Ray Atkinson started this blog in 2014 when he moved from his childhood home in Kannapolis, North Carolina, USA (Walk Score of 0) to get his Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from Portland State University (Walk Score of 100). He has a sustainable transportation lifestyle in Key West, Florida, USA. His email is gismap1@gmail.com. The postings on this site are of my own and don't reflect or represent the opinions of the City of Key West, for which I work. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayplans
I am excited to share that I will be moving from Kannapolis to Key West on Christmas Eve to be the City of Key West’s first-ever Sustainable Transportation Coordinator. Since I rarely saw people biking in Memphis and I felt like an alien when most of my coworkers drove to work, I mainly wanted to move to Key West because it has one of the highest bike commute rates in the US at over 15%. I honestly had no idea that Key West ranks this high. I thought Portland had many bike commuters, but Portland only has a rate of 6%. I realize that Portland is a much larger city than Key West. Some neighborhoods in Portland have bike commute rates higher than 6%. Are you also surprised by Key West’s high bike commute rate?
The City’s Car-Free Key West initiative also attracted me to move to Key West because I have never worked for an employer that has a car-free initiative.
Since I am still focused on improving my mindfulness skills, I enjoyed seeing that Key West has many yoga studios. Due to how many yoga studios are on the small island, I would not be surprised if Key West has the most yoga studios of any small city in the US. I am also excited to experience biking the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail as I continue all the way to Miami. As the below map shows, there are gaps in the trail. Hopefully, this trail will be completed someday. My long-term dream is to bike the East Coast Greenway, which starts in Key West and ends in Maine. Have you biked this trail?
Future Blog Post
I look forward to sharing more about Key West and my other Florida adventures in future posts. I have never been to Key West before, so I have plenty to explore. I am excited to move to a healthier city to start 2025!
I never thought I would be excited and relieved to share through my blog that I can drive a car because I have resisted driving for longer than my blog has existed. I passed the North Carolina DMV road test on my first attempt today, so I have a driver’s license again. Thanks to my caring and supportive parents, twin sister, her boyfriend, and many friends for helping me pass the test. I do not own a car, so I drove my sister’s car. I did not plan to learn how to drive again until my Tennessee driver’s license was revoked last month. I was surprised to be given a North Carolina photo ID. My Tennessee driver’s license was only a year old, so it would not have expired for seven years. While most people get a new driver’s license when they move to a new state, I did not need to get a driver’s license in North Carolina because I only plan to stay here temporarily. I honestly prioritized voting in the swing state of North Carolina too much.
Since the last time that I had driven a car was a few times in Oregon before the COVID restriction, and I had not driven a car regularly for over ten years, which is when I used to commute from Kannapolis to Charlotte for internships, I was unsure whether I still knew how to drive a car. I learned plenty about my body over the last month. I almost did not even pursue getting my driver’s license again because I did not want to experience the extreme anxiety that I knew would happen when I drove. I decided to pursue getting my driver’s license again when I saw many transportation planning jobs require a driver’s license, and many potential dates reject me. Yes, I probably should not be trying to date in Kannapolis when my car-free lifestyle is too extreme for a car-dependent city.
Due to how few car-free census tracks exist, I want to be open to the possibility of using my driving skills to be more attractive to potential dates wherever I move next. This assumes achieving my Motherload documentary dream is not feasible. Since friends keep telling me not to change my identity to fit what my dates want me to do, I am struggling with whether to continue getting comfortable with driving or return to my car-free lifestyle. My dad made a good point last weekend that I could start saying “sustainable transportation lifestyle” instead of “car-free lifestyle” to avoid scaring away potential employers and dates who may not be open to my car-free lifestyle. The definition of sustainable transportation likely varies from person to person, so this would provide me with more flexibility when employers and women inquire about my lifestyle.
Thankfully, I did not experience a panic attack during the DMV road test because my mindfulness skills are improving. I focused on taking deep breaths and being present in the moment instead of worrying about what had happened or could happen. I almost lost focus when I did the three-point turn incorrectly. I saw grass in the rear-view camera, so I thought I had backed up too far. I ended up making a five-point turn when I did not want to go into the grass in front of me. Instead of allowing this to prevent me from passing, I stayed focused on continuing to make complete stops at intersections. Due to how it is legal for cyclists to do rolling stops in Oregon, I found it tough to break this habit as I prepared for the test. I had to quickly develop a new habit of coming to complete stops.
