It is with great joy and relief that I can share that we once again have a vehicle. In early August, our van overheated and stopped running. The diagnostics gave us a quote that left us stranded in the mountains of Northwest Georgia with no end in sight. Fortunately, we seem to have landed in an area that still believes in Southern Hospitality and community. I have been incredibly grateful for the assistance we’ve received from friends, as well as getting to know them better along the way. Yet there’s something to be said about not needing to think about scheduling a ride when it’s time to go to work. There’s something sort of special about being able to load up the family, turn up some of our favorite songs, and go for a drive just to spend some time together. I missed that time with my family — well, maybe not the screaming and whining parts, but you get the point.
Two years ago, this wasn’t something I’d worry about. Two years ago, I lived in a city with fairly decent bus service. But now we’re here, and now I’ve lived life without a vehicle in a rural community. It’s easy to go car-free when you’ve got public transportation and everything within a reason distance. Riding a bike 7 miles one way along a treacherous mountain road to get to work? No thank you! Give me my gas-hungry, money-hungry vehicle any day. It grants me the freedom to live in a such a beautiful area.
