Date:         Fri, 27 Feb 2004 12:00:44 -0500
Reply-To:     ian@BLUEMOON.HPLX.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Ian Butler <ian@BLUEMOON.HPLX.NET>
Subject:      Re: Things that irk me on my vanagon, and GAS PRICES,
              now that it's Friday!
Comments: To: David Brodbeck <gull@GULL.US>
In-Reply-To:  <Pine.BSF.4.58.0402271134020.59396@gull.us>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

On Fri, 27 Feb 2004, David Brodbeck wrote:

> I really do wish it were possible to ride my bike to work.  It's only
> three miles, and I enjoy riding.
>
> Unfortunately I'd be dead within a week if I tried.  Most of those three
> miles are on a 45 mph, two-lane road with no shoulder and no sidewalk.

It's too bad, too.  This is a really nice area to bike -- minimal hills,
long periods of the year during which you can do it (especially if you can
go at night in the summer.)  It's just the total lack of sidewalks, and
the haphazard way in which they're laid when they do exist... sharp
contrast to where I grew up, when all the roads and even in-town highways
had sidewalks on both sides of the street.  But the hills, temperature
extremes, and thin air made biking a less-than-pleasant prospect.

Unfortunately my commute has gone from 7, to 12, to 30, to 60 miles over
the past few years.  And then zero; thus no biking for me either.

Oh, and re: gas prices.  Going back to Wyoming this Christmas, I was
greeted with a fearsome sight, one that truly (if briefly) made me miss
my home state:
http://bluemoon.hplx.net/~ian/pictures/full/PC240384.JPG

ian Butler / ian@bluemoon.hplx.net
'88 Audi 5000S quattro
'88 VW Scirocco 16v
'87 VW Vanagon GL syncro - FOR SALE
'77 Mercury Marquis - FOR SALE