Summit Jumping

Summit Jumping
Originally uploaded by Organic Haus

On Father's Day 2009 we rode out of the house around 10am. We rode on two bikes - the Bike Friday Triple with Burley Picalo attached to the back and the Seven Xtracycle with Burley D'Lite attached for kid back-up options. We ended up taking the trailer/stroller all the way to the top of Spencer Butte. We had a TV crew stop us on the climb and interview us about what we were doing for DAD. They got some good video of us climbing up the mountain. http://www.kval.com/news/local/48734472.html

We had a great ride and the whole day was perfect. I couldn't have hoped for anything better that this!

International Press - Gaining Momentum

Here is a fun 1 pager in the new issue of Momentum magazine. It is about our family and it even has a half page picture of us - one that was taken the morning we had 3 young touring bikers (warmshowers) stay at our place - just after waffles - the kids are still in their pajamas. Take a look at Momentum Magazine. I think this is the best magazine going right now for Bike Culture.

http://issuu.com/momentumplanet/docs/issue-39/27

The Important Things

We are slow to write, but things are going well for us. We have been very busy with things like the Chicken Pox, BMX racing, potty training, birthday dinner, Valentines festivities, the Eugene Bike Summit, lots of freelance work, pizza dinners with company, painting inside, fence rework, tree trimming, work and school. Paul has been doing a lot of GEARs volunteer work and Monica has had a few school policy meetings a couple of focus groups relating to children w/ disabilities.

The weather the last two months has really been easy to bike in too. We are already planning our garden for this Spring - we've ordered the seeds from Territorial Seed Co. through Rainy's school fund raiser.

Paul also put up a new website for his sales work at Bike Friday. The address is http://bikefridaypaul.com/blog

Our Chickens are back to laying full time, five eggs a day, and the bees have been flying a couple of the warmer days.

We are looking forward to this summer already. We are closing in on a full year of being car free. Check out some of our recent photos at the Gallery. I think I may be reworking this blog over to WorkPress in the next few months.

Our Plates are Valid

We got these license plates for our bikes for Christmas. We will be installing them on our bikes this week. Car free living is working out good. We certainly aren't getting out as much, but we aren't wasting time and money at gas stations and fast food places either. I think going carfree has helped us keep our priorities closer to where we want them to be.

Having fun around the Table

Our kids are getting ready for Christmas break. They hauled a Christmas Tree down off of the hill on the bike trailers (one tied behind the other). We received snow and ice and they've even had the chance to go sledding. We've been keeping the wood stove warm, and the inside activities are keeping them pretty busy too. Kidical Mass - a Pizza Get Together - and a ride around town to look at the Christmas Lights and have some fun with other families. Dare is missing from this photo, but check him out at: our Photo Gallery.

Bike Move

Getting around Eugene on bikes is very nice. We've had a very colorful Fall and the rain has come back but we are still getting more dry days than wet ones.

Doing it Car Free

Well we've gone and done it. We have officially sold our mini van and do not have a motorized vehicle of any kind. We've not been using it much at all since we moved to Eugene last June. It has been 2+ weeks since we've taken the money and pedaled. We got $1500 our of it. We don't even look at the gas prices any more.

We already noticed a bit of a change in our habits. We occasionally used the van before to handle the grocery runs or the trip to the building supply, but now all our trips are by bike. I need wood for a fence upgrade now and I have to figure out how to get $300 worth of fence boards and posts (and a bag or two of concrete) home from Jerry's. It is a 4.5 mile trip home, but the hard part is not pulling it but finding a trailer that will haul it smartly. I'll keep you updated as we figure out all the ins and out of our car free enlightenment.

I figure if we can do it as a family of 6 then there is no excuse for you to go car free too. You'll have to get serious about making a change. I'll keep writing to document how we do it here in Oregon.

Here is a link to a article from the Register Guard. The title is Look Ma, no gas!