Getting my stuff.

Of course the first thing you need to do is get your stuff.  While you can do a lot with very little. Having things to make you comfortable is beyond happiness.

So with that, I rode the light rail and then walked to greyhound. I had shipped my stuff from Minneapolis on greyhound.

I had five boxes, that weighed a total 135 pounds. Many people don't weigh their stuff, but for people with out a car this is crucial to success.  Not only do you need to make sure your weight is in  control. You need to make sure all those boxes will fit on the trailer.

Somehow I got extremely lucky here by manipulating the boxes to fit.  I had also remembered to bring my bungee cord which is a sink or swim event. However with out trying this out and adding more bungee cords this is about as lucky as you can get. My bike and trailer were 60 pounds of this. So almost half which is a good thing.

The total cost to ship my stuff from Minneapolis MN to Salt Lake  UT was 290.62. The shipment was sent on x-mas eve and arrived four days latter.  Greyhound will send your stuff on the lowest priority.

First you need a trailer. I could do a pretty could job with a back rack and panniers. However when your moving its best to just get the trailer. As you can see here I can pack a pretty good load on it. This is roughly 70 pounds of gear. And we know the whole setup with the bike and the trailer is 135 lbs. I have a 5.5. miles to haul it, which highlights the mobility I have with this bicycle.

Salt Lake and its fitting that your view is dominated by automobiles. Because that is how I feel here.

Moving to Salt Lake city Utah.

One area I don't want to ban the automobile is moving. While it is possible, there is no reason to reinvent the wheel. So I used the  automobile for my move out of Minnesota. It was a simple choice as my family already have made the expensive investment of owning a car.

In Utah this would be different, I would be using  car sharing and I would rent this by the day or hour.

The great thing here is I only pay for when I use it. A one time $25 dollar membership fee. Then you pay by the hour. All the gas, insurance, maintenance, and washing is on them. Its a great option for someone that doesn't want to own a car.

I have spent the last 6 years with out a car. (There was a year where I lived with my parents and used their car.) I have never had the option to do car sharing, so this will be a very different experience. Having spent so much time with out a car.
You simply just go into car free mode. Every challenge you encounter wears on you and it becomes natural.  This is my problem, and this  is how I am going to accomplish it without. Not to say I have never rented a car, but it is usually the only option for the said task. 

Now with car sharing I am going to have to take a step back.    I can do this on my bicycle, or I can do this with car sharing.  

 If you want to sign up for the car share,  let me know. They will give me cash for my referral. Simply send me your name and email and poof 25 bucks for me.They will email you a link to sign up for.

They are located all over the United states going to the link below will show you where they will be.

Run by uhaul a link to the website. Ushare

Here is there video which they gave me at my account page.
How to use car share the video

Winter Driving

Winter driving is here.
First comes the fluffy snow. Then all the daily tanks ram snow  into the ground creating an ice rink.  After a few days of sun, then we get silver snow. Finally the roads become free of ice, ice potholes, ice chunks, mounds of snow, ice fields, and of course the silver snow.

We had 10 inches of snow all in one day. It took me one day to put studs on. I was reluctant since I only had 11 days. That didn't last long. I survived a wimpy cold front which dumped 4 inches. After the studs for the front tire were put on I  calmed a little. Of course now the sun came out and melts all the frozen blocks of ice.

The fluffy snow is great if its not over 4 inches.

The ramming into the ground isn't all that bad.

The skating rink is horrible complete with huge chucks of ice missing. Ice port holes.  Meaning you go down one side on to snow/pavement and then back up  the other side. Think 1- 3 inches. This of course is slippery and if you don't hit it right down you go!

Sliver snow is dangerous and gross. All the oil and gunk from cars get pushed onto the snow. This creates very slippery snow. A small bit on the ground could  cause you to go down.

This all happens on a roadway I share because of course there is  no sidewalk. Of course no one rides the sidewalk since they can't even keep the roads cleared,

This would be  my existence for the next three months. I am getting out of here.