Car Free - One Year Later

Today is the one year anniversary of living car free. On April 5, 2008 I sold my beautiful Nissan 350Z roadster, a.k.a. "Tawny", and never looked back. I've been commuting on public transit ever since. I leave the house at 7:30am, I walk 3/4 of a mile to the bus stop and catch the 7:45 bus. That bus takes me to the Vienna Metro subway station. I then ride the subway about 20 minutes to the Rosslyn station which is a couple of blocks from my office building. I get to work about 9am everyday. In the year I've been riding public transit, I've only been late to work a few times. My job lets me work from home on Wednesdays, so I'm only commuting four days a week.

Every once in a while I think about Tawny and how much I miss her. I have a picture of her on my desk at work. Before I sold her I was only driving her about 15 miles a week, so I wasn't getting any value out of the relationship. It was for the best. With Shock Jr. on the way and the wife planning on becoming a stay at home mom, the money we save selling my car makes life easier in the long run. Jennifer has Ruby, her Xterra that she drives to work and school. After Shock Jr. is born, she'll be driving to school only.

At the time I sold Tawny, gas was around $4 a gallon. Gas is cheaper now but the recession is in full bloom and the decision to go car free makes me look really smart. It makes as good economic sense now as it did a year ago, even without the family getting bigger.

I'm still a car enthusiast. We talk often about what car I'll get next. But I don't know when that will be. I'd like to think we could live with one car until Shock Jr. starts driving. That's a pipe dream but not impossible. Ask me in 17 years.