The most memorable and terrifying part of the trip was our stop at Badlands National Park.  We should have known something was brewing when the gas station a few miles outside the entrance to the park was all atwitter with talk of the weather and the ominous storm clouds in the distance, but we pressed on anyway.

When we got to a particularly beautiful canyon area and went out for a walk, the winds were blowing hard and bringing some serious temperature changes.  The sky continued to darken, and we knew we were in for a storm.  The rattlesnake that lay in our path a few yards up ahead seemed to suggest Turn Back While You Still Can, so we did.

Kelly: “I think we should get in the car quickly.”

Chris: “Oh, a little rain never hurt anyone.  It’ll feel good!”

Kelly: “I think we should get in the car quickly.”

Fellow tourists all around were darting into their cars quickly, so I let go of the “isn’t it wonderful to experience nature up close and directly” shtick and got in the car.

What was left of the ice AFTER it had broken into smaller pieces.

Not sixty seconds after we’d pulled out onto the road, I saw in the distance, in the direction of the ominous clouds, a breath-taking scene: the land and sky were turning white as some kind of wall of moisture moved across it.  Toward us.  I pulled over to the side of the road.  ”I think we’re about to…”

I didn’t even have time to finish my sentence when the first piece of hail hit.  It sounded like the car had been shot, and we both jumped in our seats.  There were definitely some forceful verbal expressions of fear and/or excitement going on.  Popcorn style, the huge pieces of hail continued to fall, although it seemed more like they were being launched – from above, from the side, from all around.  THWAP!  THWAP! THWAP!

When one left a nice nine-inch crack across the windshield, we looked at each other and wondered if we were in more danger than we first thought.  We scrambled to cover our faces with jackets, etc. in case something did shatter, though I couldn’t resist at times watching the balls of ice slam into the hood of the car.  BLAM!  BLAM! BLAM!

After a few minutes, it was over.  We pulled into a ranger station a bit up the road, and got out to survey the damage, along with a bunch of other drivers.  Windshields were broken, sunroofs cracked, and the huge dents in the metal were just unreal.  At least one ambulance went by, and Kelly and I recalled how close we’d been to standing outside when the ice hit.  Strangers became temporary friends as we all recounted our experience of the hailstorm.  The ranger was nonchalant: “we get about two of those per year.”

Fortunately for us, the damage we experienced can be relatively easily repaired, and we made it to our final destination without further weather drama. I have a certain amount of polite resentment for the insurance industry as a whole, but I have to say that I’m certainly lucky to have it in this case.  Ann and the folks at my wonderful insurance agency Harrington Hoch were able to process the claim quickly, and after the technicians at the auto body shop in Portland apparently dropped what they were doing to come see the cottage cheesed surfaces of the car when it came in, they were excited to get to work making the car look like new.

For me, I won’t ever again make the assumption of emerging from a hail storm unscathed, and when everyone around me is running for cover, I will be more open to the possibility (unlikely as it is) that they know something I don’t.

Your own severe weather event stories are welcome in the comment section below.

Some observations on walking to work:

