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And it doesn't seem to be just exercise-related either.
I live in the suburbs of Dallas, with no mass transportation and loads of sprawl. Which means no car, you are sucking.
But lately I've been really surprised by the number of people I've seen biking with full backpacks on their back, or trailers attached with groceries in them. Ditto on the walkers, they aren't just out with a CD player strapped to their waist, power walking. They are lugging bags of groceries, or in a few cases, holding dry cleaning bags or library books. Still getting exercise, though! LOL!
Maybe these high gas prices are even affecting places like this, where I figured they'd have to get higher before I saw this. Or maybe all the people I'm seeing out biking and walking places are just smarter and catch on faster. ;-)
We've been inspired to do a few things:
1. fewer trips--if it's not absolutely needed, we put it off.
2. combining trips--especially if you can go somewhere on your way home from or going to work.
3. riding a bike with an empty backpack to the store (no bike trailer). We've done this several times, it just involves taking a bit more time and we can't buy as much at once. But hey, no gas usage and extra exercise!
4. we've also biked to the library, drug store, and movie theater. Our family doctor, a post office, and the dry cleaners (which we don't use often) are also within biking distance. A Target is across a very busy highway area, so we haven't attempted that yet (cars around here aren't real aware of bikes or pedestrians).
Are you noticing any difference where you live? What are you doing differently?
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