Community Carshare

We have officially been a car-free family for about a week! And so far, so good. It is very liberating.
That being said, we are also now officially members of Community Carshare. Joe and I went on our first Carshare outing this past weekend (sans Henry), and it was super easy and pretty fun!

The best part: We got to drive this gem:

Yep- That is a fully electric vehicle. Pretty nifty! And very quiet to drive! You could sneak up on people in that thing it is so quiet. It holds a decent charge, too. We drove about 60km and it still had quite a bit of juice left. Apparently it gets less km in the winter, though (about 50km). Still, I will definitely use this car again.

Using Community Carshare is super simple. We booked our car online (about 30 minutes before we left, but you can book up to a year in advance), and used our key-card to unlock the car, and lock it once we got to our destination. The keys are attached under the steering wheel. 

We went to Dryden Tract/ Alps Woods near Cambridge for a great fall hike. I recommend checking it out if you've never been. It is a gorgeous area, especially in the fall. And without Henry, Joe and I got some great chats in. It was a really great afternoon.

All said and done, we are really happy with our decision to go car-free. I'm not going to lie - I had my doubts and almost wanted to renege my commitment to go car-free the day we sold our car, but I'm glad I didn't. Of course, Joe and I are aware that *most* families would not be able to do this. We are in a perfect situation to do so (living within walking distance to work/groceries/some family/etc, only needing a car once every week or so, AND living close to a bunch of Community Carshare cars). We would recommend Community Carshare at this point to anyone in a similar situation as us, or anyone wanting a second car the odd time (or who wants to go down to one car but still have access to a second). It is a pretty great set-up.

Some other benefits that we've thought up so far on being car-free:
- It makes you really aware of your car-use and the cost of driving
- It is environmentally friendlier than owning our own car
- It helps us to consider alternative transportation when possible (walking, biking, bus, train, etc)
- It helps Joe and I to live in alignment with our values
- It helps us to be more active: We walk a lot!
- It is much cheaper than the alternative
- And so on.

If you are at all interested in joining, talk to me!