1. Since walking has become my usual mode of commuting, I’ve found myself noticing even more what complex and sometimes onerous machines automobiles can be.  There a feeling of lightness I have in walking out the door and propelling myself down the street, feeling my muscles working and pace changing, saying hi to people and noticing changes in their moods and dispositions from day to day, just being out in the open air of the world.  This is much different from the protocols for entering, activating and safely operating my internal combustion go-go machine from one place to another; it’s just a much heavier and more isolating experience, and while it still has its place, I’m quite glad to partake in it less often.
2. The walk takes about 15 minutes or less.  My prior residence was less than 2 miles from my office, which took about 30 minutes.  Even though Richmond tends not to be all that pedestrian-friendly, the previous longer route was especially obnoxious in the loud and busy roads I would walk, and so it became a bit of a psychological barrier to wanting to do it every day.  The 30 minute mark was just long enough to create some stress about how much of the day I might “lose” to walking back and forth, even though other calculations show we lose a good part of our day/lives to earning the money to be able to drive in.  In any case, 15 minutes feels like a great number for me right now – just long enough to make the walk enjoyable, and short enough that I feel close  to all the places I want to be able to be quickly.
3. I’ve certainly saved a little money, between several hundred and a thousand dollars in gasoline expenses depending on what past year I compare it to.  The drive to work obviously didn’t use a whole lot of gas in itself, but not driving my car every day also means lower automobile maintenance costs.
4. This winter season found Richmond with more snow on the ground for longer periods of time than it’s had in recent history.  Local residents and businesses are generally not very cognizant of the impact on pedestrians when they leaving their sidewalks unshoveled; it means that people either have to walk in the street, which is dangerous, or take alternate routes, which is inconvenient.  This didn’t stop me from walking, even if I had to transport an extra pair of shoes along with me, but it’s still disappointing to see the significant resources expended on making paths clear for cars and so little attention given to keeping pedestrian walkways usable.
5. I live in an Indiana Enterprise Zone, which means that the local governments have designated it as a “distressed or blighted area” that could benefit from some economic development incentives.  What it really means is that my employer and I both get tax credits for me living there – close to a thousand dollars on my return this year -  the idea being that I’m helping to make the area less distressed and blighted.  What’s that have to do with walking to work? The goal of having a walkable, bike-able city lines up nicely with the goal of having a vibrant downtown business district surrounded by vibrant, well-established residential neighborhoods.  When we remember to plan communities around the needs of people instead of around what’s best for automobiles, we almost always inevitably also build a stronger local economy.
6. I have to recognize the relative ease with which I – a tall white male – can wander out into the streets past dusk on my walk home after a late night at the office, not thinking too much about being vulnerable or unsafe.  I know some of my downtown co-workers wouldn’t find it desirable or even acceptable to put themselves in the same position.  There are things Richmond could do to help with this – e.g. fix the streetlights that don’t work on Main St. – but there are also a broader set of cultural issues that need work before the pedestrian lifestyle is truly “safe” and normal again.  In the meantime, I’m privileged in a way that I’ll keep taking advantage of, but won’t take for granted.
7. I usually listen to music while I walk (and lately I’m listening to courses on learning Spanish).  Sometimes I don’t listen to anything and just enjoy the sounds around me.  The sounds I listen to often set my mood for the day, and can inject a burst of creative energy that stays with me as the melodies or lyrics echo around in my head.  It’s perhaps no different than listening to the stereo in the car, but dancing, tapping your fingers to a beat, absorbing a powerful verse – they’re all a little more fun when you don’t have to keep your eyes on the road.

Those are some of my experiences of getting to work.  Do you have any to share?

About 45 minutes before I found myself in this situation, we were traveling down I-70 East in the heavily falling wet snow, gusting wind, and crowded highway lanes.  It was the kind of weather that should probably have kept us off the road, but if there’s one thing that car culture teaches you, it’s that nothing should stand in between you and your vehicle’s destination, so there we were.

About six cars up, I saw headlights, and they were in my lane.  “Oh no,” I thought, “not another one of these high speed car chases.”  As I slowed us down, I watched the car spin out of control, cross over the median into the westbound lanes, cross back over the median and do two full spinning rotations, and then come to a stop.  We passed a split second later, and the driver appeared to be slumped over in her seat.

I pulled onto the shoulder and as I was calling 911 to give them the milepost marker, Anna Lisa got out to go check on her.  We were parked a little too close to the highway lane but we wanted to get some emergency personnel headed that way and check on the driver.  A few other folks were pulling off too, one to help out, another to recover from being so shaken up by seeing the spin-out.

With the 911 operator on the line, I ran back to the car and confirmed with Anna Lisa and another passer-by that the driver was okay, just shaken up.  It was her birthday, and she was on her way to the celebration.  Her vehicle even seemed to be just fine, and I started to let the operator know that there were no injuries and just some possible towing to do.

And that’s when the black pickup truck heading east side-swiped one of the vehicles that had stopped to help.  The impact dented the car, pulled off its front fender, and dislodged the wheel, while sending other debris flying.  On the truck, its front left wheel also appeared to be dislodged, and the driver barely controlled the vehicle as it passed within inches of our car and slid to a stop.  I told the 911 operator that we now had ourselves more of a situation, and that there might be an injury.  I heard her escalate it a bit and she said the state police would be there soon.  I went to wave traffic off to the far lane, hoping to avoid a repeat.

Everyone ended up being fine.  Several troopers arrived and inspected the situation.  They took our statements and contact information.  The original spin-out car was able to pull away on its own, and the two impacted vehicles were getting tow-trucks.  Anna Lisa and I pulled out and drove (more slowly, more cautiously) to our destination.

We already know this, right?  Split seconds of attention span and inches of maneuverability make all the difference in life and death when you’re propelling these machines along at 70 miles/hour.  And yet we still chat on our phones, feel around in the back seat, fiddle with the radio, drive too close in bad weather. I’ll probably do so again.

Today, I’m thankful.

