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Living Car Free...The reality.

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Living Car Free Do you live car free or car light? Do you prefer to use alternative transportation (bicycles, walking, other human-powered or public transportation) for everyday activities whenever possible? Discuss your lifestyle here.

Living Car Free...The reality.

Old 08-22-18, 08:29 AM
  #51  
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The goal was to create a silly thread to create controversy . Having gotten members to argue among themselves, the OP has left the scene.
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Old 08-22-18, 10:46 AM
  #52  
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Originally Posted by Happy Feet
The goal was to create a silly thread to create controversy . Having gotten members to argue among themselves, the OP has left the scene.
If only every poster who started silly threads in order to create/provoke controversy would do the same.
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Old 08-22-18, 12:31 PM
  #53  
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Originally Posted by Happy Feet
The goal was to create a silly thread to create controversy . Having gotten members to argue among themselves, the OP has left the scene.
Or provoke (Leftist) a call to (commie) the moderator to (stone-stackers) shut down (global warming) the thread because (hypocrites) it's gone off the rails.
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Old 08-30-18, 05:52 AM
  #54  
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Originally Posted by prj71

Renting a car/truck isn't an option. Their business hours of operation don't work with my schedule.
Rent the day before and return the day after. Unless you can NEVER in your life take one hour to go to the car rental agency 7am and 11pm (airport car rentals have great hours), this statement makes no sense.
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Old 09-02-18, 03:34 PM
  #55  
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Honestly, if you are car free you would find a way. You say you cant rent a car due to their hours of operation? Well to me that sounds like you need to take a day off just to go pick up the car. The train is only 130 miles from where you want to go? People ride that in a day... you could take a train, ride a day to your spot, ride back to train and come on home. Yeah you might not get as much time there but the cycling is apart of the adventure.
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Old 09-02-18, 03:35 PM
  #56  
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the other option is to keep your truck just for your “trips” then use your bike for other stuff. You will still also see gas consumtions down, your mileage on your truck will stay down as well as maintenance.
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Old 09-02-18, 05:51 PM
  #57  
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Originally Posted by Piperflyer
Honestly, if you are car free you would find a way. You say you cant rent a car due to their hours of operation? Well to me that sounds like you need to take a day off just to go pick up the car. The train is only 130 miles from where you want to go? People ride that in a day... you could take a train, ride a day to your spot, ride back to train and come on home. Yeah you might not get as much time there but the cycling is apart of the adventure.
And the necessary gear he couldn't haul on a bike ... ahh, yess ... he could spend his whole vacation ferrying gear to the train ... and then rent a truck to haul it back in time to start work. after all, that's part of the adventure ... except ... it;'s not the adventure he wants.

Why not just admit ... as many thoughtful honest people will, that living car free cuts off a lot of options?

After decades car free I KNOW this to be true. Did it anyway. But I didn't lie to myself about it.
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Old 09-02-18, 05:56 PM
  #58  
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Originally Posted by Piperflyer
the other option is to keep your truck just for your “trips” then use your bike for other stuff. You will still also see gas consumtions down, your mileage on your truck will stay down as well as maintenance.
i advocate "car-light" myself ... but the die-hard here aren't satisfied,.. the explain how with insurance costs, and needing to start the car periodically to keep the battery charged ... whatever ... I might have driven twice all year, but I am glad Ihave the car.
This guy .... he Uses his truck, why shouldn't he keep it. it fills roles that a bike simpkly couldn't.

I can see an argument when people who live in certain select lifestyles actually could get by just as well with mass transit and a bike ... but some people actually own, and use their vehicles.

Food delivery would certainly look a lot different without cars ... i don't mean take-out, i mean replacing the semi-trailers which haul dozens of tons of food around to the outlets where we don't even realize how privileged we are to be able to buy it so easily ... on our bikes, looking down our noses at the the truck driver who delivered the food ... because he drove to the store.
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Old 09-02-18, 06:43 PM
  #59  
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Originally Posted by Maelochs
i advocate "car-light" myself ... but the die-hard here aren't satisfied,.. the explain how with insurance costs, and needing to start the car periodically to keep the battery charged ... whatever ... I might have driven twice all year, but I am glad Ihave the car.
This guy .... he Uses his truck, why shouldn't he keep it. it fills roles that a bike simpkly couldn't.

I can see an argument when people who live in certain select lifestyles actually could get by just as well with mass transit and a bike ... but some people actually own, and use their vehicles.

