Last Thursday, my kids and I decided to have a car-free day.  Going car-free can mean several different things - either we don’t leave the house (so we must focus on appreciating our home and our home-based activities enough to stay home all day), or we leave the house using car-free means to get places.

On Thursday, we did leave the house - we handled several local errands - all without a car.  Kids on bicycles (one with training wheels) and Mom on the kids’ scooter, backpacks on all, we made a grand circuit of our Los Angeles neighborhood.

“Nobody walks in L.A.” goes the line from the old song.  In our neighborhood, high-speed SUVs are the typical mode of travel.  It’s difficult to find roads which are safe to use with children on bikes, so we resorted to the (abandoned) sidewalks.  The curbing, too, isn’t kid-friendly, with sharp squared curbs at the corners, and sloped sidewalk edge that curves into the gutter mid-block (what were they thinking?).  Add training wheels and it presents quite a feat - hence Mom on scooter, not on bike.

At a slower pace, one notices more about the neighborhood.  For one thing, you learn the pattern of the streets - which ones have fewer driveways, which ones are more pleasant with less vehicle traffic.  You gain new appreciation for fueled engines when faced with the fact that our older neighborhood is not completely level - it rolls with small knolls and dips, just enough to fatigue a 6 y.o.

I wanted to prove that we could do it.  To prove it to myself, to my local eco-circle, and to my children.  The kids were thrilled with the adventure, and in fact declared the following day a “car-free morning” since we didn’t leave the house before lunch.

I’ve realized that abandoning the automobile will mean several things:

1) We’ve fallen in love with Home.  In contemporary Los Angeles, the pressing number of “things to do” - from working outside the home, to dining out, entertainment, children’s activities, etc. - leaves most houses in our neighborhood standing empty.

Boredom is the state of longing to be elsewhere than where one is.  When Home is calling powerfully, Away holds little attraction.  Falling in love with Home means that our Home contains enough interest and vital activity to sustain all family members, body, mind and soul.

2)  We’ve built community connections.  Local has meaning for us now - local friends, local markets (the local farmer’s market), the local library, local community networks.

Fractal studies teach us that minute portions of the universe contain reflections of the whole.  Our local community can contain everything we truly need - friends for all family members, sources for many of our ongoing needs.  It’s up to us to seek them out, find them, fold them into our habits, and adapt to them.

3)  We’ve trained our bodies for a more physical life - walking, biking (with accompanying carrying, lifting).  Yes, you could argue that bicycle transportation is not necessarily available to the very young, the elderly, or the handicapped.  (But most of us are not physically limited - why then are we still tied to our internal combustion engines?)  For those who are, I invite you to get creative.  Burlys and tagalongs for the juniors, tricycles, tandems & more for adults.

Can’t carry packages?  Check out communities and subcultures which are already adjusted to bikes (Santa Barbara subculture) and the diversity of baskets and frames people have already created.  Solutions exist - find them, use them.

4)  We’ve reformed our time concept.  Instead of three minutes to get to the library, I must now alot a half hour.  My youngest child’s stamina governs the number of blocks and the number of destinations we can cover.  The urgency of “I want it now” and “I want it all” have melted away.  There is joy in the doing, satisfaction in the present moment, delight in the wind in your hair.  There are priorities, choices and heartfelt Value in the selections made.

We cannot get to multiple venues near-simultaneously.  But we have learned that we no longer want to.  We’ve said ENOUGH, we’ve consciously stepped aside from the rat race:  Been there, done that, no thank you.  For at least that one precious day, we’ve lived closer to the lifestyle of which we dream.

Now, to make it happen more often!