Future Blog Post
I want to return to my usual blogging style at some point. I miss blogging about cities using The City at Eye Level approach.
I am moving out of Memphis today, August 27th. I have been waiting for this day for months. I am flying back to my childhood home in Kannapolis to live temporarily with my parents. I feel relieved to have ended my apartment lease and resigned from my job. While I will no longer be in Memphis, I am hopeful that my Memphis friends will continue pushing for the cargo bike culture shift that attracted me to work in Memphis. I used my going away party to show the Motherload documentary, which inspired my Memphis friends to think about what could be possible by joining the cargo bike movement. I wanted to share the below photo because many people in the South do not understand what a cargo bike is. What is your favorite cargo bike?
Future Blog Post
I am not sure where my new permanent home will be. My goal is to move to a place that has a thriving cargo bike culture because I believe that my car-free lifestyle will be more accepted, supported, and normal in this culture. Hopefully, my next blog post will provide a more optimistic outlook on my life and career.
I have been thinking about my life and work. While I am called the “bike guy” at work and by almost anyone who sees me biking in Memphis, I never set out to be a contrarian. Even though my friends say that I can be too much of a people pleaser, my childhood dream was to help people improve their lives through providing them with the freedom to choose not to drive for every trip. I do not hear Memphians saying to car drivers that they are the “car guy.” I do not enjoy feeling like an alien in my birth region. Yes, I was born and raised in the South.
I would prefer to feel accepted and normal for choosing to walk, bike, and ride transit. As my friends tell me, many Southerners are ignorant because they likely do not understand the benefits of my car-free lifestyle or have never seen someone in Memphis avoid driving a car. I am trying to educate them, but this is not easy when they struggle to have an open mind. While I should not let this hurt my self-esteem, I take their resistance personally because my car-free lifestyle is very connected to my work. I appreciate my friends who accept me for who I am instead of trying to convince me to buy and drive a car.
I learned today that my narcissistic parents tried a new tactic to try to get me to buy and drive a car. They have been trying to convince me for at least 15 years since high school to buy a car and be a normal Southerner. This has been traumatizing. I hate feeling pressure from them and many former dates to change my healthy lifestyle. Even though I thought my parents were caring for my mental health by inviting me to get a second opinion by talking with their therapist (I have my own therapist), I learned that they asked their therapist to try to convince me to buy a car to fit into the car-dependent American culture. I have never had a therapist tell me that my healthy lifestyle is actually unhealthy before. I believe this means the therapist was gaslighting me. I am surprised that the therapist felt comfortable doing this. This feels like an unethical recommendation. Do you agree?
I will keep trying to educate Memphians and my parents about the benefits of reducing car dependency. While I realize flying to Europe is not cheap, I think the easiest and fastest way to educate ignorant people about the benefits of my car-free lifestyle is to have them experience healthier places for themselves. I like how Strong Towns promotes this idea.
When Americans go on vacation, they like places to conveniently walk or bike around, and yet many of those same people will oppose this walkable urbanism in their own hometowns. pic.twitter.com/y2TxmeaSIS
Since my disability can be cured, I want to be clear that I am not in the same situation as Brad Cohen in the movie called Front of the Class. He has Tourette’s Syndrome. I related to the scene below from the movie because I often feel misunderstood and like an alien. I honestly cried when watching the scene. While I am using my blog to educate people about my disability and how my car-free lifestyle helps me cope with my disability, I wish that I could have a leader help me to quickly educate everyone like Brad’s principal did. Do you have any ideas for how to quickly and easily educate everyone?
The video below has a similar message to not bully someone for being different than what you consider to be normal. Since I have an eating disorder, I can relate to Hannah’s struggle to find foods that she can eat without throwing up.
Hopefully, I will have promising news to share soon about how I am working to improve my mental and physical health. You are probably as tired of reading about my depressing situation as I am writing about it. While my parents and some car-dependent friends used to try to convince me to keep trying to improve my dangerous situation, they have finally agreed that I need to have a healthier situation.
I was hoping that planning my June 24 – July 2 car-free Redwood National Park vacation would be as easy as renting an e-bike in Eureka and then biking to Redwood National Park. I normally have Fridays off work, so I wanted to clarify that my vacation starts on Saturday and not Friday because I will be attending the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) in the US Conference in San Francisco on June 22-23. I enjoy catching up with colleagues and meeting new people at conferences. Will you be attending this conference, or do you live in San Francisco?