Food delivery would certainly look a lot different without cars ... i don't mean take-out, i mean replacing the semi-trailers which haul dozens of tons of food around to the outlets where we don't even realize how privileged we are to be able to buy it so easily ... on our bikes, looking down our noses at the the truck driver who delivered the food ... because he drove to the store.
Can you quote all these "diehards"? He asked how he could do the trip without a truck and people gave him some ideas, but nobody told him he had to do it. It was his thread, and he asked for responses and he got them . Nobody is forcing him to post here - he seems to have a weird need to.
Originally Posted by prj71
If I was living car free, how would I accomplish this journey in 9 days and carry all the gear I need for my vacation?
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Old 09-02-18, 07:19 PM
  #60  
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Originally Posted by Piperflyer
the other option is to keep your truck just for your “trips” then use your bike for other stuff. You will still also see gas consumtions down, your mileage on your truck will stay down as well as maintenance.

Ding, Ding, Ding... we have a winner here, as a "practical" way of doing "car light"... IMO, at least, that is exactly what I do, we do... I have found that I can,/we can, the wife & I, can have and use her car and... IT IS FREE... YES, it is free, for the Whole YEAR, Yea, TOTALLY free, Who...ho... Compared to us driving my truck the whole year round for everything we want to use a "car" , for...IN fact, we are saving, about $1,000 a year, every year NOT driving my truck and driving her Prius C... NOW, Is that even car light.? probably not to most here, but it is a "better way" of getting around than using my big assed 4X4 truck to get around for just transportation for every time you would drive a car ...

Last edited by 350htrr; 09-02-18 at 07:26 PM.
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Old 09-02-18, 07:26 PM
  #61  
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The reality is, the car helped create the middle class, allowed people to venture more than 10 miles from where they were born, opened doors to opportunity, gave wings to humanity's highest aspirations but, if you can move out of the house at 17 or so, start a life of your own, get an education, earn a good living, provide value to society and also ride a bike to work, go for it.
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Old 09-11-18, 06:50 PM
  #62  
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I live car-free from Monday to Friday. Then I take the train home on Friday evening and have use of a car for the weekend. Still use a bike during the weekend as well.

I wouldn't feel guilty about renting a car/truck for a vacation.
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Old 09-12-18, 12:27 AM
  #63  
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And I've missed out on three of four really sweet old Plymouths this year, a ~1963 Valiant, 1938 or '39 four door project with Ford suspension, a blue '55? Savoy business coupe, 1950 Suburban panel wagon project...and I really want a 340 Duster.
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Old 09-12-18, 12:30 AM
  #64  
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Originally Posted by Happy Feet
The goal was to create a silly thread to create controversy . Having gotten members to argue among themselves, the OP has left the scene.
They were online yesterday, you can't be sure
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Old 09-16-18, 10:06 AM
  #65  
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Originally Posted by Maelochs
i advocate "car-light" myself ... but the die-hard here aren't satisfied
Progress is eternal. I recently read that in 1890 cars were viewed as a 'greener' alternative to horses. Ideally, the use of motor cars can eventually be reduced as much as horse use has been reduced by the automobile. It's just a question of people committing to a long-term vision that gradually replaces the automotive-sprawl with bikeable/walkable areas connected by transit.
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Old 09-16-18, 02:29 PM
  #66  
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Originally Posted by Rollfast
And I've missed out on three of four really sweet old Plymouths this year, a ~1963 Valiant, 1938 or '39 four door project with Ford suspension, a blue '55? Savoy business coupe, 1950 Suburban panel wagon project...and I really want a 340 Duster.
...all of those big block Duster's ate the front end components. They were pretty quick in a straight line, though.
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Old 09-16-18, 02:36 PM
  #67  
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Originally Posted by prj71
In a little less than a month I'm going to make 1200 mile journey from the Midwest to Colorado and then back. I'm taking a one week vacation from work with a friend. This is a fishing vacation where there will be some camping involved and few nights in a motel. By the time it is all done, I will probably have put 3000+ miles on my truck going there and back plus driving to different public access points on the river to fish. Some of which take a 4 x 4 to get to.

I have 9 days to get this all done. I will be hauling 2 coolers, 2 tents, a camp stove, lanterns, fishing gear, change of clothes etc. The back of my full size truck will be more or less 3/4 packed full with our gear.

If I was living car free, how would I accomplish this journey in 9 days and carry all the gear I need for my vacation?

