I did something today which I have thought of doing many times but never mustered the motivation to do…walk from Belmont to work in the downtown mall. My hesitation was not out of fear for my safety but out of pure and utter laziness. Why walk when you can enclose yourself in leather seats, a nice morning breeze and 106.1FM? To add a little discomfort to my life.
In Some Places It Is Normal To Take As Long As Possible To Get To Work
Working at Microsoft, walking/biking/hiking to work was a common occurrence. I usually took the bus which was close to work, while Kyle who lived many many many miles away would don the oh-so-cool spandex racing suit, mount the German carbon fiber beast that you can lift with one hand and race to work in the morning. There are two main reasons for this:
- Seattle and its surrounding neighborhoods is one of the most bike-friendly regions I have ever seen. Bike paths literally go from one end of the state to the other;
- Employers like Microsoft provide locker-rooms and showers to its employees. At the time Kyle and I left to start DR they even brought back the towel service making it easier for one to shower and then work after an hour bike ride in the AM.
Charlottesville Joins The Club (for me at least)
Leave Seattle and it all changes or does it? Charlottesville is small and friendly enough so that if you are lucky to live within a 5 minute car ride to work it should be possible to walk/bike there. Now begin the excuses: “I will be sweaty”, “I will be tired”, “I can get run over”, etc…so how uncomfortable was this terrible journey?
The walk to work was the best thing I did this week. At 8AM the sun is just warming up for a scorcher of a day, so if you stick to the tree- lined spots you should avoid looking like a cardinal. While I could argue that a 40 minute walk was boring and uneventful, it was anything but. This walk was the perfect balance of a slow and lazy tempo offset by the constant self-motivation necessary to prevent me from returning home, pushing the “START ENGINE” button and consequently muting the first minutes of ones’ lucid day. My journey had many distractions that would normally seem off the beaten path and allowed me to:
- remember how high gas prices are
- have coffee/breakfast at La Taza
- discover that an enterprising company in China makes a moped-chopper…and someone in cville actually rides it
- take in the intense graffiti art under the overpass/next to the train tracks
- say good morning to all the cvillains going out to their cars in the morning
- actually get to know who and what lives around you. This is probably the biggest one…you miss so much by driving in a car
- stop for donuts at Spudnuts: I arrived with the morning rush. In front of me in line was a father with a son and daughter. The son (maybe 7 yrs old) was explaining to the dad why they shouldn’t wait 15 minutes for the batch of fresh donuts to come out of the oven. An old man, probably a full-time fixture in the back of the seating area must have noticed them eager to leave and came up to give them toys to entertain them during their wait. I hate carrying cash and was lucky enough to have $1 to buy a coconut donut…it was delicious. I would have gone with the plain glazed but I wasn’t in the 15 minute waiting mood…I had more walking to do!
I arrive at work in the Lewis and Clark building as fresh as a rose and can’t stop thinking how beautiful Charlottesville is when you take a moment to take it in whilst standing still. It seems that we are always in a rush and have to get things done quickly but I just might like taking the slow path from now on. Could it be that this was what Kerouac was trying to say in “On The Road”? The protagonist, Sal Paradise, seemed to relish the details, the journey and while the book was published in the fifties, perhaps there is something we can still learn from it. How slow do you go?
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You had 2 breakfasts today (La Taza and Spudnuts)?
It took 40 minutes to walk from Belmont to the Lewis and Clark building?
lemme know how that works out for you next week when the temperatures start nearing the century mark.
It’s supposed to get up to 93 degrees today! Yay! I heart hot weather. Oh wait, we have no beach. crap.
I like walking to work. It gives you a chance for some quiet time before the work day. And walking home gives you a chance to exercise away all the work stress.
@1: coffee/breakfast could mean you think coffee is breakfast or vice versa, so a coffee and donut ain’t such a bad way to start the day. Could have been 30 min, I wasn’t counting.
@2: think if you leave around 730 you avoid the heat wave. But, if your office has showers, 830 doesn’t look so bad
I’ve been walking an hour a day back and forth to work for more than two years now. I was for about eight months working in two locations (the next street past the Lexis Nexis building beyond the downtown mall) and Grounds. I’d walk from my house to the place past the mall (25 minutes), from there go grounds (about 35 minutes), and then back home (20 minutes). It’s good exercise, and after that I would say my one-way range is about 2 miles. So I’d basically live any place that was within 45 walking minutes from my work (and I walk faster than most people). I’m sure there will be more pedestrians, but I think most people would rather drive two blocks than walk it.
