So I'm odd, but easy public transportation excites me. Getting quickly and easily into the city every day with no more stress than locating my bus pass makes me happy. I like to drive on a quiet highway with a beautiful view; in a raging city? Not so much. I don't like the traffic, I don't like parking lots, I don't like not knowing where I'm going.

For the most part, I have easy access into most of the city's hot spots through BART. I take a short drive up the hill, hop on a train and am on Market street in 20 minutes.

The one area of the city that has been hard to access is Golden Gate Park and the associated museums there. Sure, there's bus and MUNI train access, but it's not easy. When I went to the RenFaire, I spent $20 on a cab one way, and then took an hour-long, stressful train ride back to the BART. I have been hoping for a better way.

Now, there's CultureBus. It's a bright yellow public express bus that starts on Market street and goes out to Golden Gate Park, dropping off right at the new Academy of Sciences (which I have not yet visited, because I didn't want to drive). On the way, it stops near all the major museums and cultural spots, including Union Square. The total round trip is 30-40 minutes, depending on traffic.

A pass is only $7, and is good all day with on-off privileges. So, you could go to as many of the Museums as you wanted, using the one bus, then get dropped right off at BART. Plus, the buses are eco-friendly. Apparently, SF has already seen Museum attendance rise.

So, chalk this up in the "good use of taxpayer dollars" column. And I'll be making a trip to the California Academy of Sciences very soon. :)

( Check out the routes! )

So, I filled my car up with gas this morning. It's been six weeks since my last fillup, which I'd say is a pretty good average.

That's good, too, because it cost me $45 to fill my tank. Yes, $45. $4.53 a gallon.

Now, let's put this into perspective. I know that people in Europe pay $8-9 a gallon. I get that. But how fast did they reach that? It's not necessarily the price that's getting to us over here, it's the rapid acceleration of said price.

When I bought this car a couple of years ago, it cost $25 to fill the tank. So, prices have almost doubled since then.

But worse? The last time I filled up - six weeks ago - it was $35. That's a big percentage-point jump in six weeks.

It'll be interesting to see what it will cost to drive to San Diego. Still less than flying, I'm sure. I do love my hybrid...

I drove to WW tonight, and that's how much gas I had used. I still had 3/4 of a tank left.

I checked my bank statement, and the last time I purchased gas was 3 weeks ago yesterday. So, that's a quarter of a tank in three weeks, since I really began watching my driving. Depending on whether I go up to Vallejo this weekend for the Pirate Fest thing, I could ostensibly go a month on a quarter of a tank.

To put this in perspective, I was filling up at least once and often twice a week when I worked at WM - at $35 a pop. Let's say I filled up six times a month.

Even if I go crazy and use 1/3 of a tank by the end of the month, that's $11 a month for gas.

Granted, I pay through the nose for my bus ticket ($128). But when you add gas and insurance together, before I was paying about $395 a month. With the bus ticket, my lower driving, and getting a break on insurance, I now pay:

$271

Grand total savings: $124 per month.

That's $1,488 a year. That can buy a nice television. Or new clothes. It's a month's worth of living expenses, sans mortgage.

So, maybe my obsession with the Driving Game(tm) isn't such a bad thing after all.

On Saturday morning, I thought to myself: "Hey, this may be my first 0 mile weekend!"

I sure showed me.

There was no need to drive that I could see Saturday morning. The gang was coming over for burgers and gaming, and I walked over for groceries that morning. However, once everyone arrived and the cooking started, the guys needed more charcoal. I didn't want to be away too long - especially with the guys hanging around a lit fire - so I drove to the store.

Okay, fine..just a couple of miles at most.

Sunday morning I woke up feeling hung over, even though I only had a beer or two. (Actually, I was probably getting sick, but wasn't aware of it yet - I feel terrible today.) I was late for mass, couldn't be bothered - so I drove. Wanted to try out the new cafe, but didn't want to lug my laptop - so I drove.

THEN, Stella got sick, necessitating not one, but THREE, trips down to the vet.

So, all in all, this was probably between 15-20 miles, so I rounded up.

I lose.

Well, I was hoping for a zero-mile weekend, but it was not to be. As my neighbor had pointed out, the back tire on the car was on the flat side of low, and I didn't want to wait until it was completely undriveable before getting it fixed. (Like making coffee, mopping a floor without leaving dirty streaks or - until recently - lighting charcoal, removing a tire is one of those things I only know how to do in theory.)

Fortunately, one of the other close-by businesses is a garage on the corner, less than a block from me. They're pretty good, and while they can't work on my hybrid's engine or battery, they can change a tire no problem. So I drove it down there on Saturday. Total was just a drive around the block, so I'm calling it a mile.

The only other place I drove all week was my WeightWatchers meeting (is it funny that the only place I don't walk now is to WeightWatchers?). Roundtrip total, five miles.

So, total for the week was about 6 miles.

So, the three-day weekend was my first real test of my minimal-driving lifestyle.