Since I do not feel safe or comfortable enough to bike on Highway 101, which only has “bike share the road” signs, I am not willing to bike on Highway 101. I briefly wrote about bike signage in this 2015 post. I was excited when I found Hammond Truck Road, which is shown in the below Google Maps screenshot, because I thought I found a route to avoid biking on Highway 101. Redwood National Park is the dark green area in the top right corner. Eureka is located south of Crannell. Due to Google Maps showing “This route has restricted usage or private roads,” I contacted Humboldt County staff to clarify whether I could bike on Hammond Tuck Road. As Bob’s reply shows, I would be trespassing if I biked on this road.
The route that you are considering is through private property. These roads have locked gates and are posted with signs indicating no trespassing.
Bob Bronkall, Humboldt County Surveyor
I do not want to embarrass Humboldt County too much. They are at least trying to plan for people who do not drive by providing the Hammond Trail, which I plan to bike on during my vacation. I just wish this trail went all the way to Redwood National Park. Hopefully, this trail will be extended further north someday!
Ray’s Backup Plan
It appears I will be biking less than I wanted during my June vacation. Thankfully, transit services exist between Eureka and Redwood National Park. Redwood Coast Transit operates Route 20 along the below route. While Route 20 does not provide frequent service and only operates on Monday-Saturday, I do not have any safe alternatives to consider. Due to Route 20 ending in Arcata, I may stay in Arcata to avoid having to transfer to another bus to reach Eureka. I wish there was one regional transit provider in this rural area so I could avoid having to transfer!
As this 2022 post shows, I am also concerned about whether the e-bike that I plan to rent will fit on Redwood Coast Transit’s buses. I have not found a transit system in the US that has an entire fleet that can fit e-bikes. While I am waiting for Redwood Coast Transit to confirm that my e-bike rental will not fit on their buses, I assume that I will have no e-bike when I reach Redwood National Park. Despite being used to riding an e-bike, I may rent a non-electric bike so I can take a bike on the bus to Redwood National Park.
My next barrier after reaching Redwood National Park is finding a group tour. Redwood National Park has limited or no cell and internet services, which is great for disconnecting from social media and emails. I will be traveling alone, so I would prefer to find a group tour to prevent anything bad from happening when traveling alone in an isolated place. While I was excited to find Redwood Adventures, they only offer private tours to groups of at least two people. I emailed them to ask if I can join a larger group or schedule my tour on a less busy weekday. I realize they make more money by preventing single people from scheduling a private tour. I wish I had a girlfriend to go on the tour with me!
I may not blog much during my June vacation because I want to enjoy exploring Eureka, Arcata, and Redwood National Park. I also may not have reliable internet access, which I think will be great to help me disconnect from social media and emails. I hope to have time in July to publish posts on how my vacation went. What do you want to read about?
Since I am feeling triggered by seeing my last post, I feel the need to add a more pleasant post sooner than I normally would. I am writing this post on my phone, so this will be a short post. I may expand on the post when I am back on my laptop. I was reviewing my 50 draft posts when I found this post about food deserts. Before I share a Petaluma-specific example, do you agree with this article that advocates for people to stop using “food desert”?
Due to how important food deserts and transportation access to grocery stores were to my housing search, I was planning to show maps of what I believe are Petaluma’s food deserts. I decided not to add the maps because I do not want my former roommate to stalk me again. I ended up avoiding a slightly cheaper studio apartment near Casa Grande High School because there are no healthy grocery stores within walking or biking distance of the studio apartment. The slightly more expensive studio apartment that I moved to in February is within walking and biking distance of healthy grocery stores.
Finding Ways To Relax During Mental Health Recovery
I wanted to share a few ways that I am relaxing during my mental health recovery. I went to my first kirtan concert on Saturday night. The video below shows what a kirtan concert is. While I usually prefer to bike because biking is faster than walking, I have been walking more recently to relax. Due to how loud automobiles are, I wish Petaluma was quieter to take walks in. I may have to bike to a nearby rural park to access a quiet enough place to walk. Do you also struggle with finding a quiet place to walk and relax? If so, how have you tried to find a quiet place?
