Today was National Car Free Day at least that’s what I heard on the radio as I drove to work this morning. The idea of course is to get folks out of their cars into an alternative mode of transportation, presumably walking or biking.
The only walking I did today was out to the car and back.
In theory, I should have been able to at least bike to work. I live in Ellicott City and work in Columbia, less than five miles distance as the crow flies. I have a bike, two in fact. There is even a shower at my office. The weather was beautiful.
The reason I didn’t do this are threefold. For starters, you never ride a bicycle from Point A to Point B “as the crow flies.” Instead you follow a maze of roadways, and if you are lucky, a paved pathway or two. Once I leave the relatively safe confines of the county roads in my Ellicott City neighborhood I merge into a series of state roads with heavy traffic and shoulders that come and go. The Route 100, Route 108, Route 103 chasm between Ellicott City and East Columbia is neither bicycle nor pedestrian friendly.
The second challenge is that, due to the nature of my job, I often have to travel somewhere local during the day. Today I attended a broker luncheon for a new warehouse condominium redevelopment project over by the airport. Making that trip by bike was not an option. Still, I do suppose that I could have caught a ride with one of my colleagues.
That would still leave the third hurdle. Wednesdays I have to pick Peanut up at school. I don’t have a tandem bike.
So today, on national car free day, I remained shackled to my car as usual.
The Gift of Human Kindness
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