My Pedestrian Life

Over two years ago, I moved to the Washington, DC area, specifically Arlington, VA. I bought a house very close to many bus lines so that I wouldn’t have to use my car at all to get to work. I happily take public transportation, even if it takes a little longer, if it means I can avoid driving, especially during rush hour, especially in an area with awful traffic like Washington. In particular, I didn’t want to have to worry about driving in the snow that Washington sometimes gets. Four years of college in Colorado taught me that as a born and bred Southern, I don’t and shouldn’t drive in the snow. [To everyone in the Washington, DC metropolitan area: you’re welcome.]

The main goal was to not use my car to drive to work. My employer gives its employees a public transit subsidy, so not only do I save money not buying gas, but I also don’t have to pay the bus and subway fare. The buses run late enough that when I go to events in DC, I can just use public transit to get there and back. This is particularly nice as there is no parking in DC, and the streets are designed in some crazy way to confuse the British should they come invading again. Then as I started using public transportation, I found that it was just plain easier than dealing with driving and as importantly parking in the area. I started using public transportation on Sunday mornings as I explored churches. The church of which I am now a member is in DC and offers free valet parking. I still prefer public transit, even though it takes longer. Then I started using public transit more and more to do errands such as the grocery, especially when they could be done on my way home from work.

Funny thing happened as I used public transit more and more, my walking increased more and more. To a certain extent that should be obvious. Public transportation rarely drops you off at your exact destination or picks you up at your exact starting point so a little walking will be involved. However, I also started walking in lieu of public transportation. It is sometimes easier just to walk a certain distance than trying to figure out what bus will take you there, or particularly when the public transportation in question is Metro, it can be just plain faster to get there with your feet.

When I walk, I can explore. I can observe. When I drive, I can’t really explore anything other than the road. When I’m on the bus or the subway, I can explore a little bit but not to the degree when I am on foot. I am still new to the area, so exploration on foot helps me get to know the area. My office building is about 0.7 miles from my bus stop. There is a bus that runs between the two that I used to take. Sometime last year, I started walking the distance in the afternoon after work. Then I started walking it in the morning to the office also. Now I always walk it. There is no more exploring I can do on that route because I have walked it so many times, but now I people watch. As I try to arrive and leave work at the same time everyday, I have a regular time I normally walk to and from the office, and I have started to recognize other people who share some sort of routine during those same periods. Based on their uniforms, there is a uniformed federal police officer, a helicopter pilot, and another person, sometimes two, who have coffee together every morning in a fast food restaurant I pass. In the afternoon, there is a very serious looking federal agent in a suit (and his badge clipped to his belt) with a briefcase on wheels that I pass somewhere within a two block space if both of us are on schedule. I have fun finding people who have a routine and spotting them everyday. The area where I work has numerous military personal who work in nearby office buildings. I have started trying to learn what all the different insignia on their uniforms mean. This is even more complicated in this area as about once a week, I pass a non-US military person. Identifying their country and military branch is a challenge unto itself. Memorizing the uniform features so I can later try to identify it gives me a challenge to do on my walk.

Another really nice benefit of all my walking is it has made me a healthier person and caused me to lose weight. Last year by simply walking more and more and not bringing any more sweets home, I lost about 20 pounds. I didn’t change anything else, and I wasn’t really trying to lose weight. The weight loss was slow, over the course of about nine months. Don’t get me wrong, the weight loss was really nice, but every time I went to my physician, and she informed me I had lost more weight, it came as a nice surprise.

Now, I love my pedestrian life. I try to use my car as little as possible. I will always need it when I have to run an errand that is simply too inconvenient to walk or use public transit, or I need to transport something too big for either of those. However, whenever possible, I will try to go without it. Now it is like a challenge to see how I can gets things done without the car. A challenge that lets me explore and become a healthier person.