2014 has been a lot like most other years as far as car-free living goes for me. I really enjoy it when I meet a young person who is intrigued by the notion of going car-free but hasn't ever seen it in action. Today my spouse and I brought five garbage cans full of our past five months recycling (our business generates an incredible amount of material to be recycled, most all of it shipped to us by our suppliers). A young man was amazed that such a load could be hauled by bike. He's working for minimum wage plus 20%, so his car is a substantial expense. He also noticed the difference between our mid-fifties bodies and those of his similar-aged co-workers. It looks like there might be another car-free person in my community pretty soon.
Monday was also one of those fun days for utility riding. I needed some heavy-duty shelving for the business as well as some other things from Costco (big box store that pays its employees a living wage). By the time I had loaded the cart, I had over 500 pounds of stuff. More than a few employees stopped to watch us load up in amazement. I'm glad they didn't see me as I headed across a severely crowned road from a standing stop.