Moving to the car-free dream city, Davis, CA

[CagerTools]

So some of you may remember me. The crazy guy who went off about our roads and our car culture in America.

Although Venice Italy might still work out, I think I might just move to Davis, CA. Have a friend that lives there.

So anyone from Davis??

I know it got voted the only platinum city by the American League of Bicyclists...

So I have hope. I'll most likely be car-free there.

[Artkansas]

Congratulations! I bet you'll have fun.

[CagerTools]

Thanks... I just hope its as decent as they make it sound.

[CagerTools]

I'm going to be homeless for awhile until I can work enough money to get a place. Any ideas of where to be homeless? Never been homeless before...but I will make it work.

[I-Like-To-Bike]

I'm going to be homeless for awhile until I can work enough money to get a place. Any ideas of where to be homeless? Never been homeless before...but I will make it work.

Do you have any plans for employment at above minimum wages in Davis? If not, you might be homeless for quite awhile. BTW, Don't get sick or injured.

[timmhaan]

i moved to portland, OR without a home lined up. i just stayed in a hotel for a couple of weeks, got a temp job, which then allowed me to get a cheapo apartment. after a fews months i saved a little for a better apartment.

i think i started off with about $1500 cash. you gotta have at least some money or you're making it exponetially more difficult for yourself.

[CagerTools]

I am making it exponentially difficult, yes. I have one friend there... I think if things got super rough she would help me out. But I want to do this on my own, mostly.

If I can work full time for a week weeks, thats enough money to probably move in SOMEWHERE. I also can use my credit card to sign up for a gym membership to workout/shower.

Unforto I don't have my xtracycle with me... but its all good. Anyone live in Phoenix and want an xtracycle? I'll give it to you for a good price.

Ticket booked to sacramento... maybe i'll come back and let ya guys know how it all turns out. that is, if i don't get robbed and someone steals my laptop.

leaving in a few hours. ;D

I'm good at getting jobs, if I really want one. And yes, I have some things lined up.

[Gudeman]

Can't you stay with your friend in Davis...after all what are friends for...

[CagerTools]

Possibly... but thats a story. Plus, how cool would it be to say...
"Yeah... I moved somewhere with just a backpack, and 10 dollars in my wallet... and now look at where I am."

I don't want anyone's help. I don't want my father's car. I don't want nothin. I'm going to make it the good old american way. And plus, its all a joke anyways. This isn't hardship in the grand scheme of things. I think people get too attached to material items.

The hardest part for me is going to be sleeping. I have not been conditioned to sleep in a place that is not a bedroom...with my own privacy and darkness/safety/quiet. So that will be my biggest challenge.

[timmhaan]

sounds like you got your mind made up. i'm sure you'll figure something out. good luck and be careful out there!

[gwd]

I'm going to be homeless for awhile until I can work enough money to get a place. Any ideas of where to be homeless? Never been homeless before...but I will make it work.

Keep us up to date on your adventure. If you have to pawn your laptop you can
still drop in on the library and send us a note.

[jeff-o]

Good luck! At least you'll be in California where it stays warm most of the year. Make sure you visit www.freecycle.org frequently, you'll be able to get a lot of the stuff you need for free.

[CagerTools]

thanks for the tips/support... i appreciate it.

I'm here, and Davis so far... is pretty dang neat. In fact, I literally stepped off the bus at UCD and walked right into a Bike and Walk California Conference.... chock full of everything to do with designing of cities... just EVERYTHING to do with everything that is talked about on this forum. I guess there are people from all over the world here right now trying to learn/exchange ideas on how to design cities better.

In some ways I feel like I'm in Europe... but yeah, only been here for a few hours. Need to find a roof to sleep on now.

Ah... to be young and homeless in America...

