http://www.georgezrust.com/carfree A journal of a not-so-bold attempt to put my money, and transport, where my mouth is. Sat, 13 Sep 2008 04:15:46 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The weekend socializing this Labor Day requires a trip across the alley for dinner with another set of neighbors who have invited a bunch of people from the neighborhood for a barbeque. No drinking and driving here. Oh, and it also includes a trip to Dominicks using a wire shopping cart ... http://www.georgezrust.com/carfree/?p=151 Once again, we did not motivate to get out of town Labor Day weekend. The weather has been unbelievably nice and sunny with low humidity, so I'm one of many appreciating that bonus for staying in town. Our transportation needs are minimal because our desire to go far-flung places is also ... http://www.georgezrust.com/carfree/?p=150 Hauling in Good Company I ran into my friend and neighbor Marie Sprandel this morning as I walked with my hairy sidekick Marlowe. Marie is fresh back from a three-week stint in South India where she was working on a Habitat for Humanity house construction project in a Tamil village. She's ... http://www.georgezrust.com/carfree/?p=148 "Within a century of little Kago's arrival on Earth, according to Trout's novel, every form of life on that once peaceful and moist and nourishing blue-green ball was dying or dead. Everywhere were the shells of the great beetles which men had made and worshipped. They were automobiles. They had ... http://www.georgezrust.com/carfree/?p=146 This turns out to be a fuller day of errands than I had planned but that happened by layering on new commitments to old ones. Will I avoid the car or not? Nope. Why not? Let's look at the day and that will tell the story. Errand #1: Donate Blood They've been calling me and ... http://www.georgezrust.com/carfree/?p=145 I have been wanting to make the trek to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to see the new residential development that includes a trolley circulator using historic streetcars, not the diesel-powered cartoon trolleys that have faked their way into our cities. Couldn't they just be honest about it and use antique buses? Anyway, my ... http://www.georgezrust.com/carfree/?p=140 Give me some time, I'm thinking. I am not car-free any longer, again. Does this mean the experiment is over before the summer actually ends? Seems a little hypocritical to continue it under the circumstances. I look at the car parked in front of my house. It's bugging me to see it ... http://www.georgezrust.com/carfree/?p=139 Summer days are so rare in Chicago that I feel guilty being inside on them, even when I have inside work to do and I open the doors and windows to take as much of the outside in as I can. Yet today, I sat inside long stretches at the ... http://www.georgezrust.com/carfree/?p=138 The weather has cooled overnight from yesterday's humid and stultifying heat. The sun is out and a strong breeze is blowing making work inside and outside very comfortable. I decide to weed the garden and the overgrown west gangway next to our house by the fence. The front garden is again ... http://www.georgezrust.com/carfree/?p=79 Saturday again. The Farmer's Market awaits me and the bike trailer. This is a comfortable routine by now and so again by late morning, I'm hooking up the trailer and heading off to meet my wife in downtown Evanston. Soon, I meet a neighbor and we talk. I meet Kelly from ... http://www.georgezrust.com/carfree/?p=137