Why I'm Going Car-free for One Year
Until a month ago, my main mode of transportation was a 1999 beige Oldsmobile, which I affectionately called the Oldfolksmobile. It had lived the first part of its life in in my grandmother's Indiana garage, where it was only brought out for trips to the local Jewell-Osco to stock up on cigarettes, Wonder bread, Velveeta and vodka. (My grandmother was and forever will be my #oldladygoals.) The last part of its life wasn't nearly so cushy. A little over five years ago I packed my belongings into the Oldsmobile's roomy, beige interior and drove from my hometown in Buffalo, NY to my new home in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I've spent the last five years driving that car through snowbanks I'm too lazy to shovel and backwoods dirt roads in Northern Michigan that I can't find on my GPS. The Oldsmobile sat outside in the snow during more than its fair share of polar vortexes because apartments with garages are not a thing that exist for us mere mortals in Michigan. I...