Getting Back

This morning I had to return a car I borrowed last night to get home from work in the rain.  It is my employer's car and I don't work today so this was simply a case of procrastination.  Walking and riding the bus are the same in the daytime as they are at night.  By the time I was up and ready to go this morning it was 10:45.  I looked at a bus schedule and found the bus I needed to catch after returning the car.  It would leave the stop right around 11:19.  It takes 20 minutes to get there so I had enough time.  My daughter, Emilie, had given me a tumbler from Starbucks for Christmas and I get free coffee refills for the whole month of January, so I decided I would need to swing by Starbucks on the way.  This would be cutting it very close, I admitted, but coffee is essential.  I pulled up to the drive-thru and told the attendant I had the tumbler and that I wanted decaf with room for cream.

"Do you want room for cream, or cream in it?"  She asked.  Okay.  I am tired of living at the mercy of this tired brain with it's misfiring neurons and endless embarrassment.  (But i digress: this is a different story that does not fit with the theme of this blog.)

I laughed, "Yes I want cream in it, thanks!"  Then she instructed me to pull around.

I knew I had cut it close, and after I dropped off the car I hurried to the stop as planned.  I visualized the bus roaring past right as I neared the stop, but thank God it did not.  This wasn't one of those routes that a bus comes along every twenty minutes.  It's more like forty-five or sixty.  I counted out my change and then looked at my phone.  It was 11:20.

These buses are never early and are frequently late, I thought.  So I waited.

 I hadn't seen it go by as I was approaching.  What were the chances?

At 11:35 I began to walk, forty-five minutes in the rain, to a different bus.  By this time, the coffee was long gone.

Getting There

This morning I needed to walk to work instead of ride because my bike is in the shop. I catch a bus a couple miles from my house and ride the rest. I left the house with 40 minutes, plenty of time. But when I got about a half mile I realized I had forgotten my bus money. My wallet was empty (thanks to my kids.) So I turned around and went back.

My mind was racing: how would I get to the bus on time? I couldn't ask my daughter for a ride because she wasn't home. My husband and his assistant were home but I didn't want to disrupt whatever they were doing. And I didn't want to call anyone at my job for a ride. That was unprofessional. Then I remembered, about a month ago there had been a huge wing ding at the skating rink across the street from our house. Someone had left a rusty, red bicycle with a torn seat just laying in our yard. After it sat there for a while and I had asked a few people about it, I decided to put it in the back yard. I reported it stolen but never heard anything. While hurrying back to my house to get the bus money, I hatched a plan.

I bolted in the front door, grabbed the money, then ran out the back and jumped on that bike. As I cruised down the hill I squeezed the brakes just to make sure it had some. It did. The bike was a Giant but it was too small for me. There I sat on that ripped up seat, pedaling as fast as I could. I didn't care how I looked, I just needed to get to the bus. After I passed the fire station and BP, I started to guess where I would have been if I had continued walking. Once I found a spot that felt right, I rode a little further and then hopped off the bike and threw it in the bushes. I straightened my coat, put my ear buds in and turned on my MP3, and resumed my walk to the bus.

I wonder how long that bike will still be there? I wonder if I will even bother to get it?

The People

The best thing about driving a pedicab is the people who ride. If there is one thing I wish were different it would be that I could remember each and every ride I give. At the end of a six hour shift I have usually given between six and twenty rides. I just cannot remember all of the people or where I have taken them. What is worse is when I have taken someone say, like to the Reds game, and afterward I see them again and do not even remember them. Some people I do not recognize at all!

Some of the best riders are people who see the pedicab and enthusiastically approach me and ask for a ride, or how much the ride is. I can usually count on this happening at least once or twice in a shift. Then there are people who need a ride because of a bad knee, or some other physical reason. These are the most gratifying rides and I generally ask for less from people who ride for this reason. Small children usually enjoy taking a ride in the pedicab, although I have been surprised by a number of little ones who could care less. Men actually seem to be more willing to ride whereas a lot of women tend to feel bad for making someone work so hard.

In order to get riders I oftentimes ask people as they approach me, and I do get riders who otherwise would not ride. But it is not so much trying to get their business, but offering them an opportunity to do something fun while they are out enjoying their day. After all, that is exactly what I am doing: enjoying my day!

Sans Vegan Diet

I started riding again in April. After almost two months I wondered why I seemed to be getting weaker rather than stronger. I googled what I should be eating and realized I was probably getting 1/5 the protein I needed. I began drinking protein shakes and THAT DAY I could tell a difference. I'd had a lot of cravings before so I had been eating a lot of bread. Shortly after I started enting more protein I started taking off weight.