I should mention I’ve done this in 100 degree weather too. Suck it up.
@6, checkmate. I don’t know so many people drive in this town if they don’t have to…its one of the few “walkable” places I have been to.
i would walk to work, but i doubt i could cover 20 miles in 45 minutes.
You should definitely walk to work, or ride your bike, when the weather’s nice and you live close enough. Your walk home will be hot, for sure, today. But it’s green and healthy for your body, mind and soul. Good for you. I hope you continue to do it, and this encourages more people to do the same.
If you walk home from the Lewis and Clark building to Belmont, you pass plenty of places to get a delicious cold beverage. the heat shouldn’t be a problem. Plus, the D/R guys are workaholics, so it’ll probably be dark and cool by the time he leaves.
after my ex totaled my car last summer, i was planing on walking to school, but then i realized that it’s over 5 miles & i always wear heels, so i bought a new car. 250 isn’t as walkable as belmont anyway.
agreed. for goodness sakes, if you can walk to work and don’t require a car to do your job, PLEASE walk to work. Don’t squander that opportunity. I’m jealous of all of you.
um, agreed with @9
@6: Oh! You win tough guy of the day award!
You should walk anywhere you live close to, be it work, the bar, the gym whatever. My bf works like two blocks from where he works and pays for the freaking Water st parking garage because he drives to work everyday because walking takes too long. I’m like WTF?
My bf works like two blocks from where he works
I work where I work, and I still drive.
@14: HE DOES WHAT???
@15: lives, jackass, lives
@16: I KNOW!
I was replying to #2, but thanks.
Oh, he lives 2 blocks from where he lives. Got it.
@19: I’m gonna smack you.
or we could get moped choppers like the guy in the flickr stream
I want a solar-powered nitrous-injected turbo couch, with an optional ottoman that doubles as a cooler.
…and a pony.
@20: Alright, I’m done, but seriously, getting in the car, driving 2 blocks, parking and walking from the car into work probably takes as long as walking 2 blocks. Tell him he is singlehandedly destroying our planet, and we don’t appreciate it.
When I was a boy, we had to walk 15 miles to work in 110 degree weather up hill both ways and we LIKED it.
/off my lawn.
i wish i could walk or a ride a bicycle to work. as it is, i drive 30-45 minutes (pending traffic) and then walk 4 blocks from the garage to the office. that bit of exercise in the morning and afternoon is all i’m getting. it would be nice to have the opportunity to take advantage of the weather and walk/ride from somewhere in town.
More folks need to walk/bike/bus to work here. I think having more pedestrian crossings of the railroad would help in some neighborhoods. More of those bus time/locator thingies at different stops would also help.
I walk several miles every day, but I don’t work outside the home. I just don’t see the point of driving to the library, the Corner, or downtown. Strap the babe on my back and off I go!
I love walking to work. Granted, my walk is under a mile and basically hill-less, but shy of torential downpour I am grateful every day that I don’t have to get in my car (or worse, scrape down windows in the winter). It’s one of the first things I brag about when describing my happy little life here in Charlottesville to outsiders who can’t understand why I’m not living in a “real” city.
I love to bike all over the place, and sure some people around town don’t like me coz I cut right through them.
The reason for my aggressive cycling has been captured in the attached pictures. The local BP’s pricing of gas. That’s my neighborhood gas station and is one of the more highly priced ones in C’Ville. Funny thing is, it’s in Belmont, and last I checked, surrounding residents aren’t town millionaires.
Yeah, that gas station is ridiculous. I think its so high because they can get away with it with all the businesses off of Linden.
Never thought of that. Still unfair on the regular dude and dudette.
But their gas has “Invigorate”. That has to count for something.
agreed…oooh Invigorate eh? I guess thats worth the extra 7-10 cents
Shell has “*V* Power.” That has to count for more.
Imagine if you filled your car up with half BP + Invigorate and half Shell + V Power. That shouldn’t be legal.
It will definitely Invigorate any car that ’still’ has V Power. How legal? Depends on what year car!
I kinda stopped taking the you mobile there after “the incident”. I filled my tank and their scnozzle failed to stop pumping. We are talking at least a couple gallons of gas spraying everywhere before some sort of shut-off was triggered. I was distressed. When it came time to settle up, the clerk refused to take the six bucks or whatever off my tab. This of course after she had said “Yeah we have been having that trouble with that pump for a couple of weeks”.
