The Shinn Digs

Gas prices are getting ridiculous. Garth and I have both resorted to hypermiling. Garth is obsessive about it. When he leaves for work in the morning, he now puts his car in neutral, gives it a little push so it begins to roll down the slightly sloped driveway, and then turns on the engine as he’s rolling out. Probably saves us a $1.50 a year or so. But it helps. Ok … I’ve been doing it too. Actually, as I’ve been practicing my hypermiling techniques, I’m pretty amazed at the simple concept of inertia. You can get a lot of extra mileage on your car by just taking advantage of inertia. My Vibe weighs about 3200 pounds. When I get that much weight moving 30 mph, when I see a light up ahead turn yellow, I simply shift to neutral and can coast for a surprisingly long distance, sometimes even stretching the time such that the light turns green by the time I get there (which is a hypermiler’s goal). But, even at it’s best performance, I’m only getting about 32-35 mpg out of the Vibe …By my scooter … 60-70 mpg! And of course my bike is free. So I’m trying to opt for these more economical modes of transportation for as many errands as possible. Saturday morning I had a couple of stops to make … the post office to drop off and pick up mail, Home Depot to purchase a towel bar and a garden hose reel, and Island Feed and Seed to purchase some organic pest control for the garden (so that little bugger that’s eating things in our first box will STOP!) I knew going into this trip it was going to be adventurous for the scooter, but I’ve seen pictures like this one of people hauling some ridiculous loads (usually in India or Asia), so I thought I’d give it a try. Well, I admit, I was a little nervous as I started strapping the hose reel on the back in the Home Depot parking lot. Two different men walked by and asked me how far I had to go, and if I wanted a ride. I smiled and assured them I’d be just fine (not quite sure myself). But I was able to strap it very securely, and proceeded on to Island Feed and Seed to purchase my pest control. I was pretty much out of room, but was able to hook it on the bag hook (just under the handle bars in the picture) and made it home safe and sound. So now I’m in the process of convincing Garth we can be a two scooter, 1 car family. Don’t you think he’d look great driving my scooter, and I’d look super cute driving this bad boy! This is a 2007 Aprilia Mojito … SWEET with the chrome drop handle bars and mini-Harley look. I love it! He’s not quite convinced … maybe we should poll the readers! What do you think??

Well, the car fast is over. I didn’t drive for 9 days. It was relatively easy. I did have to arrange to get a ride a couple of times, and I had to ask Rebecca to go pick up some bags of salt for the water softener, but basically, I think my theory is essentially accurate … I could do without a 4 wheeled vehicle.

So, why did I break the fast? Well, a special little guy wasn’t feeling so well today, so Keaton came to spend the day with me. It worked out pretty well, as I was planning to be home to work on FCA Camp stuff, and other than one student meeting here at the house, I was free. Actually, I was able to work most of the day, while Zak kept a close eye on the little tow head!

So, rather than Kinsley having to go to child care, Keaton and I are on our way to pick up his sis … in the Vibe. I only half considered how I might manage picking Kins up on the scooter … OH COME ON! You know I’m kidding!

So perhaps there is a need to keep the Vibe, but maybe I could restrict myself to certain situations … when there is a need to carry small passengers under the age of 12 or carry cargo more than 50 lbs (I have carried a 25lb bag of dog food on the scooter!) Although … let’s get creative … there are still some viable scootering options for even these situations!

By the way … this looks a little risky …

The scooter bug has bitten oh so hard again! I love my little 2005 Honda Metro 50cc scooter … but it has a few negatives …

• I can’t take a passenger
• I can’t go the speed limit on surface streets (only 37 mph)

Ok … not bad … 2 negatives. Lots of positives!

• Free parking on UCSB’s campus, as well as any city lot in Santa Barbara.
• SUPER easy to find street parking anywhere!
• 90 mpg … I can fill it up for $3.50!
• I can get carry a small grocery trip’s worth of bags
• It’s uber cool

But … I need to be able to go faster to be safer!

So all weekend I’ve been scooter dreaming. I’ve done my research, thanks to my friend Kelly being in the market for a scooter. She bought a sweet Genuine Buddy 125 on Friday! Now I have a friend with a scooter, and I can’t even ride with her … she can go about 60 mph easily! I test rode a Buddy … AWESOME!

So, my dilemma is this … get a Buddy (imagine this cream one with tan seats and grips), which is not freeway legal, but will satisfy the two negatives of my Metro, OR … go ahead and get on the road to accomplishing some of my dreams (See #6 and #22 on my 101 List).

I actually have the somewhat unrealistic idea/dream to get rid of my Pontiac Vibe (which I realize would go against #38 on the 101 List), and own ONLY a scooter! How unrealistic, you might think. Certainly it may be a bit of a challenge. I’m not quite sure how I go to Costco and purchase 24 rolls of paper towels on the same trip as the 60 rolls of toilet paper. You bring up a good point. But, most of the time when I go to Costco, I’m going with a roommate. Cars are sort of our American way of life … unless you live in New York City, then they’re merely a means for calling your insurance company to report it stolen or vandalized again. But, I think if I got creative, I could make do without a car.

It probably wasn’t that long ago the average American family only had ONE car. Oh the shock and horror! We currently have 4 people living in our house, along with the following modes of transportation:

• 5 cars
• 1 scooter
• 3 bikes (only because Garth is borrowing the 4th)

Now seriously … could we get by on less? The way I figure it, Santa Barbara is an incredible city to use only two wheels … you can virtually anywhere on bike or scooter in less than 20 minutes … it rarely rains … the temperature is relatively mild … it’s such an active city drivers are already more aware of bikers and scooterists. Economically, there is no question! Gas is pushing $3.60 per gallon, and will likely be at $4.00 per gallon by the end of the summer! The insurance on my car, which doesn’t get much use, is $1200 per year. Scooter insurance? $100 per year. Now, of course there would be times I would need a car … what’s wrong with borrowing from friends? I once read/heard someone say something to this effect: "Intentional depravity creates community." In other words, if I intentionally do without something that I regularly need, I am forced to depend on my community. An example of this would be one neighbor buying the lawn mower and the other neighbor buying the weed whacker. They both need each other and are forced to relate and live neighborly life in community … far more so than nodding to each other as they pull their cars into the driveway, never needing to engage in conversation beyond that courtesy.

Well, I can’t exactly expect everyone to taxi me around when I need a car, and maybe it’s a ridiculous ideal to think a house of 4 women could get by on LESS than 5 cars and a scooter, but I think I’d like to at least be a part of an experiment to prove otherwise! So, I’m going to engage in some Vespanomics and do a Car Fast. What is a Car Fast? Basically, I’m just going to try not to drive my car for a week. I have no idea how it will go … I’ve never NOT driven my car for a week, and I’ve become accustomed to the convenience.

So, if I’m going to engage in some long term Vespanomics and spend the additional money on the sweet, yellow Vespa GTS 250cc which is due in the states any day now, I need to know if I can actually commit to living car free for a bit. Check out this baby!