I did pretty well, I think. On Saturday I went to one of the nearby cafes for a bagel and a couple of cups of coffee, and to read the paper. Then I went to the grocery store to stock up for the weekend. In the afternoon, I spent time on the main street near my house, visiting the antique shops and the little bookstore. I bought a couple of books, but nothing at the antique shops.

That afternoon, I decided to break Mike's old grill out, but one look at the grill grate told me that I did not want to cook on that. I called down to the Ace Hardware, and they had a replacement. Ace is walkable (about 15-20 minutes one way), but when it came down to it, I didn't want to drag that thing down there (I could recyle it with them) and then drag the new one back. So, I drove. (While I was there, I stopped at the butcher's for steaks, too.) All told it was a couple of miles, at most.

Sunday and yesterday I spent a lot of time at the beach, even taking Stella out and making her play. (She hates the ocean; she refuses to look at it...too scary.) I grilled steaks on Saturday, and did a little gardening. Yesterday, I decided to start reorganizing my bedroom and cleaning out my closets; I watched movies while I did that, which was kind of fun.

I know I won't be able to get my driving down 100%, but if I could drive only a couple of miles a weekend, that would be good. I can save the gas and miles for times when I really need the car - like visiting A. and D. (their house is an hour away) or going on day trips.

Funny that I found this article when I'm on a kick about walking more. Now my tendency to walk and hike makes sense: I'm Swiss. :)

Since I've discovered that my neighborhood has a Walk Score of "highly walkable", I've resolved to start trying to walk more and drive less. Not only is it better for me and the environment, but I like the idea of supporting the neighborhood businesses more than I have.

I had two successes in my new walk-friendly lifestyle today.

First, my church is only about a ten minute walk from me. Granted, it's a two-minute drive, but I did the walk to mass today with no problem. The issue has been that I've usually been late for mass, so it means getting myself moving a little earlier...

The second was more dramatic. I have been going to Whole Foods lately - a 20 minute drive away. One way. (I'm embarrassed to say that.) And then, because WF doesn't have all the stuff I need - like the cat food the cats eat or certain paper products - I go to Safeway anyway. So, not only am I driving a lot, but it's more expensive.

Last week, I went to the Safeway nearby that we affectionately call the "ghetto Safeway". It's VERY small, not very nice and doesn't have a huge selection, but I was able to get nearly everything I needed. Still, their organics were non-existent, the produce was sad and there was no greek yogurt to be found. AND, it's walkable, but a 20-minute walk one way.

I stopped after work this week and bought a cart, so I was ready to walk to Safeway today. However, there is another option - a tiny neighborhood grocery right around the corner. I've never even been inside; it always looked kind of sad and I figured I wouldn't be able to get everything there. Still, today I just decided to go over there and check it out. If it was pathetic, I'd keep moving.

WOW. It's less than a five minute walk, and it is BEAUTIFUL. It's recently been remodeled, so it has nice wide aisles and is clean and neat. The selection is awesome - better than Safeway, and there is a huge organic selection. There's even greek yogurt! Plus, they have my pets' food and all the other things I need, so I don't need to make another trip. They even have a nice meat selection, a deli and bulk olives. It's like hitting the lottery!

I feel kind of silly for having lived here this long, and never visiting it before, but better late than never. With my new cart, I don't need to drive to the grocery store again.

The bonus is that I got to explore the shopping center it's in. There's a bank, two yoga studios, a Curves gym, a personal trainer, a nail salon, a paint-your-own-pottery place...all kinds of stuff! Where have I been?? I even walked past a new animal hospital - just around the corner from me. (It used to be a specialist vet who didn't do general stuff.) So, I can walk Stella down to get her shots.

I'm really excited that there's so much so close.

This is a great new site:

WalkScore

You type in your address and it gives your area's "walk score" - a number from 1-100 that denotes how walkable your neighborhood is. It's not completely sophisticated; i.e., it will tell you how many businesses and services are in a one mile area - which is cool - but not necessarily if there are any blocks to walkability, like the presence of a highway you can't cross, or not having any sidewalks, etc. (And for my friends from across the pond, it looks like it's just US neighborhoods right now.)

Still, it's pretty handy. My area has a score of 71 - highly walkable, and I don't have any major impediments as I mentioned above. Yes, Hwy. 1 splits some of that space, but there are walkways spaced over it in regular intervals.

For me, it's a reminder of how little I utilize what's around me. There are restaurants I never go to, three grocery stores in walking distance, etc. There're fitness centers, a public library, two cafes and everything. (This may seem ridiculous that I'm surprised by all this having lived here three years, but if you saw the place you'd understand - it's very spread out and unassuming. It's not "city-like" at all...)

Honestly, I could probably get away with driving a lot less than I do, especially once the Walgreens gets put in a little ways down the road. The one thing I will have a hard time giving up is Whole Foods - but honestly, I probably shouldn't be spending that much, and driving half an hour one way just to go to the grocery store isn't very green...