A week ago my car started acting funny. The long and short of it is, my transmission is shot.
My car is a 2000 Hyundai Elantra. It has 189,000 miles. What a great car.
I looked into all of my options. Should I get it fixed? That was going to be $1700. Should I get it rebuilt? Not much cheaper. I might as well get a new one. Should I just get a new car? A new-new one? Or a new one to me?
I worked very hard into paying down my credit card. I got it from $3200 to $700 in the last ten months. The thought of dropping $1500 or more to get me right back where I started pissed me off.
I had been riding my bicycle to work and around town all summer. I had seriously been contemplating the idea of riding through the winter. That’s when it hit me. This is motivation! Why do I need a car?
So there it is. The idea. I’m going to attempt to break my oil habit.
This is not an easy statement. I grew up believing the american dream. The one that says it is an unalienable right to life, liberty, and nice stuff. That’s not the only thing making this difficult. I live in a small city. Public transportation is limited. Oh and my girlfriend lives thirty minutes away and my parents even further.
Despite all this I can’t help but think that breaking my oil addiction is worth it.
A coworker gave me the idea of blogging about it. It might seem vain, but I think this is a very timely subject what with words like “peak oil,” “bailout,” “recession,” and “palin” floating around. Read with me as I make this journey. Maybe you too will decide to break your addiction.
My car’s clutch went out in late 2006. I’m great with a wrench, and I eventually fixed it myself, but the part was on national back-order. With the money I’d have spent on a clutch, I bought a cheap bike (which lasted six weeks under my fat butt). It was too late. I, too, got addicted. I got another bike. And another.
As banal as almost-daily journaling is, it’s easy to find adventure on a bike, and no two days are exactly the same. Welcome to bike commuting. Welcome to the blogosphere.
–Noah
http://commutebybike.com/
Glad to meet you! I’ll be following your adventures through a “planet” I put in place recently:
http://marchildon.net/planete-velo/
Motivation is key. You’ll earn merit and feel like a hero soon