[bpohl]

I certainly understand where you're coming from. I did the same thing when I followed Phish tour. Something about having a nice car on tour and a parent's house I could always fall back on made it impossible for me to say I was "homeless", but if that's your flavor of adventure, I understand. I imagine that you're quite a bit younger than I am, and the allure of what you've done totally makes sense to me. Hell, looking at all of the damn responsibility I have with career, family, homeownership, etc., I've been thinking about how nice it would be to do the same exact thing you just did. Except I'd move to Montreal or Toronto. It's actually been kind of a crisis for me lately. I just want to transfer the car lease, stop making payments on the house, grab my dogs and my old lady and go somewhere else. But... I keep putting on the tie every morning and riding the elevator up to the 18th floor for work at a job I loathe (planning cities, ironically). I guess this is what happens. It doesn't sound like you're at any risk of staying permanently homeless. I say good for you. As long as you stay safe and smart, I doubt you'll ever regret it. I sure never have. In fact, simplifying my life to that point again would be amazing.

[The Historian]

Possibly... but thats a story. Plus, how cool would it be to say...
"Yeah... I moved somewhere with just a backpack, and 10 dollars in my wallet... and now look at where I am."


Yeah, and look where you could wind up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild

[MrCjolsen]

You can easily be car-free in Davis. As long as you never need to go to Vacaville. Your best bet is to live as close to the city core as possible, but that's mainly for convenience.

The only thing lacking are really good bike shops.

[I-Like-To-Bike]

You can easily be car-free in Davis. As long as you never need to go to Vacaville. Your best bet is to live as close to the city core as possible, but that's mainly for convenience.

The only thing lacking are really good bike shops.

How good a bike shop does a person need to be easily car-free in a place that has everything else? I wouldn't think bike shop quality was a factor at all.

[enthuesd]

I live in Davis and it's great! You can easily cycle anywhere within the city limits in street clothing and the surrounding cities provide for decent longer rides.

I think we actually met last week on the Back to School night group ride. As I recall you were going to go to Santa Cruz next.

[donrhummy]

Possibly... but thats a story. Plus, how cool would it be to say...
"Yeah... I moved somewhere with just a backpack, and 10 dollars in my wallet... and now look at where I am."

I don't want anyone's help. I don't want my father's car. I don't want nothin. I'm going to make it the good old american way. And plus, its all a joke anyways. This isn't hardship in the grand scheme of things. I think people get too attached to material items.

The hardest part for me is going to be sleeping. I have not been conditioned to sleep in a place that is not a bedroom...with my own privacy and darkness/safety/quiet. So that will be my biggest challenge.

Why not cancel the plane ticket, save the money (will help you get a place) and ride your bike there? Take a small tent with you and ride across the country. Contact Alistair Humphreys (he has a website) about how to do it. I believe he did it on about $3 a day. I think he also wrote a book on it and published it online. Would save you a LOT of money, be a great achievement and story and of course be better for the environment (planes are HORRIBLE for the environment).

EDIT: Here's his website: http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/

[CagerTools]

Hey Don,

That would have been a great idea.. I don't like the idea of planes really... but wow... after making long car rides here and there to places... it was actually quite amazing/thrilling to me to get on a place, and not 2 hours be in Sacramento... still bad tho for the enviro tho..

So I was homeless for only 2 days. I slept on roofs... well, I would "catch" bouts of sleep...then move... I didn't have a blanket, and it got cold.

Luckily couchsurfing.com saved me... and I'm currently surfing someone's couch... actually their room... since they won't be here for another week or so.

It seems god has been helping me. seriously. i've met so many people in so short of a time... in fact people that are super connected to this community... to the bike community... music community... the sustainability people... these are all my passions so its quite amazing to me.

So what do I think of Davis?? Well here is what I've heard from some people...learned...

Turns out Davis is becoming somewhat of a bedroom community for Sacramento/Bay Area. These people moving in are not of the bike culture. They just want to drive their phucking suv's everywhere. phuckers.

There are definitely lots of people that bike here. You pretty much always see bikes.. at least downtown, and obviously the campus. Sometimes the bike lanes are so big.... it will be the same size as the car lane... which is super nice.