In addition to what I am planning to do from my last post, I also want to write about my next car-free vacation plan. While this plan is not set yet, I need a vacation after my recent stressful experience. Since I do not want to wait until my next vacation to explore more of California, I have been planning and enjoying daycations and weekend getaways with friends in California.
Tomorrow, September 19, is my birthday. September 19 also happens to be the start of Disability Rights Washington’s Week Without Driving. While Ian Davidson is in Oregon, it appears Week Without Driving is only organized in Washington. World Car Free Day also happens to be this week on September 22. As someone who lives a car-free lifestyle, these challenges feel weird to me. However, I hope they convince other people to temporarily experience car-free living. Will you be participating in Week Without Driving or World Car Free Day?
This week, I am participating in #WeekWithoutDriving to better understand the barriers non-drivers (for example people with disabilities, young people, seniors and people who can’t afford cars or gas) experience in accessing our community. https://t.co/TYfWhLGgS5 1/x #orpol
Ray’s Birthday Wish Is To Feel Safe and Comfortable When Biking, Walking, Hiking, and Riding Transit
As I was biking, walking, and riding the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) train from Petaluma yesterday to attend the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival, I was thinking about my birthday wish. While birthday wishes are probably supposed to be cheap like when I was excited to get a bike as a child, I now desperately want to see the world be improved by creating expensive 8-80 Cities. I should clarify that constructing these 8-80 places will be costly, but humans are already planning to construct expensive places. Behavior change to human-scale transportation planning will be key to successfully constructing 8-80 places.
Since my post includes suburban and rural areas, I wish 8-80 Cities included suburban and rural areas. I believe they are focused on large urban areas. Yes, I realize the 8-80 Cities non-profit organization has limited bandwidth. I am thankful that this organization exists at all to help places with their transformations. While 8-80 Cities may not be involved in the following efforts, I got excited and hopeful as I researched more about all of the regional efforts to create safe and comfortable routes to bike, walk, hike, and ride transit in the Bay Area and Northern California. Since you may not understand the significance of these efforts if you have not experienced the unsafe and uncomfortable existing routes, I want to show you one of these routes that I took yesterday.
Even though I am sharing the below experience from my perspective, 8-80 Cities is focused on making places usable by people from 8 to 80 years old. Due to this, please think about whether an 8-year-old or 80-year-old would feel safe and comfortable biking the route. I have noticed that many experienced adult cyclists say “I” statements when discussing whether a route is safe and comfortable. Yes, the route feels safe and comfortable to an experienced adult cyclist. I want to encourage these cyclists to think about the route from the indicator species’ perspective, which is discussed in the below video. Even better, I would love for these cyclists to invite an 8-year-old or an 80-year-old to ride along the route with them. How much do you want to bet that they will not feel safe and comfortable enough to even accept the ride-along invite?
Biking From Petaluma To SMART’s Novato San Marin Station
The below section of Petaluma Blvd S made me feel so uncomfortable that I ended up getting off my bike and walking. Yes, I have an extreme fear of heights but I may have been able to stay on my bike if there was a trail here. Due to how uncomfortable biking next to automobiles is, I prefer to stay closer to the grass when biking. As the below photo shows, the bike lane was narrowed to provide space for the guardrail and concrete barrier. I decided to cross the road and walk my bike against traffic next to the grass.
I was surprised by how many road cyclists wearing lycra and having no rack for panniers were riding the same route. They kept passing me because I prefer to ride slowly on a hybrid bike that has a rack and panniers. Since they had no bike lock and were only carrying a water bottle, I do not understand their approach to bike touring. I guess they were just biking fast and not planning to lock their bike somewhere to stop for a meal. While I frequently see this approach to biking, it is hard for me to imagine not carrying a lock and planning where to stop for a meal. As I walked my bike down the steep hill (yes, it’s not a very steep hill), two road cyclists asked if I was doing okay. At least they were friendly even when they were biking fast!
Source: Google Maps
I felt much more comfortable at the bottom of the hill when I saw the bike trail, which is the green line south of Mickelson Pumpkin Patch to cross Highway 101. As you compare the zoomed-in map to the overview map, pay attention to the green line south of Mickelson Pumpkin Patch. Since Fire Road is a dead-end road, I would have had to bike back to Petaluma to use a different route to continue south. I Street, which goes by Tara Firma Farms, is a much hillier route than biking on Petaluma Blvd S. The 14.5 miles goes to SMART’s Novato San Marin Station. Since I was out of shape, I took a break from biking and rode the SMART train to the San Rafael Station.
