In the move across the country last summer, we took along all the family’s bikes: 4 of them. Looking back, I don’t think I would have kept all of them, as it was a huge pain having all of them hanging off the back of the Explorer. I had to unload/reload them probably a couple dozen times, and while the rack can handle 4 bikes, I always had to do more than little Tetris’ing to get them on there securely.
In all that on/off, Clare’s bike got a bit damaged, and I don’t trust myself enough to fix it. In the city, this would probably be a 10 minute drive to the nearest shop to get fixed, but it’s not the case when we’re in the middle of nowhere. I was very surprised that, in a touristy area like Lake Sunapee, the nearest bike shop is in Concord, 45 minutes away. Oh well.
There’s so many great things about living in rural America. 3 cars in a row is considered “rush hour”. You can actually get to know people in town without too much effort. The view is amazing, and if you want to de-stress with a nature walk, you just have to walk outside your door. And clearly, many of the low level toxins that you deal with living in the city are vastly reduced. (How much of that has a substantive effect on your health? It’s really still up for discussion, but it’s definitely not zero.) But yeah, services aren’t as handy and you end up spending a lot more time with things like fixing a bike. Not a first world problem but a rural America problem. I’ll take the trade!
Columbia Gorge Dispatch 