ONE!

Years ago on a trip to Washington State to visit my wife's family, my family got involved in a game of counting VW buses. It was a week plus visit which had us traveling quite a bit. The VW bus game became a natural part of our activity started by the spying of the first bus. ONE! naturally started the game for that day. Fifteen or more years later it is still likely when a number of us are in the car and a VW bus is spotted that someone proclaims "ONE!"

I've decided to start a new game for myself in 2009. After yesterday I can exclaim ONE! because January 2 was a car free day. The question is how many days in 2009 can I make car free. My potential for a high number is good since I live within a half mile of the store. My rules for myself are simple ... it is a car free day if I do not travel more than a block in a car/truck/van. I rationalize that there may be days I need to move a vehicle in the parking lot at the store or move the car from the driveway at home. What I want to do is encourage myself to bike and walk to work.

One fabled day on that trip in Washington State we counted EIGHTY-THREE! VW buses. I'll be pleased if I can tell you that I reached that number of car free days in this year. We'll see, this morning I'm thinking about how today can be TWO!