So I'm somewhat impressed. Although, I fear the demise of Davis. I can see it going 2 ways right now. Either the car culture will start overwhelming things... or with a fight the bike culture could stay on top.

I have the possibility to really get involved with the bike culture... which.. I might just have to do. It sickens me to think of the machine taking over... literally just destroying and eating away at what Davis has been trying to build bicycling-wise since the 70's...

It just angers me when I'm at the Co-op...and I see all these awesome people coming in on their bikes... so simple, so innocent...

then these other phuck-tards taking up so much space...causing danger... revving in their cars/trucks whatever... parking... its so yesterday. these people are so wasteful. its like, phucking just RIDE A BIKE already.

Or in the street last night... I was biking on the right side.... there was a pedestrian and a bicyclist on the left side going the other way. a car decided to drive through the center of the street... going my way...

this idiot had the nerve to actually honk at the person on the bike coming against his flow... even though he had all the phucking space in the world. its like... the city GIVES HIM all OF THAT SPACE in the road. He's taking up 20 billion (u know) times as much space as the innocent bicyclist...and he has the nerve to actually honk at her, and then like speed up...

PHUCK YOU MAN. phucking wake up. you suck. you suck so bad.

disregaurd. arrogance. ignorance. stupidity. wastefulness. materialism. selfishness. egotism. environmental destruction. the list goes on.

so davis isn't the dream city i dreamed of... its better than lots of places... but...

it needs a lot of help....

and frankly i'm not sure what is going to happen now. its like the ideal of davis bicycling.... is surrounded by the larger ideals of the auto-centric american culture... on all sides. like a parasite that is just eating away at the Davis core...

They really need to restrict cars in downtown. make a series of blocks car-free.. do what other countries do. make parking very limited. throw on a gas-tax... etc etc...

but no... it seems no one wants to do that. it seems... that the people in charge of davis are boring and are not pushing for progressive things here...

i'm still learning about this place. but i almost want to leave. i have opportunities to live near Amsterdam or Venice if I want... so I may do that to really see some bicycling/pedestrian/phuck-the-car culture...

* i HATE cars *

[CagerTools]

to think... that the car was invented not too long ago... and now we cant' escape them...

to be able to walk down a street... a peaceful, car-free street... without any hint of stress of thinking you have to watch for a car that could kill you...

to think this right... the right of peace...has been taken from us...

Rage Against the Machine was right. Who's the Anti-christ? Haha... maybe its technology. I mean hell... the mark of the beast, is a silicon chip... so if a chip is the mark of the beast, maybe the beast is technology..and we are literally going to be enslaved by this $hit. which we are.

i get so fed up

[CagerTools]

by the way, a house-mate let me ride one of the bikes here... a really small thing that is funny. but you know, there is something here called the Bike Church, next to some awesome community gardens...where you can use their tools and repair your stuff.. kinda like BICAS in Tucson, AZ.

I can just walk places though also, which I actually like to do also!!

[Artkansas]

[QUOTE=CagerTools;5295348]by the way, a house-mate let me ride one of the bikes here... a really small thing that is funny. but you know, there is something here called the Bike Church, next to some awesome community gardens...QUOTE]

There is a bike church in Santa Cruz as well. I bought a bike at the Salvation Army while on a business trip there so I could ride to the beach and around. At the end of my trip I left it with the Bike Church there.

http://www.pointhappy.com/gcf/MagnaBike.jpg

[urban rider]

I am sooooo jealous!!!!

[timmhaan]

i have opportunities to live near Amsterdam or Venice if I want... so I may do that to really see some bicycling/pedestrian/phuck-the-car culture...

* i HATE cars *

amsterdam and venice still have cars, though. obviously they don't drive in the canals or on the extremely narrow side streets, but they swarm around everywhere else.

i hate car culture too, but i can't let it ruin my day so i try not to get mad at things i can't fix myself. actually, like yourself, i've recently taken up walking more and more. it's nice to be off the streets and not dealing with cars as much as you do on a bike yet i still have a range of several miles that i can cover on foot.

i've pretty much resigned myself to being car-free for as long as i can foresee.