Source: Google Maps
Source: Google Maps
Disappointing Park(ing) Day Weekend in San Rafael
Due to this weekend being Park(ing) Day weekend, I was hoping to see a Park(ing) Day event in Downtown San Rafael’s unused parking spaces. According to the Park(ing) Day website, Hope Housing Of Marin previously participated in Park(ing) Day. It appears there is no Park(ing) Day event in San Rafael this weekend.
Yes, I was excited to see parklets! I just wish there was more bike parking. The only nearby bike rack, which is on the sidewalk, is hidden and blocked by the clothing display. Should I have moved the clothing display and used the bike rack?
The rest of my journey to almost Mill Valley was much better than the beginning of my journey. I wrote “almost” because I actually did not make it all the way to the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival. Since the festival closed at 5pm and I started my journey too late in the morning, I ended up turning around in Corte Madera. While the SMART Pathway does not reach Corte Madera, I biked along it from San Rafael to Larkspur. As the below photo shows, there are plans to extend the SMART Pathway and make it part of the 320-mile, world-class, multi-use rail-to-trail Great Redwood Trail. Yes, Kathy Fitzpatrick, this trail effort appears to be similar to the Columbia River Gorge’s Towns to Trails effort, which I wrote about in this 2021 post.
The Great Redwood Trail, which includes the SMART Pathway, is not the only regional trail planning effort in the Bay Area and Northern California. The planned 550-mile (400 miles are already complete) Bay Area Ridge Trail covers some of the route used for the Great Redwood Trail. The Bay Trail is a planned 500-mile walking and cycling path around the entire San Francisco Bay, running through all nine Bay Area counties, 47 cities, and safely across seven toll bridges. Stephan, we should take a future canoe or kayak trip on the San Francisco Bay Water Trail. I still want to explore Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness with you!
Last and in this case least impressive, Sonoma County Regional Parks created the North Coast Access Trails. I wanted to share this trail system because I want to bike from Petaluma to and along the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, this trail system is short and not well connected. Despite this less impressive regional trail system, I am excited to experience and write more about all of these efforts in future posts! Since I want to make my blog interesting to read, is there anything in particular that you want to read about?
Thanks to Kathy Fitzpatrick for helping me decide what to write about in this post. I have been enjoying my new 1.3-mile commute. Yes, I decided where to live based on having a short commute. Due to how many people cannot afford to live near where they work, I am fortunate to have this opportunity. Since I want to avoid sharing exactly where my home is due to this being a public blog, I will share a general overview of my commute.
California Does Not Have Stop As Yield for Cyclists Law
I avoid biking on McDowell Blvd because it is stressful. I wish the parking lane was a bike lane because I feel somewhat comfortable biking in the parking lane. Unfortunately, there are frequently vehicles parked in this lane so I have had to swerve into the travel lane. I doubt the residents would support converting the parking lane to a bike lane. While biking on Maria Dr is less stressful, the stop signs have been annoying.
Biking on N McDowell Blvd (left) is more stressful than biking on Maria Dr
As I wrote in this 2019 post, Oregon Senate Bill 998 allowed cyclists starting in 2020 to yield at stop signs under certain circumstances. Unfortunately, California does not have this law so I have been nervous about getting ticketed when not fully stopping at stop signs. Despite rarely seeing other people biking on the road (many people bike on the sidewalk) in Petaluma, most people do not fully stop at stop signs. I find it annoying to fully stop when I can see no cross traffic. While Governor Newsom had a chance last year to allow cyclists to yield at stop signs under certain circumstances, he vetoed Assembly Bill 122. He wrote the following in his veto message:
While I share the author’s intent to increase bicyclist safety, I am concerned this bill will have the opposite effect. The approach in AB 122 may be especially concerning for children, who may not know how to judge vehicle speeds or exercise the necessary caution to yield to traffic when appropriate.
