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Thought 6 - The Art of Bipedal Locomotion

It seems people are confused when you say things like "I'll just walk", or "It's not that far", or "I can just ride my bike there". This appears to be rather universal, where using ones own bipedal locomotion is a lost art left to the those who relive History like Ren-Fare artisans. I live 7-10 miles from work and frequently ride the bicycle, coworker have come to accept this, though we still need a shower. The real problem I have is those that think that I have performed some sort of monumental feat. Like people having been driving everywhere since the dawn of time. It really does not take much to plan out where you live to be within walking/riding distance and to be close enough local stores to be able to walk and procure anything you need. And many of us have been riding since an early age as it has been a tradition to "learn to ride a bike". It just seems as we get older we lose that drive to ride and just drive.

Now for the funny story:
Recently at a wedding, the transport bus broke down. The bus was at least 40 minutes from having a replacement/repair truck show up. So, my father, my brother, and myself decide to see how far it was back to the hotel, 2.8 miles. Bah! we say and start walking, leaving behind a crowd of drunken wedding guests, that were growing ever more impatient. Anyway we manage to make it back, and discover that everyone else had called taxis to get back, and only beat us there by a few minutes. They all of course thought we were crazy, first for walking, and second for walking at night in New Jersey. Now, you might be thinking, what about the homeless or the gangs? Well oddly, having grown up in a college town in the midwest, I was exposed to many homeless as we have some of the best facilities for aiding the homeless. Second there were more gang "tags" in my town than on the walk. In fact we saw 0 homeless and 1 gang tag. Further we saw no one else for 3 miles, in one of the more crowded areas. Makes you think that things are not as bad as people believe them to be, maybe if they got out and walked around their neighborhood they discover this. Hey, it's just a thought.

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