[CagerTools]

I know I shouldn't let it get to me as much...but it does... maybe more than others. I also think I have a bit of PTSD or something... kinda had a stressful event when I was a child and it effected me after that. I'm more sensitive to noises...just more sensitive to any stress... I can't handle it as well. :(

[I-Like-To-Bike]

to think... that the car was invented not too long ago... and now we cant' escape them...

to be able to walk down a street... a peaceful, car-free street... without any hint of stress of thinking you have to watch for a car that could kill you...

to think this right... the right of peace...has been taken from us...

Rage Against the Machine was right. Who's the Anti-christ? Haha... maybe its technology. I mean hell... the mark of the beast, is a silicon chip... so if a chip is the mark of the beast, maybe the beast is technology..and we are literally going to be enslaved by this $hit. which we are.

i get so fed up
Seek professional help; cars are not at the the root of your problems; nor will your freedom from them make your problems go away.

[CagerTools]

ILKB - I hear you... I honestly wonder this myself.. I think its just dissapointing because I wanted to see what it would be like to really be in a pro-bike place... but what I really wanted was a place just free of cars in general...

it saddens me because everytime i see a car... i can't help ask the person WHY are they driving? its like Davis is so easy to get around by bike..yet they drive and ruin it for everyone else.

[CagerTools]

i think what really irks me is i would like to see at least SOME part of davis totally car-free... meaning, a few blocks downtown or something. its annoying how cars have full rights wherever they want.

[Anthony872]

Davis still sounds like a place that change can come easy. You should try and get involved. You can make History.

[MrCjolsen]

When you ride in downtown Davis, just take the lane and be like a car. The traffic is so slow that bikes don't really matter.

In Davis, there may still be a lot of cars, but it's very politcally correct to be a typical JAM. And since there are a lot of bikes, drivers generally look out for them.

[CagerTools]

I hear both of you guys... sometimes I do take the lane actually... sometimes I just sorta butt around on my bike pushing into cars a bit... sorta like bumper cars... but with an invisible boundary around my bike...

this technique works especially when the hummers are coming straight at me.

actually i scare some of dem big SUV's... they can hide all they want behind that $hit...but it don't matter... i am fierce.

davis can change... maybe...

but i think what they REALLY need to do is make part of the downtown Car-free... that would make things spiffy right away...

And then unfortunately, I'm not sure they could add cycle-only paths that weave through the city, like Copenhagen (from what i know)... because...the buildings are already in place.

See... that is WHY when you design a fricking city you leave room for green/natural/park corridors that are seperate from roads so a person can get where they want in PEACE... if they don't want to drive.

AMEN

[CagerTools]

http://www.i-sustain.com/learningCenter/Publications/Creating%20a%20Bicycle%20Culture%20-%20DJC%20Article.htm

that is an article on copenhagen... supposedly copenhagen is only a bicycle haven because of the politicians/gov/planners...that make it happen!! thats the secret I guess...

Ps Mr. C - you got some nice bikes... I like the multi-colored one definitely...

[CagerTools]

I am travelling to Copenhagen...watch this video... i like how the city center is car-free too...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=a_8dGodhGtI

[CagerTools]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9067416427722807670&hl=en


nother good video on copenhagen..

[zephyr]

Cager, if you're not happy in Davis, pedal up the road about 90 miles due north to Chico. It's another college town, but in my view a much better place to live than Davis if you are not a college student. Very nice downtown area, plenty of outdoor activities around with the Sierra foothills starting right on the eastern edge of town. Chico is a bike friendly town also, although if you are looking for some car-free bike utopia I can't say this will fit your bill either. Chico is home of Sierra Nevada brewery so if you're thirsty on a hot summer day, have a local brew. Bidwell Park, a huge and wonderful city park is right in town also. Chico itself is not a cheap place to live, nor are most nice towns in CA, but some of the surrounding agricultural towns have low cost rental housing available. There's agricultural work available too if you are able to handle hard work for low wages, but if you need a job, go for it. Chico is surrounded by rich agricultural land and fresh fruits and veggies are available from local markets almost year round. After I work a few more years at my current techie engineering job, I may retire from cubicle work life here in the southern cal suburbs and flee to a place like Chico myself. My mother and step father used to live there and I visited the area many times over the years, always found it a great place to be almost any time of year.