I realize that I will not have children anytime soon. I am single and have not gone on a date recently. I can still dream about providing my future children with a great education. I bike past Loma Vista Immersion Academy, which is on Maria Dr, during my commute. Loma Vista’s Dual Immersion Program emphasizes a bilingual, biliterate and bicultural community with positive cross-cultural attitudes and skills resulting in an enriched experience for all learners as well as the community. Students begin school in transitional kindergarten classes, where they are taught using only Spanish. In kindergarten and first grade, students are taught 90 percent in Spanish and 10 percent in English. As they move through the grades, they are gradually taught more in English until, by the time they are in the fourth grade, they are taught half in English and half in Spanish.
Loma Vista’s Dual Immersion Program is awesome! I wish I had this during elementary school because learning a language is easier as a child. I am slowly using Duolingo to learn Spanish as an adult. While I knew being fluent in Spanish is a valuable skill to have in California, I got to see and hear firsthand how valuable this skill is when my coworkers and I were doing outreach at middle and high schools. The only coworker who is fluent in Spanish was the only person able to communicate with Spanish-speaking parents about their child’s transit needs. She also translated all of the online and paper marketing materials into Spanish. While I am excited that she got a new job in Colorado Springs, I will miss working with her. I am not sure how long it will take me to become fluent in Spanish, but I want to be able to help my team by providing us with a fluent Spanish person again. Being fluent in Spanish would also make it easier to date Spanish-speaking women.
California’s Freedom to Walk Act
Yes, I jaywalk where I feel safe doing so. As with not coming to a complete stop at stop signs, I also get nervous about possibly getting ticketed for jaywalking. In case you think that jaywalking laws exist in every country, my 2019 post explains how the Netherlands has no jaywalking laws. Pedestrians in the Netherlands can legally cross the street anywhere. I recommend this 2015 Vox article to learn the forgotten history of how US automakers invented the crime of “jaywalking” in the 1920s to sell automobiles. I am curious whether this history is truly forgotten. Every layperson (non-transportation planner or engineer) who I have discussed jaywalking with has told me they do not know the history of jaywalking. Did you know the history of jaywalking before I shared the Vox article?
Governor Newsom had a chance last year to end jaywalking tickets for safe mid-block crossings. Assembly Bill 1238 would have allowed police to still issue tickets for unsafe pedestrian behavior, but they could no longer use jaywalking as a pretext to stop people. Unfortunately, Governor Newsom vetoed this bill. Hopefully, he will sign Assembly Bill 2147 in the current session.
The governor’s veto rests on the belief that police enforcement or the threat of jaywalking tickets will somehow prevent pedestrian fatalities in the future when that has consistently failed in the past. Continuing to criminalize people’s rational, predictable responses to poor infrastructure is simply unjust.
This post is getting long, so I am going to finish with what arrested mobility means and how it relates to jaywalking. In order to learn about and stay engaged with the national jaywalking movement, I recommend following Charles T. Brown. His Arrested Mobility podcast and Arrested Mobility Book Club have been helpful for me to learn more about and stay engaged in transportation justice issues. The book club sign-up link is from 2021, so I am not sure whether the link still works. While this Arrested Mobility Book Club Facebook group is private, which likely means you cannot access it, I wanted to reassure you that the book club still exists.
I am thankful to have a variety of ideas to write about. I could share another aspect of my commute by writing about how the Rainier Avenue Demonstration Project improved my bike commute. While I am not surprised by the many negative Nextdoor comments about this project from angry motorists, who do not like change in their neighborhood and believe no one bikes in Petaluma, I am concerned that the temporary project may not become permanent when Rainier Avenue is repaved and restriped in 2023. Since I am new to Petaluma and the Bay Area, I could also write about my car-free trips in Petaluma and the Bay Area. I am open to suggestions. What do you want to read?
I was originally planning to bike and hike along the Oregon Coast this week instead of exploring the Columbia River Gorge. The Oregon Coast was my first choice because I have only visited the Oregon Coast two times. I took my family to Cannon Beach in 2015 when they visited Oregon from North Carolina. I also visited Seaside for the Oregon Public Transportation Conference in 2019. I had visited about the same number of cities in the Gorge before this week but the Coast is much longer than the Gorge. I have so much more to explore along the Coast!
Barriers to Car-Free Vacation Along Oregon Coast
While I did not know about the record-breaking heatwave in the Gorge when I started planning my vacation, I have been thinking about what my car-free vacation could have been along the Coast. The below 2019 Oregon DOT video and this 2013 BikePortland post convinced me to avoid biking along the Coast. Biking along the shoulder of dangerous Highway 101 did not sound fun or relaxing. I wanted to have fun and relax during my vacation. At least ODOT is trying to improve biking conditions along the Coast through creating the Oregon Coast Bike Route Plan.
