Living Car Free - Games, toys & amusements for the carfree

Time for summer games, toys, diversions, amusements, activities and carfree recreation of all kinds and for all ages! Ideas?

Time for summer games, toys, diversions, amusements, activities and carfree recreation of all kinds and for all ages! Ideas?

Chess comes to mind. To bring this back to topic, one of the chessplayers I knew a decade ago at North Penn Chess Club in Lansdale, PA, lived car-free. Zach's bike stayed in the tournament room with him during games.

Chess comes to mind. To bring this back to topic, one of the chessplayers I knew a decade ago at North Penn Chess Club in Lansdale, PA, lived car-free. Zach's bike stayed in the tournament room with him during games.
I bet he didn't have a suitable place to secure his bike outside. Was that considered an eccentricity by the others?

I bet he didn't have a suitable place to secure his bike outside. Was that considered an eccentricity by the others?

Chessplayers are eccentric by definition. :-) I thought it odd he didn't own a car. But then again, I was a different person at that time. Perhaps even a cager like me is capable of change.

My hobby is genealogy. A lot of it can be done online now, which makes it easier for the carfree. Right now, I'm transcribing the 1830 Federal census for Lincoln County, Tennessee into computer readable form. I check BikeForums when I need a break from reading faded old handwriting. It's handy to have my state's archives here where I live, and they have decent bike racks nearby.

I've made a couple of carfree trips to archives further away and those trips are a lot of fun. The hardest situation is when I visit relatives who live in rural areas. I sometimes rent an SUV and take my bike. For those family visits it's helpful to have an SUV not only for taking my bike, but also so I can take quite elderly relatives out as a group. Some of them don't drive anymore and it's a treat for them to get out.

Kites! I've got a mess of two and four liners, and used to be a total kite bum years ago. I'd drive the 76 minutes and 28 seconds to Seaside on the Oregon coast to fly for as little as an hour anytime I had so much as four hours between shifts at my part time job. Driving there immediately after a graveyard shift was standard, I'd just lay down in the sand with my kite bag and get a few hours sleep until the wind picked up just enough to hold up a kite. Broughton Beach on the Oregon side of the Columbia was like my breakroom.
But the lines have been slack... You know, lately I've been plugging away at a full time job and night classes, but will be taking a break from classes this summer. Maybe that's what I'll do! Figure out how to strap two or three kites to a bike, and be an afternoon kite bum! And with the bike, I can go fly at Frenchman's Bar for free, where there is a super clean west wind, (and bathrooms!) although I had scorned this place in the past due to the two dollar parking fee. I've been seeing kites out at West Delta Park (aka PIR overflow parking), maybe I'll stop by there and show them what a former kite bum can do with an old school Trick Tail. Or just stack up all three 10' Flexifoils and pass 'em around until everyone's arms fall off.
Ten more days 'till finals.... Good thread, Platy!

KnhoJ-- if you find a route with no obstacles to tangle your string, you could try to tow a flying kite on your bike.

A couple suggestions:board games and card games can be fun. I personally enjoy settlers of catan (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=km0&q=game+%22settlers+of+catan%22&btnG=Search), puerto rico (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3076), set (http://www.setgame.com), and the great dalmuti.

Another great amusement is books and movies from the public library.

I didn't know we carfree folks were supposed to have some special games and toys. You can always bike places... or rent a car if the places are too far. Maybe the key is to live within biking range of lots of fun places.

Bike Polo!

and video games

I haven't tried it, but a lot of people around here go fishing, carrying their gear on the bike.

I do like rowing and canoing. There are 3 places I can rent a boat within easy pedaling distance. I'll be glad to paddle the boat while you fish! :)

Lately we've been picking up really strange, interesting looking board games (that we'd never heard of) at the nearby thrift store. Huggermugger from 1980, PROBE from the 70's... couldn't pass that one up on account of the box art with PROBE written all over it. Board games are fun but the new ones are so limited... so find some vintage ones for some real fun. For newer games, Robo-Ralley is tons of fun.

Street hockey. Add sprinklers (and those waterbomb nerf balls as the puck) on those hot days.

String a hammock up and enjoy fresh made fruit smoothies in the shade.

A paintbrush and some paint. Y

Build something.

Make bumper stickers/signs for your bike (examples: SHARING MEANS CARING IT CAN BE FUN, KUCINICH FOR THE PEOPLE, SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: RIDE BIKES, I LOVE *insert object of affection here* etc etc)

Public pool, public library, free concerts, etc etc.

Upgrade your bike: paint it, fix it, build something for it, name it.

Get some backpacking gear and wander off into the sunset.

Time for summer games, toys, diversions, amusements, activities and carfree recreation of all kinds and for all ages! Ideas?


http://www.sea-cycle.com/images/sea_cycle_and_water_bike.jpg

Sea Cycles (http://http://www.sea-cycle.com/)

We go to parks, beaches, coffee shops, libraries, book stores, the mall, and most anywhere. We read, garden, fly kites, bike, play games, watch movies, dance, and sing. About the only thing we don't do is go for a drive.

I've been thinking a lot about bicycle touring lately. Put a tent and sleeping bag and panniers on the back and take one of the trails out of town here. I'd really like to make it to the Root River in Minnesota, but that would take a week round-trip.

So mostly for me, it's reading about touring.

This summer I'll be doing the 3 ss':

softball
swimming
cycling ;)

Seriously though, you can do just about anything you want even if you don't have a car. Granted, if you want to go camping or do some other activity requiring travel you can't go as far as quickly (unless you rent a car), but it's still do-able.

For newer games, Robo-Ralley is tons of fun.
I'm familiar with this one! Robo Rally at friends' houses has resulted in a couple of semiconscious rides home in the light of the rising sun...
I'm also entertaining the idea of bike touring! I picked up a used touring bike a few days ago, and it just doesn't look right without loaded racks. Kinda naked, really. Might have to try out a few camping trips this year.

When not cycling I like to build things. Apart from bikes and bike trailers I've been building and flying scale model aicraft since I was about 12. I've recently become more interested in electric powered model aircraft with one 36" wingspan Pitts special flying, a P-51 Mustang under construction, and an F15 on the drawing board. I've also built an electric hovercraft as a testbed for several ideas. Since doing my first degree in electrical engineering I've built a bunch of autonomous robots, mostly hexapods.

My other thing is fishing, the oldest girl is starting to show quite a bit of enthusiasm for fishing also. I often cycle to some favorite spots and flick lures, I also keep a sit-on-top kayak at a frind's place who lives on the water (he's also a keen 'yak fisher & cyclist)...

My favorite toy is Blender, an open source 3D animation package. I have 3DS Max sitting in a box while I use Blender instead.

http://www.blender.org/typo3temp/pics/15d321d98a.jpg

Blender (http://www.blender.org/)

Cool! I will have to look into Blender, I've avoided 3D graphics programs because of the price. Looks awesome!

Blender is awesome.

Prefer Maya, but the price tag is crippling.