As someone who can't drive but feels caged inside my apartment I use the
bus a lot, at least when the distance is further than I can walk. My
"walking radius" has gotten longer and longer over the pandemic to be
maybe two miles one way comfortably if I'm also planning to walk back
*immediately* and three to four miles if I'm going to have some time to
rest or do other things before coming home.
But *but* even with all of that it means this city has started to feel
very terribly small because years of mostly sticking to the same maybe
10sq mile zone has made me feel more like I live in a tiny town that a
real city
So I've been on the bus *a lot* lately. Not just travelling around town
but also sometimes going between cities. Like, for example, a fifteen
dollar commuter bus can get me to an entire coastal city in about the
same time as trying to navigate between more awkward parts of town (like
the smaller satellite campus I'll be at running a training for
highschool teachers this wednesday)
I went with tor and carolyn up to seattle by bus a little over a week
ago and that ended up being over four hours each way which wasn't *fun*
but it was doable for cheaply moving between cities.
All of this is making me wish I was more comfortable on a bike. I never
learned as a kid because, well, I wasn't allowed outside. I've ridden a
very very little bit as an adult but I feel like I can only barely ride
in a straight line and I definitely don't have the confidence and skill
to ride around in a city where drivers have practically started buzzing
cyclists for sport
I know I need to just suck-it-up, meet up with people who *are*
comfortable on the bike, and ride with them until I start to feel like I
can travel on my own
My partner tor has been looking at e-bikes lately. They've gotten pretty
sick! The prices are coming down, the ranges are going up, you can even
get foldable bikes that would be feasible for taking on a commuter bus
or train so that opens up some pretty neat possible trips.
I guess what a lot of this comes down to is just that I wish I had more
autonomy and ability to travel. Oregon has so much beautiful forest
(including actual temperate rain forest!) that I would love to just
spend all my time in when I'm not teaching
