Two wheels are better than none.

For several years now, Diane and I have been intrigued with the idea of simplifying and slowing down our lives. We seem to live in a culture where the norm is to fill every waking moment with some sort of activity in an attempt to find fulfillment and to somehow afford our children all the "opportunities" that we have missed out on. Like the opportunities to never be at home, not know how to relax and not be content unless something is going on.

We believe that we are called to live at a pace that is different than the rest of our culture. It seems like folly to dive into the same habits of filling up every second that everyone else seems to have. We really think our world would be better if people were able to find joy without having to be eternally busy.

I am not talking about working less or slower, but, rather, how we need to fill our free time. Well, I could go on about this subject for a while, but I will not.

I was intrigued by a book I read about a year ago entitled "How To Live Well Without Owning A Car". The book is about a journalist who ditched his car as a fluke, it broke down and he decided he would just do without until it was fixed, and decided to stay without a car. In it, the author explained how he took care of commuting, running errands, taking trips, dating, socializing, and more, all without a car.

He also cited a 2004 American Automobile Association study stating that the average American spends $8,410 per year (roughly $700 per month) to own a vehicle. that is a big chunk of change. Between your payments, gas and maintenance, how much do you think you spend per month on your automobiles?

We weren't able to figure out how we could do this with our children and with the distance we have to go to get to the grocery. But, it probably would not be impossible. As I mentioned, we do not have as wild of schedules as most people we know, but we still do go plenty of places that would require much more planning and thinking about if we did not have our car. Fortunately, our car is paid for(the whole personal debt thing is another problem), but we still have to pay for gas and maintenance.

So can it be done in Tucson? Here are a couple of articles about people who are moving thataway:

Dump your car for a bicycle or bus? Yep — and here's why

Less is more: Two wheels can be better than four