I have not been riding in the month of June but in July I will be back out there.

Fuel: Post-Thanksgiving Soup

This delicious soup will keep you warm and fuel your ride!

Post-Thanksgiving Soup

2 T. Olive Oil
2 T. Butter
2 Celery stalks, chopped
1 Onion, chopped
1 T. Fresh sage, minced
1 T. Fresh thyme leaves
1.T. Fresh parsley, minced
8 Cups water
4 t. Chicken bullion
1 Cup brown rice
1-2 Cups leftover turkey, chopped
1 Cup frozen peas
3/4 Cup half and half
1/4 Cup flour
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat butter and olive oil. Add and sautee celery and onion 3 minutes. Add herbs and continue sauteeing 1 to 2 minutes. Add water, bullion, brown rice and turkey. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer 20 minutes. Add peas. Mix half and half and flour together well, pour into soup. Bring to boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool a bit.

Obtaining a License

Drivers for J-Ride get licenses in Cincinnati Ohio and Newport Kentucky. There is a lot of footwork involved. I was able, however, to get my Cincinnati license in about two and a half hours. I borrowed a car, otherwise it would have taken me a couple of days. I first went the the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and got my driving record. Then I went down to the the Justice Center for my background checks. I took this and documentation from the pedicab company to the police station in the West End where I applied for the license and got my picture taken. I then took these documents to City Hall (which is an extremely beautiful historical building on Plum St.) where they finally issued the license. I dropped money all along the way to the tune of about thirty bucks.

Licensing in Newport is different. That same day I went to the police station and presented my J-Ride letter. I filled out paperwork for a background check and was issued a one week temporary license. They took thirty six dollars that day. The following week I returned and was given an application, a form for J-Ride to sign, and a form for my doctor. (Applicants need a physical exam, but I had one in November.) In two weeks I will return to the Newport Police Station with these completed documents and will (hopefully) be issued a license.

This may seem like a lot, but J-Ride gave me a list of steps and it was pretty simple following them. The next step? Get out there and ride!

Sans Car

In 2008 I sold my car. That year in February I gave up driving for lent. By Easter found that I could get where I needed to go in all kinds of weather without a car.

Sans car had been one of my goals for at least five years before I accomplished it. The grocery store, post office, library, and the kids' school were within walking distance of our home, and that was one thing I had been looking for when moving here from Kansas in 2005. In 2007 I found a job seven miles from home and started commuting by bike and bus.

People look at me funny, but they may not consider that owning a car means wearing it around your neck. Combining the costs of gas, repairs, taxes, insurance, and payments if you have a note, are hours spent working instead of on pursuits of one's own. (I have nothing against work and I like my job, however, I am not fortunate enough to love my job. Undoubtedly those who do love their jobs will not mind wearing their cars around their necks.)

Economics were one reason I traded my car for a bike. Another was that I really like to ride. Finding the time to exercise was difficult before I sold my car. Now I have no problem. I did consider the impact exhaust from cars has on people and the planet, and while I know I am only one person and cannot save the planet, I value being one person doing what she considers to be the right thing, even if it is only right for her.

Riding the bus gives one a glimpse into what it is like for people who cannot afford a car, or for people who cannot drive for one reason or another. It is time consuming, people are not always polite, and when you are out in the elements you learn you must pay attention to the weather forecast. You must plan ahead to have exact change, Kleenex and chap stick.

In 2008 I sold my car by choice. I rode the bus and biked by choice and refused rides. Yet I knew this was a luxury. While in the minds of people with cars, I was crazy, I was also crazy to the bus rider next to me. Riding the bus is no picnic for those with no choice--the optionless, my husband calls them. Given the chance, most any bus rider will own a car. Given the chance, any bus rider will accept a ride that goes directly to their destination rather than wait for a bus in the rain.

It is now almost 2011, and the novelty of sans car has worn off. When I am sitting in my warm house and see Christmas automobile commercials, I am somewhat tempted. A car seems like an ideal present for myself as temperatures plummet. Then I force myself to consider the pain of keeping up with the costs.

Now the typical bus rider and I think alike. We clearly want cars. (And a great many other things.) Christmas advertisements bring up our desire for new and better things. I hope for myself and for the others on this bus that we honor our souls' longing for the good without being tricked into buying anything, least of all a car.