies I needed for the store. While I was there, I saw that the price on some boards that I needed for the garage was really low. 3.5 miles is quite a way to carry two 8ft pieces of lumber, but I wanted to see how I'd manage, so I took the challenge. I quickly found that the easiest way to do it was to stack the boards, one on top of the other, and balance them on my shoulder, using one hand to steady them and hold them in place. I had to switch shoulders a couple of times because the constant pressure got a little sore on the bone after i used one side for two long; but overall, it wasn't too bad.

april 23rd

10.4 miles
294.44 miles cumulative
11.7776 total gallons saved

april 21st

Yesterday I walked to the bank, and post office with my wife on the way in to walking her to work. From there, I walked to the grocery store, and then home. I walked the dog just under a mile in the mid afternoon, and then walked back to the store to walk my wife home again. We stopped at the grocery store again on the way.

I've been sick the last few days, and on the way home I got really light headed. Being sick really impacted my walking over the last couple of days. Normally, when the weather is this nice, I'm inspired to go on long walks. Lately I've been walking everywhere I need to go, but more out of duty than enjoyment. I hope another day or two of rest will snap me out of it.

april 21st

15.2 miles
284.04 miles cumulative
11.3608 total gallons saved

more walking, plus a good story from the oregonian

Yesterday, I walked to work and on the way back, I made a few extra stops. The weather was nice. It was good to be out in.

I just read this in the Oregonian:

"

My year without a car

by Trudy Hussmann, guest opinion

Saturday April 18, 2009, 3:21 PM

For 40 years, I took it for granted that I would always own a car. How else would I get to work, shopping, and social events? Over the decades, I moved up the vehicular ranks from a used VW Beetle to a used BMW.

My run of car ownership ended on April 21, 2008, when I wrecked the BMW by accidentally running a red light. Luck was not with me that cold and rainy evening. A car coming through the intersection broadsided the Beemer, sealing its fate. Fortunately, I and the other party came through relatively unscathed.

As I absorbed the full impact of the crash over the next several days, a decision formed in my mind: I would not get another car. The accident, the approach of summer, and the high gas prices created the perfect opportunity to try going carless.

I had already been bicycling the three miles to work sporadically; this just gave me an extra incentive. And since I live within reasonable walking distance of four bus lines and about a mile from the nearest MAX station, I had plenty of other options to fall back on.

I was pretty sure I could bike to work through the summer. The warm, dry weather made it easy. I enjoyed cruising through the back streets of the Irvington neighborhood, my skirt fluttering in the breeze. Often, I noticed things that made me smile -- like the chickens and the Vietnamese pot-bellied pig at Northeast 18th and Tillamook. I arrived at work feeling invigorated and returned home feeling relaxed.

At the end of six months, when the rainy season set in, I dared myself to continue biking over the winter. By then my investments had shrunk like wool in a hot washer, giving me one more reason not to invest in another car.

I discovered that, when outfitted for rain, it really wasn't so bad riding in it. In fact, I found it enlivening to be out in the elements. And I felt a greater appreciation for my warm, dry house after biking home from work in cold, wet darkness.

On the worst days, I took the bus, and when the snowstorms hit and the buses quit running, I simply walked to the office.

A year later, I'm still biking and busing and still not ready to buy a car. I know I can hold out until the economy is solidly in recovery, which might be another year. Meanwhile, I'm saving money I'd otherwise spend on gas, insurance, repairs and parking, not to mention a car payment.

The biggest surprise is how relatively easy it has been to make this transition. I feel fortunate to have so many transportation options close by. I know that's not true for everyone. But even if I bought a car now, I would still drive less and ride more. It makes me feel like a kid again.

Trudy Hussmann lives in Northeast Portland"

I'm certainly not the only one.


april 17th

8 miles
268.82 miles cumulative
10.7528 total gallons saved