best mistake i ever made

did you know that 50% of car trips made in the US are 3 miles or less, 41% are 2 miles or less and 28% are 1 mile or less.
 i got in touch with the ridiculosity and reality of those statistics towards the end of the summer and into the fall.
the best mistake i ever made: i misplaced one of our vehicles dmv registration papers.
it was definitely my bad. so i suggested that i go car-less until i fixed this mistake.
my alternate means of transportation?
a madsen cargo bike.
to the unsuspecting person, you might think that a cargo bike is a dinky old bike with a bike rack with baskets for some groceries. or you might think i mean a bike with a trailer on the back if you remember there are kidlets who need to go places with me.
no, the madsen is the minivan of bicycles. it can haul up to 4 passengers (plus rider) or a combined weight (bike + passengers + cargo) of just under 500 pounds.
 that's right, i just said FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS! you can go to home depot with this work horse.
it's fantastic because it has bench seats (removable) in the cargo "bucket" that has 4 seatbelts. 
a minivan-bike.  my other half calls it the trash can bike because the bucket reminds him of a big old trashcan.
i mostly have transported little people. some days just one, typically two, and i've had four in the back. i could even carry 5 kidlets with my ibert seat in the front. that's 2 more little tykes than our vehicles can carry. (my caveat is that you wouldn't likely haul 4-5 bigger kids in the madsen. you'd want some tandems or something for that!)
anyway, AMAZING mistake.

i got into the habit of choosing fuel free at least half the time.
i was training for a 5k and riding the madsen or my own bike around town a lot. i began racking up some serious mileage. and every mile adds up, right?
especially when you're taking 2 people 3.1 miles for preschool drop off, biking some errands, and then riding 3.1 miles back home. i even broke 10 miles a couple of times.
and then winter hit.
i tried to prepare for it. but  i was sunk when the rains came.


it's getting warmer again and we've already taken the madsen for a spin a couple of times.
you've never seen such smiley and content kids (and mama).
i love what messages our kids are getting about alternatives to transportation, healthy ones.

here's hoping to keep the car at home as much as possible... especially for those shorter trips around town.
won't you join me in considering ways you can care for our planet + bond with your family + make friends easily + get some exercise in the coming weeks and months?

 (i know a guy who is GREAT at tracking down madsen's on craigslist, if you're interested...)