Wednesday, 7/26

I had to laugh when I received a note yesterday that said, basically, “You know how to drive”?

Yes, I do. And thanks for noticing!

The note was from a downtown acquaintance of mine, one who sees me (and usually Loraine) walking everywhere we go. As you know, we do that for many reasons—for exercise, for the environment, and because it’s nice in Marquette in the summer. Why WOULDN’T you want to walk if you could? Anyway, this acquaintance said she was driving through downtown when she noticed Loraine & me in Loraine's car, with me driving, in the opposite lane waiting for a stoplight. She had to look several times because she just couldn’t believe that I was behind the wheel of a car.

A foreign concept, I’m sure, but not a totally illogical one. While it’s true I don’t drive at all during the week and try to avoid it if I can during the weekend, I still do hop behind the wheel of my car on occasion, if only because I do need to get some groceries I can’t within walking distance (and it’s kind of hard to pick up several bags at Econo or Super One and then ride home with them on your bike) and because my dad, who knows everything there is to know about cars, keeps telling me that I do have to start it up and drive it every once in a blue moon, if only so the parts in the car actually move and get used, like they’re designed to do.

Hence, that’s why my acquaintance saw me behind the wheel Saturday. We were driving to Au Train to have lunch. And to give Loraine's car a workout.

Loraine and I actually get a lot of people who mention they’ve seen us walking here and there, and some of the people who say it have a small bit of incredulity in their voice, like it’s really strange that they see us walking instead of driving everywhere. Why is that strange? Up until 70 or 80 years ago, people did the vast majority of their in-town traveling on foot. You didn’t hop into your car to drive three blocks to get a gallon of milk; you walked to the store, picked it up, and walked back home with it. Getting into your car and driving everywhere is a fairly recent phenomenon. And I hafta sometimes wonder--is it a coincidence that this fairly recent phenomena matches up with both global climate change and the ever-expanding waistlines of most Americans?

Besides, I like walking. I always have. I used to walk to school; 3 blocks to Whitman, half a mile to Bothwell, and all across town to Marquette Senior High School. When I was in college, I used to live several miles from the buildings where I had most of my classes at Michigan State, yet I hoofed it there, often several times a day. In fact, the only time in my life I don’t remember walking is when I worked in Flint, and that was only because I wanted to live long enough to move away from Flint.

Which, thankfully, I did.

The note I received yesterday wasn’t the first of its kind that I’ve received, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. After all, I plan on walking as much as I can as long as I can. In fact, I often joke to my nieces that they’ll be introducing their children (and grand-children) to their crazy Uncle Jim as “the one who’s always walking everywhere”. Of course, that’s when Loraine usually adds, and I quote, “And talking to himself, too”. But that, however, is a tale for another day.

See you on the streets!

(jim@wmqt.com), walker.