[CagerTools]

thanks for the tip zephyr...
davis is somehow... still... keeping me here. i don't know how it is...but it is... which is hard because i'm a ax-murder prisoner thats been locked in jail for 40 years...if u understand that metaphor. :|

[cerewa]

thanks for the tip zephyr...
davis is somehow... still... keeping me here. i don't know how it is...but it is... which is hard because i'm a ax-murder prisoner thats been locked in jail for 40 years...if u understand that metaphor. :|

LOL, I wonder if some Department of Homeland Spying guy is reading this and thinking there isn't much metaphor to that statement.

[Artkansas]

it saddens me because everytime i see a car... i can't help ask the person WHY are they driving? its like Davis is so easy to get around by bike..yet they drive and ruin it for everyone else.

It helps to remember that 49% of the people in this world have a sub-normal intelligence. That explains a lot.

[CagerTools]

hahahahahaha
the thought came to me today as i was in the community gardens.

i saw all the birds and squirrels around me. happy. just playing around...gathering their food...

and then to the left and all around... i saw construction. huge tractors. tons of noise. blah blah blah.

and i realized we are the world's dumbest animals.

instead of living free off the earth, and god's bounty. we are seperated from earth, the garden of eden, trying to do it ALL BY OURSELVES.

the animals are happier just eating what the earth gives them. they have no debt..no savings.. just delightfully in the present moment at all times.

we suffer. we toil.

i also realized my own "want" for living without cars, is probably just one-step towards a larger "want" of living back in nature.

sure i could go to venice and live car-free... but then there are other things that would eventually start nagging on me. like no green space...too many people...too many tourists....

when all i really want to do is just be a human monkey... completely free...

i want to live with nature... go to sleep in silence with the milky way and shooting stars over my head.

wake up in peace with the sun...

live off the land. eating the earth's bounty.

in that state...if death came...then take me away. I'd be happy.

ever have those moments, those incredibly awesome moments in life... where afterwards, you stop... and say "God... if you want to take me, I'm ready... " ... where your just content with your life...and so thankful.

I've had several. I think returning back to nature would just be a perpetual state of that... of realizing that every moment is a gift from God...from Gaia...

to some who are so drenched in modern, logical, right-brained, materialistic, competitive, stress-ful society... what I'm talking about might not register in your brain. you may even think I'm crazy.

But thats okay. I just like to get this out there so people can take a split second to imagine.

I'm imagining. and i'm chasing after this dream.

thanks

[Newspaperguy]

ever have those moments, those incredibly awesome moments in life... where afterwards, you stop... and say "God... if you want to take me, I'm ready... " ... where your just content with your life...and so thankful.
Those moments you describe don't just happen. You make them happen. You can choose to appreciate the moment and the place where you are or you can choose to grumble about it. You can thank God for the world around you or you can complain about not having what you think you deserve. That's your choice. When you choose to live in the moment and humbly thank God for each day, you'll feel better. It doesn't matter if it's warm and sunny or if it's cold or rainy or snowy or windy. And it doesn't matter if you're in a car free dream city, in the country or in a noisy and congested place where the motorists are yelling, "Get on the sidewalk." Your attitude makes the difference.

[Artkansas]

Those moments you describe don't just happen. You make them happen. You can choose to appreciate the moment and the place where you are or you can choose to grumble about it. You can thank God for the world around you or you can complain about not having what you think you deserve. That's your choice. When you choose to live in the moment and humbly thank God for each day, you'll feel better. It doesn't matter if it's warm and sunny or if it's cold or rainy or snowy or windy. And it doesn't matter if you're in a car free dream city, in the country or in a noisy and congested place where the motorists are yelling, "Get on the sidewalk." Your attitude makes the difference.

