Observations on our move - One Month

May 16.  It’s hard to believe, but we actually moved in April 16. And in the past month, I’ve learned and experienced many things about our new world. 

• While I’d gotten very efficient at mass shopping and cooking, I need to discard that way of planning and prepping food. This is due to several reasons..  
• For one thing, without a car, I’m not as likely to transport 30 days of groceries on my bike. 
• I’m back to cooking for 2 people, rather than 5.  
• There’s a farmer’s market 2 blocks away with spectacular produce, once a week.  Buying fresh produce only weekly is tricky. Must cook or use delicate things first, while hardy produce can wait until later in the week.
• So this means that my weekly planning is a little more fluid; I’m not quite sure what’s fresh at the market until I get there, which then means the weekly plan might change. We also need to phase the shopping over the week, so we’re packing only ½ week of food on the bike at a time.  This is all very doable, and enjoyable. And different.

• We’ve found a great way to store and access our bikes. While the apartment has storage in the basement, it’s up 5 stairs and down an elevator ride to get there. The electric bike, while a great mode of transportation, isn’t light, so that wasn’t my first choice.  Instead, for a fee, we’ve become community member users of the Portland State Bike Garage program. There are at least three secure bike garages within walking distance. Our ID cards get us in, and we lock the bikes up there. From there, we walk 2 blocks home, and all is well.  

• In the past 30 days, I’ve put over 250 miles on my bike. Much of this is trips to the store, allergy shots, and church. But probably even more is made up with our afternoon adventures. We’ve ridden to all corners of Portland, exploring gardens, mansions, parks. We’ve also fabricated errands we don’t really need, just to use that as an excuse to explore on bike. We’ve found our local Tru-Value which we really enjoy, found three different bike shops in three different directions, and crossed most of the brides in town, for the sole reason to see what was on the other side.  

• Last night felt like a quintessential evening. We rode to the Apple store to look into new gadgets & tools. On the way home, realized we needed refreshments to go with our taco salads for dinner. We parked our bikes in the bike garage, took off the batteries to be recharged at home, and stopped at a new Growler store 1 block away. We bought our growler, and headed home – carrying an Apple bag, two bike batteries, and a growler of beer. Our new normal. 

• With less than 800sf of space, cleaning is super-easy and fast. 

• I've scoped out the safest, prettiest, and quickest way to get to my new office. Of course, the three aren't the same. I'll err on safe and pretty.  Through woods, on trails, along the river, and through a beautiful old cemetery. Door to door, it's about 60 minutes. The bus is always an option, and given where we moved, it would be about 25 minutes.  

So far, there hasn’t been a day where we haven’t marveled at our world now.  It isn’t perfect, but all of the things we’ve traded seem like good trades so far.  Car for bike. Garden for time.  Inside house space for cleaning time and coziness. Suburban for urban.  Windy roads for sidewalks. Car for bike and bus. 

I'm not suggesting this is the best thing for everyone, or even for us for all times.  It is definitely a good move for us for now.  The most interesting thing for me is that there were so many people who seemed envious of our choice, and action. Many seemed to have made the same choice, but were unable to actually execute.  I'm grateful we were in a position to contemplate a change, and to pull it off. Besides, none of this is permanent. If something doesn't work, we'll fix it.  But for now, it's working.  Well.