Driving: A Rebuttal

Perhaps I was too hasty. Millions of Americans drive everyday and most of them get to their destinations alive and on time. Maybe I need to look at driving in a new light.

Back in NY I lived on the fourth floor of a walk up apartment. Every time I left my house I had to walk down four flights of stairs and return up those same stairs at the end of the day. This was especially distressing when I would arrive in the lobby only to discover an instant monsoon situation outside. Then I would have to trek all the way back upstairs to retrieve my wayward umbrella.

My building also lacked a laundry room. Once a week I lugged a 12 pound laundry bag down those four flights, dragged it down three blocks and deposited it at the nice laundry lady who charged me wholesale prices for washing and folding. The next day, I would repeat but this time I'd be climbing UP the stairs with clean laundry.

The same went for groceries. I would have to plan accordingly. The supermarket was four blocks away. Four long blocks. If I was buying a gallon of Tropicana Orange Juice, there's no way I could carry a 6 pack of Stella at the same time. One liquid per trip.

What if I wanted to go to the gym? Sure, one might argue that with all the stair stepping, laundry dragging and juice lugging, the gym was rendered irrelevant. But let's just SAY I wanted to go (and to be truthful, most times all I did was SAY I wanted to go.) I would also have to carry around my gym bag all day.

That's where Michigan has NY beat - stone cold. In the span of one day, I can go food shopping (buying both Orange Juice, Stella AND a 14lb turkey), pick up dry cleaning, buy a couple of 2x4's for the hell of it, and go to the gym. All of this is possible because of my car. My sweet, little, gas guzzling, death defying car.