Umbrage? Oh, yes. There was Umbrage.
By the way, your walk took you right past Rancho Notso Grande, my palacial estate. Next time you’re scoobying around the hood, grab a handful of black cherries from the ginormous tree in my yard, the are totally banging this year, and there are billions of them.
yo mobile, that is. and I meant the bp station. and schnozzle.
Im so tired…
Are black cherries good for a snack coz they taste awesome.
They are amazing this year The tree is two stories tall and 75 years old. When the conditions are right, it produces SO many cherries, enough for me, all my neighbors, the birds and the occasional pedestrian commuter.
He probably won’t, but if the old dude from next door comes out in the yard with a rifle, don’t worry, just tell him you know me. He’s nice, just overly protective.
Rifle? Nice. I’ll be on my bike and ready to pedal.
/I had planned to bring a foldable chair and eat on site!
Nah, he’s good people. He’s lived in the house next door for seventy years or something. If you are in a chair chillin with the cherries, he won’t be all suspicious. Actually he has some amazing stories. He was backstage when the beatles and the rolling stones played ed sullivan. He saw flippin eisenhower and motorcade drive down monticello road when it was dirt. It goes on and on…
Oh man, cherries are GUD. I wish I knew where you lived.
@42: go to belmont. Look for the giant cherry tree.
/i’m good at what i do
@42. Shen. You can ride on the handle bars and we can go feast on cherries.
But I’m wearing a skirt today and no undies. So that won’t work. Raincheck.
I’m gonna come home to a million scowlies scarfing cherries, aren’t i. I forget that this site is more than just twenty people with boring computer jobs. Ah well… stay off the porch, that thing will kill you.
@45. You can ride facing me!
@47: DIRTY!
I’m guessing it’s been a long time since shen has had a cherry
wait, was that out loud?
@49: Just. spit. water. everywhere.
/has a towel
@49: 6 years bud.
@52. 6 years? It’s time to drink, dance and look forward to breakfast…
/Preferably @ Blue Moon.
yeah, towels are good. spitting is bad.
There are some hotties on the free trolley. For real.
One of the nice perks this time of year is that there are two large mulberry bushes (or are they small trees?), which gives me an opportunity to grab a quick snack to and from work.
hey, cbob… someone
out there agrees with you.
hotties at the free clinic. for real.
and they’re easy!
@ 56 Got a couple highly productive mulberry trees that are pumping right now, too, help yourself.
/eden in belmont? its more likely than you think.
eden in belmont?
Sweet! I get to be Cain. parlie: you’re Abel. Aaaaaand action!
if this has abs like in the movie 300, ok, i’m there.
aaaaand action.
yes lolo, but if we’re gonna do this you have to wear very small soccer shorts and knee socks.
i’ll wear my red cape and thick leather underpants.
@24 you forgot with NO shoes on!
leather underpants…meow.
another nite I’m between parlie and lolo…
why decide?
it’s all for charity.
no, I meant really in-between the two of you.
/sandwich!
leather underpants = liederhousen? you know, its only a few more steps to the latex pteradactyl outfit! yay for biblical fetish fruit pr0n in my yard! it’s been too long.
just weeded eden, and shit is looking sharp. got bit by a million mozzies tho so I am not. 300 abs? sorry. I am as oogly as they come. I have clearly given up. soon I will be wearing sweatpants and a fannypack on the mall. bite me, cvillestyle. bite me hard. i dont care anymore.
will no one take my cherries? i am insane. *thud* redux.
i want your cherries and cucumbers.
/wait, what?
ok - so to re-cap - claw, tuesday night - everyone wear leather underpants - do it for the children.
got it.
which one of you guys is going to wrestle stanley?
I will wrestle stanley, but only if I get a bitchin-ass ring name like “bastardinator” or something. I will defer to your superior creativity if you give me vicoden.
/is unbeatable. bring it.
no, it has to be a girl. it was a joke about how stanley’s a gi–
you know what, nevermind.
i’ll email you some vikes.
i can’t be a girl. bad enough that I have already been outed as straight in the gay community. wrestle on!
could you cc me on that electronarco delivery?
BCC me please
no, it has to be a girl. it was a joke about how stanley’s a gi–
girator?
gibraltan?
gibb, brother?
gin and tonic?
ginormous wanker?
gillian welch fan?
twould sho be nice to be able to afford to live in belmont again.