Source: ODOT
The below safety message, which was installed in 2021, is one of ODOT’s attempts to improve biking conditions along the Coast. While I appreciate ODOT for recognizing the safety issue and trying to improve the biking conditions, I do not feel comfortable biking in the shoulder on Highway 101. Hopefully, neighborhood greenways on low-volume and connected side streets or trails are built. This is what made biking in Denmark and the Netherlands feel safe. I doubt Danish or Dutch cyclists would feel comfortable biking on Highway 101. Why should American cyclists settle for biking on Highway 101?
Source: ODOT
Yes, I could have used transit to avoid biking as far on Highway 101. I am impressed by how transit actually connects every city along the Coast with the Willamette Valley. A seven-day transit pass only costs $30 for unlimited trips along the Coast’s three northern counties and a roundtrip between the Willamette Valley, which includes Portland, and the Coast. While I seriously considered using transit to explore the Coast, the first- and last-mile transportation issues still exist. This means I would likely still have to bike on Highway 101 to access transit and my destination. Since I still want to do a car-free vacation along the Coast, I would love to have my concerns be proven wrong.
Source: nworegontransit.org
You may have noticed that the transit map only includes NW Oregon. I also want to explore the rest of the Coast and Southern Oregon because I am trying to experience areas of Oregon that Portlanders usually do not experience. I found a unique experience when I was researching a potential vacation to the Southern Coast and Southern Oregon. While Paradise Lodge along the Rogue River is not transit accessible, it is also not car accessible. As the below video explains, guests have to hike the Rogue River National Recreation Trail or ride a raft, jetboat, or helicopter to access Paradise Lodge. I had no idea such an experience existed in Oregon! Who wants to experience this with me?
Barriers to Car-Free Vacation in Columbia River Gorge
Doing a car-free vacation in the Gorge was not much easier than going to the Coast. The main reason why I decided to proceed with going to the Gorge was the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail. While I experienced fantastic views along the Twin Tunnels Segment between Hood River and Mosier, it appears I am one of the few people who access the trail from Downtown Hood River and Mosier. According to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department’s webpage, the trail is “universally accessible”. I guess car-free visitors are not thought about when visiting the trail. The below street view is between Downtown Hood River and the west trailhead. I did not feel comfortable sharing the road with motorists, especially on the blind switchbacks, so I walked my bike up and down the switchbacks. How are wheelchair users supposed to access the trailhead from Downtown Hood River if they do not own a car?
Source: Google Street View
I experienced a similar accessibility issue between the east trailhead and Downtown Mosier. Rock Creek Road has no sidewalks or bike lanes. The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department believes both trailheads are universally accessible because they have “parking at either end”. Their webpage does not even provide directions for people who want to access the trailheads from Downtown Hood River and Mosier without using a car. This would be an easy way to reduce traffic congestion in the Gorge.
Source: Google Street View
Despite the accessibility issues near the trailheads, I enjoyed most of my day trip between Hood River and Mosier. Since I have rarely seen people in person during the COVID restrictions, it was nice to visit Kathy Fitzpatrick in Mosier. She graciously offered to store my bike and pannier at her home while I explored Downtown Mosier and hiked to the Mosier Falls swimming hole. I am glad it cooled down enough to enjoy more than swimming in the Gorge. While I did not feel safe attempting to climb the rocks to access the Mosier Falls swimming hole, I got the opportunity to swim on Tuesday at Hood River Waterfront Park.
I wanted to end my post on a positive experience but the 40-foot staircase near Eagle Creek ended my vacation earlier than I planned. Even if I did not have an extreme fear of heights, I would not enjoy carrying my bike and hiking backpack up and down the staircase. This staircase prevented me from accessing the rest of the Bonneville Segment of the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail. While the staircase would not be approved for construction today, it was constructed in 1996, which is before ADA mandates for recreational facilities were required. Thankfully, ODOT plans to seek funding to replace the staircase with an ADA-compliant trail. Since the priority is completing the trail before fixing the ADA-compliance issue, it may take several years before ODOT replaces the staircase.
