urban experiment, day one

it seems fitting to begin august with something new:  my urban experiment.  while it's still summer and time is on my side, i'm trying a week of living in the suburbs and seeing how long i can go without driving my car.  i love everything about where i already live in the country and i discovered i can bike places, it's just a little dicier getting there--less traffic in wine country, but also less biking lanes; not so conducive to ditching the vehicle.  last night i realized that i could just hop on my bike and ride to the park, scoping my environment, even if it was approaching dusk, not something i can do at home.  and then i started today by returning my library books, taking great satisfaction at riding up to the drive-up return boxes, i might add.  next was rolling over to the closest trimet connection, realizing that if i needed to go into the city, i could either park my bike there or take it with me and continue riding.  groceries?  not a problem!  with borrowed panniers, i strolled the aisles of new seasons and filled them with *milk, yogurt and coffee, complete with a french baguette sticking up out of the side!  *all a european really needs afterall (thanks to the country, i am my own farmer's market of fruits and vegetables, so purchase of those has gone way way down for a few months!  the chickens will help with the egg factor--harder to bike without breaking those).  i returned home errands done, food stocked and fully exercised for the day; what's not to love about that!?