Move Your Household by Bicycle

Remember those four or five wine-sized boxes Lindi and I were moving from point A to our house last week? Well Saturday morning we were moving them from our house to point B. What better justification for completely guilt-free car usage?

After unloading the boxes we stopped by Powell's, where we drove around and around looking for a parking place, consuming as much fuel as we did to get there in the first place. We bought some books, among them “How to Live Well Without Owning a Car” by Chris Balish, which I’ll tell you all about later.

Back in our Moving Metal Deathtrap, we head up to the Broadway Bridge, and we see this strange sort of “cluster” making its way up the ramp ahead of us, like a giant lumbering insect. What IS that, we wonder. As we get closer we notice signs on the back of it, one of which we can make out to say “Wide Load.” Suddenly Lindi exclaims, "It’s a bunch of bicycles! Dragging a bunch of stuff!" and then, by now directly behind it I realize, “OMG! They’re MOVING!”

And friends, I do not mean moving as in wiggling insect, I mean moving as in moving-van moving. Except that they were completely van-less.

Yes, they were moving an entire house-full of possessions, including the two most difficult ones: bed and couch. I didn’t see a piano, but all the other household components were there, being dragged up the hill by sheer human leg-power.

Of course, I began clicking furiously with my camera out the window. Lindi drove behind them for a few yards and then drove slowly alongside them while I snapped away until finally passing them and then, once across the bridge, she pulled over so I could hop out and take more photos from the sidewalk as they rode by. I jumped back in and we followed them up Weidler and she slowed alongside them again so I could take still more.

I want to take a moment here to express my gratitude for Lindi’s skill and patience and perseverance. This is a person who does not like to make a scene, cause trouble, annoy people, or least of all be honked at. But she kept on it for the higher cause of recording this groundbreaking event so that I could bring it to the Whole Wide World on my blog, and show you all what can be done without burning oil. Thank you, Miss Lindi.

Moving by Bicycle could become the modern day version of the Barn Raising, when rural neighbors used to get together from miles around to raise a barn in a day. No doubt these cyclists will remember this feat way into the far reaches of senility. I didn’t get a chance to interview any of them, but I passed out my press card (blog card) with wild abandon so they could read about themselves. So if any of them are reading this and would like to write in, I and the readers would welcome any more details you can provide.

We must all do what we can to get the word out that the necessity of cars has been grossly inflated. Send the link to your friends.

[Blogger isn't very good at pictures, so I'll have to work with it a bit. I hope to get them up withing the next couple of hours. You will be amazed.]

10:54
still no luck on the photos, darnit, but I'll keep trying! If you were sent a link to this site by email, click on the refresh button so that as the photos are posted, you will get them too.

12:35
At this point Blogger has allowed me one photo -- one. Of the seven good ones I have. I may have to get back to this later. I can't mess with this all day, and Blogger works better in the evening. sorry. I'm going to find a better way, I promise. I've been sent suggestions.