Walter S

Yeah, I have a 40 mile RT commute that has kept me in tip top shape for going on tours with double that daily mileage and no "training". Lately I've been telecommuting and it sucks. I don't ride nearly as far, and only for recreation or errands. I can feel my legs melting.

Walter S

I have noticed that car drivers think the world is a lot flatter than it really is . Isn't that "awesome"?

wolfchild

You come on an LCF forum and start telling everybody how you don't need a car and then you start saying that it's perfectly acceptable to drive a car "occasionally in an emergency", without having a drivers licence and insurance. And then you're surprised that your thread gets locked. I suspect that your definition of "emergency" really means convenience.

wolfchild

LCF doesn't automatically put you "off grid"...If you really want to be off grid them maybe you should stop using internet, stop having a bank account, quit your job, get rid of every personal ID and then maintain a "no fixed address status"

Walter S

There's "off the grid" and there's "OFF the grid". Some people see value in limiting the information we share as a side effect of living, while not trying to go full unabomber on it.

gerv 

One thing that's awesome about it is that it encouraged me to ride to work, the grocery store... it encouraged me to stop thinking about cars as necessities...

TuckertonRR

I didn't say you were automatically "off the grid" by not driving - I said you were **almost** off grid. Complete with asterisks! I used two sets of asterisks this time.

As Walter S alludes, you don't have to go "full unibomber", but you can limit the amount of information "out there", esp. if it's within your control.

Ty0604

Considering I don't own a car it's really hard for me to drive when it's convenient for me. I walk/bus/train/bike to the store to get groceries and my roommate gives me a ride once a month to get bigger items etc.

There's a few times I find it perfectly acceptable to drive:

A: I don't drink so friends occasionally call me for a ride home so I'll catch the bus/train to them and do as such. Once a month or less I play designated driver and spend the night driving people home. I've been pulled over once. The police officer thanked me for not letting them drive and we were on our way. My dad was an alcoholic and my sisters and I drove him home from the bar a lot growing up. I was probably 11 the first time I drove him home. Not sure how the laws are where you live but most restaurants that have bars in them allow minors here until 9pm. My mom, who also never had her license, did the same. She too was pulled over once and wasn't bothered when they found out what she was doing. Most cops would rather have a non licensed driver who knows how to drive do as such than someone who is drunk drive home.

B: In an emergency. Defined as a "serious, unexpected and often dangerous situation that requires immediate attention." I.e. I go hiking a lot and if someone falls in an area where there's no cell reception then yes, I will drive to an area where there is cell reception. This hasn't happened yet.

I grew up on a ranch so I've been driving farm equipment since as far back as I remember. Not having a piece of plastic saying you how to drive doesn't automatically mean someone doesn't know.

I wasn't surprised the thread got locked. As I and another user above stated, LCF is a touchy forum.

Stick69

Very few unwanted children are conceived on the back seat of a tandem.

I-Like-To-Bike

Children (conceiving, raising or transporting) don't seem to be much of a lifestyle issue or priority for some if not most of the LCF posters.

This list/thread could just as easily be renamed (What's awesome about) Living Child Free, perhaps with sanctimonious posts about saving the world! as well as citing all the environmental and economic benefits of such a lifestyle choice.

Roody

I've always enjoyed the carfree activities I did with my son and later my grandson, as well as other kids in the neighborhood and extended family. I think fitting your kids into a LCF lifestyle is one of the awesomest things about it.

• Take your offspring and their friends on rides to explore the neighborhood. Little kids do best on short rides with lots of stops at playgrounds and drinking fountains. As they get a little older, they will go long distances as long as you keep them interested and involved.
• Organize bike rodeos that let kids develop and show off their cycling skills.
• Organize little bike races and slalom courses for the kids. (Figure out ways to let the littlest ones win once in a while.)
• Ride and race with the teenagers to keep yourself fit.
• Ride to the park on mountain bikes, with sandwiches and drinks in the backpack. Stop in the woods along the trail for a picnic.
• Ride to the local park with burgers and charcoal, and use the park grills to cook a picnic.
• Or just make that weekly trip to get groceries into an awesome bicycling adventure. Young kids love being useful, so let them carry some of the groceries (preferably not the eggs )

Machka 

When we lived off the grid for a year ... we bought a motor vehicle.

wolfchild

You should of bought a cart and a horse instead, no drivers license required, no insurance, no license plates...makes it harder for authorities to track you down.