The Quaker college has tried for decades to get a traffic signal at its entrance, an effort that began soon after Earlham student David Rantanen was killed crossing the highway in 1962. Since then, two more people have died and several more were hit and injured by vehicles on the four-lane highway near the school’s main drive.

While the decision isn’t official, the concession on the part of state highway planners that a signal is needed is a major one.  I cringe when I’m in a car or walking as a pedestrian in that area, as it really is a game of “look both ways about 10 times and then cross your fingers and run for it” for pedestrians.  And while I ascribe no general ill will toward Earlham students on the part of Richmond drivers, it does seem to be a section of road that highlights the inherent disdain that some drivers have for pedestrians in this town.  Sometimes they even speed up a little when students are crossing, instead of slowing down.

The usual criticisms are already resurfacing: why should taxpayers pay for a crossing between two parts of a private campus, why didn’t Earlham just build a pedestrian bridge with its vast vaults of extra cash, etc.  (And as usual, critics are posting their demands for answers in the Pal-Item’s online comment section instead of taking them to the people who can actually answer them, which in my mind means they don’t really want an answer, they just want to complain.)

But I think we can generally address those concerns by remembering that all of us pay for infrastructure like roads, sidewalks, crossing signals, traffic lights, etc. that may or may not directly benefit our own daily commute – it’s nothing new to ask the entities that are responsible for managing that infrastructure to build some new ones in places that are needed.  The lives of pedestrians are no less worth protecting as they cross a public road, just because there happens to be privately owned land on either side…that’s pretty much how every residential street works.

Congratulations to Earlham for creatively staying on this and to the INDOT folks for (finally) taking heed.

Him: “Excuse me!”

Me, shouting after: “Could you ride your bike on the street instead of the sidewalk?”

Him, stopping and halfway turning around: “I would get hit by a car.”

Me: “Well, it’s actually not legal to ride on the sidewalk.”

Him: (Shrug, rides away)

I felt bad that I didn’t have any more to offer than “don’t do this” and “it’s illegal.” It was already hard enough to step outside my comfort zone to say something at all. So I can sympathize with people who prefer an official looking sign to point to, though, in the end, I prefer that we have to interact with each other on our own terms.

I worry that the young man will be more likely to reflect on how some stuffy older dude tried to tell him what to do than he will about cycling and pedestrian safety. But perhaps that’s not giving him enough credit – he did respond and immediately note that he was concerned for his own safety while riding in the street, which I can very much identify with in this town. Other kids with whom I’ve tried to talk to about not riding on the sidewalk on Main Street seem to take it as an affront to their independence.

In any case, I wonder what other folks experience or desire when it comes to exchanges amongst strangers about what’s proper and safe for cyclists, pedestrians, motorists, etc. Any advice for more positive ways to have that conversation when it happens?

If you’re interested in issues related to cycling in Richmond (with a focus more on transportation than leisure), you can join the Bike Richmond Google Group.

“Advocates [of the fee] say it’s crucial for a city that’s expected to add another million people in the next 20 years.”

The reactions include frustration at the economic implications, outrage at the imposition on personal liberties, concerns about the logistical implementation details, and an overall sense of “well, somebody better do something or we’re going to grind to a halt.”

But no one seems to question the idea that adding a million people to the city is what must and will happen, and everything else must work to accommodate that.

All over the country and indeed the world, when we talk about growth and development and success, very few decision-makers seem to question the premise that the continued growth of our population is the desired trend that we want to accommodate. All of our cultural processes that work to meet our future needs assume that we will need more housing, more buildings, more streets, more neighborhoods, more jails, more healthcare facilities, more agribusiness, more imports, more oil, more cars, more energy, more EVERYTHING. After all, how can more humans be a bad thing?

For any given geographical area, if you take the problems that it faces with its current population numbers (poverty, crime, famine, unemployment, inequality, traffic congestion), and then add more people, it’s fairly proven that those problems will only get worse. And sometimes, it’s not a matter of a linear worsening – the effects of population growth are often exponential.

But few people say, “what if we didn’t keep adding millions of people to our global population every year? What if we came to understand that unchecked population growth is at the core of so much of our economic and social strife these days, and decided to do something about it? What if we made it so that NYC got less congested because there were less people there?”

Our solution isn’t to ease off on the baby making or city building or to otherwise explore alternative models of a sustainable future – we just charge you a few extra bucks as you head down the road. Who cares if it costs $8 more to be fruitful and multiply, fill the Earth, and subdue it?

I was surprised and disturbed today to learn that there’s one kind of custom/special license plate you can get in Indiana at no extra charge.

