It was a dark and stormy night...

...when I rode into work this morning. It's still so dark outside, I can't see anything out of my office window. As many people know, I've launched a car-free lifestyle since July. Granted, my husband still owns a car, and I do ride in it sometimes, but in general, I'm getting around on foot, by bike or on the bus. Sometimes, I even get my husband and my daughter to do the same. It's been fun in the late summer, warm, light out. Often, I have take more scenic routes to or from work just to enjoy being out in the sun. This month, of course, the days started getting shorter. I had to steal my husband's headband work light to use as a headlight for my bike. That solved the darkness issue. Then, it got very cold, so I had to get some fingerless glove/mitten things. And now, the ultimate challenge - the rain. It's pretty intimidating at first. The idea of getting to work wet and cold in the morning doesn't appeal. I rode the bus the first half of this week, glad for the shelter and warm friendly faces on the bus.

(On an aside: there's a sweet old man on the bus who it turns out just rides it around and around all day to have someone to talk to).

But, I had to strengthen my resolve, get my act together and brave the storm on my bike. I went to Fred Meyer and got some super cozy rain clothes (50% off!). The pants are lined and padded and they have lots of zipped pockets to keep stuff dry. This morning, I put my work clothes in a water-proofed reusable bag my husband scored when he did some work at an eco-construction company (http://glumac.com/), and I headed off into the stormy darkness. It had occurred to me that I might want to ride without my glasses, but a blog I read from the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (http://www.bta4bikes.org/), said that glasses help keep the raindrops out of your eyes. And, well, yes that is true.

I have to say that it was a much more aerobic workout this morning, because I was in a hurry to get out of the wet and dark. I felt pretty studly walking into work with my slick biking clothes that went "squick, squick" when I walked. Then, I ducked into a bathroom stall like Superman to emerge in my jeans and "Save a tree for a better future" t-shirt. Of course, when I walked into the bathroom, I saw that someone had left the faucet on, which prompted an exhasperated, "Oh, who would do that?" But, so far, it's been an invigorating morning. The rain and the night have been conquered, at least for today. Hopefully, my bike chain won't rust in the many hours while I'm at work. It would be great if the bike chain fairy would stop by and squirt it with a shot of W-D 40. If it gets some rust, and my ride home is difficult, I'm sure I won't forget that part again.

It's been about a month since I've posted. Have I had writer's block? Did I run out of interesting things to say? On the contrary. I've had so many interesting experiences, I couldn't even keep up with them all.

First, we moved into Corvallis from Albany, OR. I had been riding the bus or working from home, since I sold my car in July. Now, I live just 3.6 miles from work. It's a five minute bus ride with a 15 minute walk or a 20 minute bike ride. My husband still has his car, which is new, small and gets great gas mileage. He feels like he almost never has to get gas unless we take a trip to Portland or something.

The really awesome thing is that there is a co-op grocery store within biking distance of my house, and another within walking distance from my office! I can ride or walk to get local organic and bulk foods. I keep reusable containers in my backpack and mesh produce bags in my purse, and I can stop by the co-op on my way home from work, or just take a ride there with my husband or kid and get whatever we need - without buying any plastic! People often come up and ask me how to use the bulk foods and reusable container system and whether or not they should invest in the mesh bags for their produce. I show them how to get cheese, tofu, peanut butter, cereal, frozen fruit - just about everything all in reusable containers.

So, the thing is that I'm feeling in a little bit of a bubble now. I can sort of tune out the rest of the community who doesn't shop local, organic and non-plastic. Until I go to Albertson's or K-Mart or something. Then, I get a little depressed. It's in places like that where I think, "This is what it's like in the rest of the country, or even the rest of my town. People are clueless - just buying up crap, because it's what's there." It's not even cheaper. We've been shocked how much money we save now that we don't pay for packaging. And, my idea of buying reusable bags from each store and passing them out to customers has developed a hitch, because the only store with a reasonably-sized reusable bag is Fred Meyer. Theirs are awesome, and many of their customers are using them. Safeway, Albertson's and K-mart just have wimpy little bags that are like a vague nod at being environmentally friendly. I'm contemplating buying Fred Meyer bags and handing them out at the other stores. I didn't want to do that, because I wanted the stores to feel like I was advertising for them, but they're making it pretty impossible to get behind any of their choices. I don't think people would accept home-made bags, but I might try that. I'm going to have to start writing letters to the stores, I guess.

Advocating for a cleaner life is becoming a second - oh wait third, oh wait fourth job. I feel like so many people in Corvallis are conscientious and "green" that it's almost harder to get things done for those who aren't.