Renting a car/truck isn't an option. Their business hours of operation don't work with my schedule.
...nobody needs 2 coolers, 2 tents, and a camp stove to go fishing. And I've gone fishing in some pretty remote places...places up in the Sierra where you can't legally drive into them. So I think yoiur initial premise is flawed. And I'm one of the people here who is perfectly fine with cars on a more limited basis. Thankfully, because of the restrictions, you and your camp stove and lanterns will never show up at some of the nicer alpine lakes in California. Using "fishing" as your excuse to drive 3,000 miles is just fishing in the LCF forum. You'll probably catch something, but it won't be anything worth keeping.
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Old 09-16-18, 03:28 PM
  #68  
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Originally Posted by 3alarmer
...all of those big block Duster's ate the front end components. They were pretty quick in a straight line, though.
Mine was a Slant Six and the K-members are a weak link, one of the first things you replace when you race IIRC.
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Old 09-17-18, 04:59 AM
  #69  
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Originally Posted by 3alarmer
...nobody needs 2 coolers, 2 tents, and a camp stove to go fishing. And I've gone fishing in some pretty remote places...places up in the Sierra where you can't legally drive into them. So I think yoiur initial premise is flawed. And I'm one of the people here who is perfectly fine with cars on a more limited basis. Thankfully, because of the restrictions, you and your camp stove and lanterns will never show up at some of the nicer alpine lakes in California. Using "fishing" as your excuse to drive 3,000 miles is just fishing in the LCF forum. You'll probably catch something, but it won't be anything worth keeping.
There's a serious issue I have thought about related to this, which is that I think many pristine destinations could be threatened if they were made easily accessible by car-free means of transportation. E.g. if there was a train or bus connection between major urban centers and pristine wilderness sites, people could flock to the sites and cause the kind of degradation that insensitive humans can cause when they trample around, litter, etc.

So is it possible that, although motor vehicles driving and parking cause unnecessary pavement, roadkill, etc. they may deter significant numbers of visits to pristine areas to protect those areas a little more than if they were convenient transit destinations from major population areas.
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Old 09-17-18, 05:26 AM
  #70  
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Originally Posted by 3alarmer
...nobody needs 2 coolers, 2 tents, and a camp stove to go fishing.
Unless, as the person said, he is hauling gear for a group.
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Old 09-17-18, 11:08 AM
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Originally Posted by Maelochs
Unless, as the person said, he is hauling gear for a group.
...that's not a fishing trip. It's something else, like a Doritos commercial or something.
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Old 09-18-18, 12:58 AM
  #72  
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Originally Posted by prj71
I have 4 car rental agencies nearby. For this trip I leave at 5am on Saturday and return home sometime late afternoon the following Sunday. That is outside of their normal business hours of operation.
I get the feeling you're just looking to be proved right but I'll give you a simple answer to this problem anyway: just rent it on Friday and return it on Monday. The extra two days cost would be more than covered by the savings your get from not having to pay for your truck year round.
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Old 09-18-18, 06:57 AM
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yahoo!

The guy explains why stuff won't work for him, and people who didn't bother to read carefully say, 'Do it anyway."

The guy has a solution which works for him, and peple say, 'Don't do what works, do what won't work."

The whole thing is just about senseless from the first post.

car-free doesn't suit every person, every lifestyle, every situation .... and some people seem to find that really hard to accept.

I feel like i have entered into some sort of Fanatic Zone ... oh, wait. Sorry, I didn't read the sign on the door.

later.
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Old 09-18-18, 08:32 AM
  #74  
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Originally Posted by Maelochs
yahoo!

The guy explains why stuff won't work for him, and people who didn't bother to read carefully say, 'Do it anyway."

The guy has a solution which works for him, and peple say, 'Don't do what works, do what won't work."

The whole thing is just about senseless from the first post.

car-free doesn't suit every person, every lifestyle, every situation .... and some people seem to find that really hard to accept.

I feel like i have entered into some sort of Fanatic Zone ... oh, wait. Sorry, I didn't read the sign on the door.

later.

...Bro, do you even fish ??!
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Old 09-18-18, 04:31 PM
  #75  
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Originally Posted by tandempower
There's a serious issue I have thought about related to this, which is that I think many pristine destinations could be threatened if they were made easily accessible by car-free means of transportation. E.g. if there was a train or bus connection between major urban centers and pristine wilderness sites, people could flock to the sites and cause the kind of degradation that insensitive humans can cause when they trample around, litter, etc.

So is it possible that, although motor vehicles driving and parking cause unnecessary pavement, roadkill, etc. they may deter significant numbers of visits to pristine areas to protect those areas a little more than if they were convenient transit destinations from major population areas.
The damage that people would do if they could access more of nature without cars, is trivial compared to the damage to nature we actually do every day and have done for generations with our cars and with the infrastructure our cars require. For every remote, pristine valley that people might want to flock to, to escape from crowds and cars, there is another one (or several) that has been despoiled and developed and permanently removed from nature, because cars made it available for development or necessary as a transportation corridor.

Red Hill Valley - a former nature area in Hamilton, Ontario.



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