While the other organization-specific plates you see like the “Environment” or “Kids First” plates cost at least $15-35 extra, the “In God We Trust” special plate is subsidized by all Hoosier taxpayers. In other words, each time someone wants to make a religious statement of faith on their vehicle, it costs taxpayers about $3.69. So far, taxpayers have paid about $1.5 million for orders of this plate. And this isn’t just an obscure administrative decision by the Indiana BMV. State Rep. Woody Burton introduced a law requiring that the plates be subsidized by tax dollars and offered for no additional charge.

From my perspective, this seems like an abuse of Indiana taxpayer dollars. If I wanted to subsidize the expression of statements of faith, I’ll donate my money to a religious organization, or I’ll get a tacky bumper sticker and put it on my car. Requiring Hoosiers to pay for a state-issued document that expresses a religious preference works against religious freedom and separation of church and state.

UPDATE on 4/18/2008: The ACLU of Indiana notes that a court has decided that it is not unconstitutional to provide the plate for free, but that they plan to appeal that decision. 

Update on 11/18/2008: The ACLU of Indiana notes that the state appeals court has upheld the lower court’s decision, and that they’re debating an appeal in the Indiana Supreme Court.

On Wednesday the heating and air conditioning service folks who were scheduled to show up at 8 AM didn’t, and when I called they said they’d forgotten about me. The phone system at work stopped accepting faxes for no good reason just as two time-sensitive faxes were coming in, and so I had to rewire that setup.

On Thursday the heating and air conditioning service folks showed up early while I had shaving cream all over my face. When they did come in, the problem I’d reported was not reproducible (“it just started working”), and so they left. One of our database systems at work experienced some weird corruption that required a flurry of emergency troubleshooting, and we thought we had it fixed. While attempting to fix the phone system problems with the incoming faxes, I rendered the phone system inoperable for a time until I could learn about and then debug some confusing problems with loading Linux kernel drivers. This made me late for a meeting, which I initially tried to let the other meeting attendees know about by calling them on the phone, which was, of course, broken.

On Friday the database corruption came back, and the fix this time involved creating a 256 kilobyte file full of zeroes and placing it in a special directory on the filesystem to appease the database gods. The estimate for my car repairs came in at several hundred dollars, and they won’t be able to do it until next week. I saw a movie by a guy named Al Gore, and apparently we live on a “globe” that is “warming up” a lot and apparently if we don’t start treating that “globe” with more awe and respect, we’re all going to die by fire or ice or both.

When I got back from the movie (technically on Saturday) and stopped by the office to get my stuff, barely able to focus my eyes because it was 1:30 in the morning, I heard a hissing noise that turned out to be a water main break that had started to flood the basement.

WHAT THE HELL?

This is all apparently a clever way for the universe to communicate that I should have taken up my friend’s offer to spontaneously go rafting in a national park this week. I GET THE POINT, PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE NOW.

P.S. I know, I know…I’ve got rhythm, I’ve got music, I’ve got my health, who could ask for anything more? Blah blah blah.

Not the most positive exchange, but at least the cyclist wasn’t actually hit and hurt or killed. Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the death of Earlham graduate Jessica Bullen after being struck by a driver in Madison, Wisconsin – her story and memorial fund are described here. Even more sadly, Jessica was a strong advocate (in a town that I consider quite biker-friendly already) for cyclists and worked to raise awareness for motorists that inattentive driving could result in a preventable injury or death. My life has been impacted in other ways by similar deaths – a good friend of my family started Fernside, a now internationally known center for grieving children, after her son was killed on his bike as a result of being struck by a car.

I’m not as much of a bike commuter as I want to be, but I ride around town enough to know that many Richmond drivers aren’t really tuned in to the right of way that cyclists have – pretty much the same that motorists have. Indiana Code 9-21-11-2 Section 2. says that “A person riding a bicycle upon a roadway has all the rights and duties under this article that are applicable to a person who drives a vehicle,” with a few small exceptions. Many folks think that because cars are so dominant in size and speed, they enjoy some special protection under law for use of the public streets. It even makes its way into the mindsets of would-be bikers – I can’t count how many people I’ve talked to who have said they would ride their bike to commute around town more if they weren’t so scared of being on the roads that would make that possible because of careless drivers.

Those fears and misconception carry into the unfortunate opinions that develop when a crash does happen. The attorney for Jessica’s killer is quoted as saying that “I don’t think these cases should be crimes,” but as Jessica’s friends and family have said, when a human being loses their life due to the carelessness of others, the issue of whether it was car versus bike doesn’t exempt either party from being held accountable for their actions.

Whether you drive or bike or both or neither, please be careful.