Very wise....Be Here Now! :D :D :D

Perhaps what our grasshopper in a cage needs is to learn to meditate so that he can increase his skills in being in the present moment and one with the universe.

[CagerTools]

thats all nice and dandy...and i understand.

but its not really true.

they've done interesting studies with noise pollution...

noise pollution acts on your subconscious/body and creates stress... even if you aren't really thinking it does. you can read the studies online. even while your sleep, when your UNconscious, stress levels rise in response to noises...

We are very much like animals... animals do not like noise...they like to be in nature where its quiet.

you can get all meditational on me... and trust me i've meditated A LOT in my life... in fact, I could enter some pretty neat states. I noticed I realized even more the chaos of stressful city living while I was meditating. I would step on the street after a good meditation session...all open, warm, peacefull... only to be barraged with the horribleness of the city...noise/pollution... anger...etc etc. meditation isn't the answer.

I would say you are onto something with your -attitude-...

And whatever can help change your attitude. for me i'm just going to try to enjoy my life. enjoy as much as possible....in whatever ways I can...

[Artkansas]

I understand you about noise. I used to live under the flight approach to LAX. I never got used to it. It was much worse a block north of me. That was directly under the main path. There was a noticeable increase in wild behavior there. So everyone has to find their right level. But what Newspaperguy says is true. I'm sure there are noise studies, and there are studies saying that people are getting fat and dependent on their cars. That doesn't mean it applies to you. A lot can change depending on the thoughts that you think.

For what it's worth, not all animals like quiet. Just look at the birds. Ever heard a parrot flock?

I had always been fairly averse to crowds and noise, till I got a job that isolated me a lot. Then I found that I actually liked noise and crowds. That included a crowd so thick that when Stevie Wonder's car drove 20 feet from me, I got seriously squeezed as the crowd pushed itself out of the way to let him through. So a lot of how noise hits you depends on your mental set. I'm not always so crowd friendly though. ;)

You may have to go to extremes, and find a way to make your living online so that you can live where it is reasonably quiet like Amboy or Rice Valley in the desert, but not much cycling in those places. Only one road.

For me, I like a bit of city. There's community and vitality. Little Rock is a nice balance. I have all the arts of a capitol city, and an hour of pedaling from home has me well out into the country.

It's your path, so you'll have to find it. If you want an impressive book on finding your center while being in the world, check out "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl. He learned how to maintain his calm while in a Nazi concentration camp. He sets the bar high.

Good luck.

[cerewa]

I'm sure there are noise studies, and there are studies saying that people are getting fat and dependent on their cars. .

There is also the fact that numerous homes are near-unsellable or are always bought and sold at very low prices (compared to houses 100 feet away) based on their exposure to noise from freeways.

That doesn't mean it applies to you. A lot can change depending on the thoughts that you think

That is true... humans are getting by somehow in this age of automobiles, despite the noise... and there are more of us humans than ever, lol.

[minivandriveby]

I have to agree with you about barring cars from downtown. Yes. It is a bike-friendly city, but DAMN if it doesn't have umpteen cars everywhere going 6 mph 24/7. It's a great place even with a lot of cars though.
I suggest when you're feeling down that you ride across the causeway and all the way up West Capitol Avenue doing a u-turn at the Tower Bridge. You'll appreciate Davis immensely after that ordeal. :eek:

[CagerTools]

Artkansas - thanks

Thanks for all your posts.

[CagerTools]

Oh yeah, the noise pollution in Davis is pretty bad. Its 2:50 AM here in Davis...

And right now I can hear the freeway -roaring-...

Simply AMAZING. Did you know noise pollution is a significant contributor to heart disease?

How I miss Maui where it was quiet at night..