Ekdog

When was that, back in the '50s?

I-Like-To-Bike

Apparently only through such so-called off-the-grid measures and ascetic lifestyle choices is it possible for an individual or family to take awesome walks in the park, have a picnic outing, ride a bus, or go for bicycle rides. Who wudda thunk it without such BF-LCF discussions?

TuckertonRR

I guess we all have our own concept of what "off grid" means...

TuckertonRR

You don't have much interaction with law enforcement, do you? You can bet you'll get a ticket for unlicenced operation of a motor vehicle or some such, plus a few other things to tack on.

wolfchild

That's true, there are many different definitions of what "off grid" means, just like there are many different definitions of what LCF means. I seriously doubt that anybody lives truly 100% car-free in this modern world... All those who make smug claims about their LCF status and boast about their car-free status, eventually find themselves in a situation where they have to use a vehicle and when they do they are not truly car-free.

Ty0604

Outside of my brother being a patrol deputy, nope. I stay out of trouble. He remembers how many times he's written a ticket for an unlicensed driver being a designated driver: Zero. I'm okay getting a ticket if it means not letting someone drive drunk.

I-Like-To-Bike

Including those posters who are not car free by any credible definition, benefit from the car at their disposal at home, and still get all smug about an alleged awesome car free lifestyle. But then smugness may be considered awesome by at least a few LCF posters.

Machka 

"Off the grid" generally means not connected to services/utilities like electricity and water

off-the-grid Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary


After the devastating 2009 Victorian bushfires, we lived in a small cabin in the back of property where Rowan worked approx. 2 km from "the grid". Of course, we weren't the only ones living off the grid for a while there. The grid, and pretty much everything else, was burnt.

jfowler85

Again, the bicycle I just purchased. It will take a little while to spread the cost thin enough to beat my auto insurance premiums.

The cost of maintaining a bicycle adds up...the reason I made the argument I did is because fuel is cheap in my 30+ combined mph sedan. I had a gas guzzler, or rather a diesel guzzler previously - this argument would not work with that big ole beast.

Roody

One thing I like about being carfree was briefly mentioned by somebody else.* I get a lot of satisfaction from just exploring my region on an up close and personal level. I know the streets, alleys, parks, vacant lots, hobo encampments, fishing holes, woodlots, etc. from the seat of a bike and walking. Being silent, I know what things look like and sound like, even what they smell like. When people have questions about where to find an obscure location in my region, they often ask me.

Like so many of the things mentioned here, you don't have to be totally carfree to enjoy these aspects of carfree living. A family that usually drives everywhere can have a pleasant change of pace if they all take off on their bikes one weekend. Combining the bikes with a fun destination makes the day even better. When we go as a family to the zoo or the beach, we often take off on the bikes instead of in the car. This makes the trip even more of a fun adventure for all ages. (Of course I also enjoy doing these things solo.)

[HR][/HR]

*To give credit where it's due, here is where this idea was briefly mentioned:

cooker

Only the sith deal in absolutes. An abstaining opiate addict who took a pain pill in an emergency situation technically isn't drug free either, but if she then continues abstaining, I don't think we're going to call her a hypocrite. The issue with Ty064 isn't that he is an otherwise car-free person who occasionally drives, it's that he knows he's going to drive occasionally and brags about doing it without a licence. So he gets LCF bragging point for not owning a car and not driving much, but he gets no bragging points for claiming to be so car-free that he doesn't even need a driver's license. He does need a license whether he acknowledges it or not.

By the way, are you a bit conflicted about buying a car? Thou certainly doth seem to protest too much about other people who haven't done so.

cooker

Do you think that' s partly because green living is stereotyped in a negative way, even by some in this forum? Like how some people express the wish pro-environmentalists (and vegans, and atheists) would just shut up and go away, and you don't want to be lumped in?