Planes, Trains and Automobiles - Peak Travel

Eric Morris, in his “Peak Travel?” article in the January 11, 2011 New York Times, has pointed out that we madcap, drive-crazy Americans are now actually driving less, and have been since 2005. From the end of WWII to about the year 2000, it was all about driving more and going further each year. These days, not so much. Now we go less. Is this a peak oil thing? Maybe sort of, but not exactly.

While it is true that we tend to drive less as gas gets more expensive, the massive tide of internet shopping has also served to cut down the annual miles driven. Oddly enough, Eric was only looking at miles driven. I would like to have seen some mention of miles flown, and of miles traveled by train. And I would have liked to have seen flying miles drop as rail miles rose - but I can’t say that is happening. I didn’t see it. But maybe we really are traveling less.

In the comments after Mr. Morris’s article, one poster (“Drill-Baby-Drill drill Team”) pointed out that the grand iconic classic of all road trips, the one where Joseph took Mary back home from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to comply with that pesky Roman census thing, was a trip of only eight miles. And my lovely wife points out that there is no mention in the Bible of a donkey being involved, making it rather likely that Mary walked.

The point to be made here is that at one time, a trip of eight miles was a very, very big deal, indeed. A trip of, quite literally, Biblical proportions. These days, it’s lunch. I figure I could walk eight miles in a little less than three hours, as I tend to saunter along at a blistering three-mph clip. Those same eight miles would take less than an hour on my bicycle, and about 15 minutes in the truck, depending on the lights. But what if we go back to bikes and donkeys and feet?

Considering the viability of mass transit in America, the foot-and-bike option seems likely as the oil gets scarce. Author James H. Kunstler (www.kunstler.com) has famously said America has a rail system that would be an embarrassment to Bulgaria — and he was being polite. We essentially have no passenger rail system to speak of for the vast bulk of America. You wanna get there? Then you wanna drive.

I live in Clearwater, Florida, right across the bay from Tampa and just north of St. Petersburg. Pinellas County, home to St. Petersburg, Clearwater, 22 other cities and almost one million people packed tightly into just 280 square miles, has no passenger rail service at all. No light rail, no Amtrak service, no Disney-inspired monorail, nothing. We have some buses, but even they don’t go to all corners of the county. There are two buses that go to Tampa, but only on weekdays. Oh, we do have a Greyhound Bus Station over on the other side of the mall. Maybe. I honestly haven’t thought to even look to see if it’s still there, now that I think about it. We are, after all a nation of drivers, even if we are driving less.

And what if we are driving less? That’s a good thing. I expect we’ll see more of that, or less, I guess. I’m hoping as we all drive less we’ll see more of what was right there all around us all along. We will live locally, and we will (finally) know where we live. We will become neighbors. I like that. Do you?

Let's go for a ride . . .

So here it is mid-January, and I’m planning for a comfy little bicycle ride in late March. Specifically, I’m planning the First Annual Pinellas County Tweed Ride on my 60th birthday, Saturday, March 26, 2011, and I would be absolutely honored to see you there. The ride will begin at 10 a.m. at Eagle Lake County Park on Keene Road in Largo, Florida. (The park has a parking lot designated for trail parking right in the middle of it. We’ll start there.) The ride will go from there, ten miles out to Safety Harbor, Florida, for a nice lunch at the classic Safety Harbor Spa.

And what, exactly, is a Tweed Ride? A Tweed Ride is a casual bicycle ride for owners of vintage English three-speed bicycles, and the proper cycling attire is required of all participants. I’m having a pair of pants altered to cycling knickers even as I type. They’ll be ready next Tuesday. I’ve a fine vest and cap, but I’m going to need just the right tie. And no, I am not joking. You’ve probably never seen me in a tie. Few people have. And now you will.

Why bother? Why got to all the trouble? Because we can. Because it looks like a truly wonderful way to spend the day. And because I don’t look nearly so clever in spandex. Mostly, I blame these guys: www.3speedtour.com. Have a good long look through that incredible web site. That is a two-day ride in Minnesota. Mine is but a short one-day ride in Florida, but you get the idea. If the whole world looked like that wonderful web site every day, I’d be a very happy man, indeed. I shall, in the meantime, settle for just one day of it: My Birthday. Would you like to go for a ride?

In a concession to the harsh reality of modern life, the ride will avoid roads entirely. We will utilize the sidewalks on Belleair Road to get us to Pinellas County’s Progress Energy Trail, take that to Clearwater’s Ream Wilson Trail and take that to Safety Harbor’s Bayshore Trail — which will take us right to the front door of the Safety Harbor Spa. Ahhhh.

In truth, the ride is equal parts theater and cycling. You must dress the part and play the part of the proper English cyclist between the wars. You may drop the accent if you hold tight to the decorum. It will be interesting to see who shows up. The ride has already generated some local interest, as March is Florida Bicycle Month. It all comes down to who has the bike and who has the clothes. And who’s willing to put in 20 miles on that bike, dressed like that.

I would be thrilled if this ride became an annual event, and it just might. It’s like nothing else we’ve done down here in these modern times, so it might be quite the event to attend in the years ahead. Of course you’ll want to be at the first one, won’t you? Everyone will be there.

Just don’t snicker at my knickers.

Meatspace redux

After my rant about the importance of Meatspace, I have to say that yes, I do spend a fair amount of time in that alternate universe that is Cyberspace. In years past, I have been a regular on a very small number of forums, my all time favorite being a sort of general discussion forum hosted by my good friend Mahatma Randy. His was something of an invitation-only cybergathering, and was quite the crowd of entertaining literates. I miss it still and think about it often.

With the melt-down of Matt Savinar’s “Life After The Oil Crash” (LATOC) forum, I was lucky enough to have been found and directed over to its predecessor, The Oil Age forum at www.theoilage.com. This new forum is home to many of my friends from the old LATOC forum, and as you know, it’s always good to be among friends. If you have an interest in peak oil (and the fact that you are here, reading this, would indicate that you do), I recommend that you have a look at The Oil Age forum. No, you don’t have to read the whole thing. I sure don’t. I try to keep an eye on the peak oil breaking news and the general discussion forums, just to keep up with what’s happening back in Meatspace with regard to global oil.

For my bicycling news, I trust my friend Jack Sweeney and all of the good folks over at www.bikecommuters.com. I like to stop by there and see what’s new and who’s doing what where on a bicycle these days. It’s not exactly a forum, but you can post comments at the end of each entry. (Kinda like here.) Whenever I need an attitude adjustment, and need to go to My Happy Place, I dial in www.3speedtour.com. Ahhhhhh….. Now that’s what I want my whole world to look like every day.

And, of course, the other place I am is here. Each of my more-or-less weekly blogs on this site has a comments section at the end, and with the help of my ever-vigilant publisher, I do try to jump in and comment where comment is needed. But wait, there’s more. . . .

If you need to, you can always email me. I'm at chip.haynes@yahoo.com and I try to answer my email every day, except on days that I don’t.