We’ve said it’s a priority for us to get this fixed at some point in the future, but our priority is the trail and completing it first. I want to make sure we’re keeping our priorities straight.
While I would prefer to get back on my bike and not have to rely on a shuttle when hiking, especially when the Sasquatch Shuttle stops service at 6pm, at least this is an option for accessing waterfalls until the Eagle Creek staircase is replaced. I wish this shuttle service was included in the GOrge Pass. $200 for the Sasquatch Shuttle’s annual pass is expensive compared to the $30 annual GOrge Pass! Sasquatch Shuttle’s $10 day pass is reasonable. Due to the popularity of the Eagle Creek Trail, which just reopened, I am surprised the Sasquatch Shuttle does not stop at this trail. Maybe the owner was waiting for the trail to reopen.
I have plenty of thoughts to share about my advocacy work in Clackamas County, which is located in the Portland region. I am involved with the I-205 Toll Project, Regional Mobility Policy Update, Oregon City 2040 Comprehensive Plan, Clackamas County Climate Action Plan, 82nd Avenue, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues, pushing to keep sidewalks and trails open during the Oregon City protests between Antifa and Proud Boys, etc. Since I am trying to encourage myself to continue studying for the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) Certification Exam, which I am taking in November, I may not have time to share many thoughts about my advocacy work. The short version is I am feeling burnt out by trying to be a constant advocate. I am jealous of my Portland advocacy friends who have paid staff from advocacy organizations to support their work. I have tried to partner with these organizations but they do not have enough bandwidth to help me beyond providing a letter of support. While I care deeply about my advocacy work, I keep trying to tell myself that I need to prioritize self care.
Hopefully, my vacation to visit family and relatives in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and North Carolina in late July and early August will allow me to prioritize self care. Since my dad and I often argue about politics, I am concerned that I could return from vacation more stressed than when I leave. I wanted my car-free Gorge vacation to help me return less stressed but the trail access issues were stressful. I guess I should have just done a staycation like many of my friends suggested. Staycations are mentally tough for me because I feel the need to travel when I have time off work. This feels like a perfect opportunity to end my post on a positive experience. I am excited to someday experience and write about the completed Gorge Towns to Trails trekking vision!
I will be doing my first solo multi-day, multi-city, car-free vacation in the Columbia River Gorge from June 26-July 5 (working remotely on July 1). I will be in Portland briefly on Saturday to participate in Loud and Lit, which is this year’s largest Pedalpalooza group bike ride. The largest Pedalpalooza ride is normally the World Naked Bike Ride but this ride was canceled again this year due to COVID restrictions. I enjoy riding in the World Naked Bike Ride, so I hope it returns next summer. Cascade Locks and Stevenson will be my next stops on Sunday and Monday. Most of my vacation will be in Hood River. I plan to do a day trip to Mosier along the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail. Hopefully, the heatwave will be gone by the time I reach The Dalles next Friday for a one-night stay. I am very concerned about the heatwave in The Dalles because The Dalles is normally hot during the summer. I plan to finish my vacation by returning to Cascade Locks for the rest of Independence Day Weekend.
Several days of my vacation will be during a record-breaking heatwave. While I have been planning daily bike rides to waterfall hikes and kayaking in a lake or the Columbia River, the 110-degree heat over several days may force me to spend more time swimming and staying inside air-conditioned places. Since most people drive to the Columbia River Gorge and may think a car-free vacation is impossible, I wanted to share how I planned my car-free vacation. As this 2019 post shows, I have actually been thinking about doing car-free vacations to the Columbia River Gorge for two years. I did a weekend car-free vacation to Hood River in 2019 but my next vacation will involve multiple cities. While the below transit map has not changed much over the past two years, a big change is coming to the GOrge Pass on July 1. I will be able to ride transit anywhere on the Oregon and Washington sides of the Gorge for only $30 with the annual GOrge Pass!
I am also excited about the launch of the Gorge Food Trails website in 2021 because I want to support local businesses during my vacation.
Since I do not want to risk overheating my laptop in my pannier during the heatwave, I plan to only take my smartphone on vacation. This means I will have to create blog posts using my smartphone. Due to this, the posts that I publish during my vacation will be shorter than normal. Feel free to send me feedback about what you want me to expand on after my vacation. Despite the record-breaking heatwave, I am excited for my vacation!
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