Silly short car trips

[johnnylighthouse]

One of commuting routes involves biking home from the light rail station.  By the time I'm mounted up everyone else has their car started and lined up at the exit of the station.  I get to ride past this line of cars on my way to the foot path shortcut I take home.  After a short trip through the woods the foot path follows a road with houses.  The houses start maybe 400 yards from the light rail station parking lot.

So what do I see when I rode past these houses one time?  One of the cars from the station pulls up and parks in the driveway.

Someone on my train drives their car to avoid a 400 yard walk.

It wasn't raining

wow

[sol]

We have a lady in our office like this.  When we go to happy hour at the bar three blocks down, she walks to our parking garage, drives to the bar, pays for parking, then walks about half a block between the parking lot and the bar.

[ShavenLlama]

I work in a building adjacent to a mall and some outlying restaurants. Some of the clowns I work with actually drive their cars from our parking lot over to the mall, where they circle for a few minutes and end up parking in the back of the "mall" lot. Worse are the ones who drive over to happy hour at the closest restaurant, and end up parking ultimately 100 feet closer.

Really anyone who drives around a mall or large store for a slightly better parking spot cracks me up. Aren't you about to go walk laps around the INSIDE of the center? Will a few more yards cause you foot cramps? LET ME KNOW WHAT SIZE PANTS YOU'RE UP TO WHEN YOU GET TO THE CLOTHING STORE!

[Adventine]

Just yesterday, my family drove to a local park. After my dad parked our car, I mentioned I wanted to go to a milk tea place about 150 feet away from our parking slot. Then my dad said he'd drive the car 100 feet to the closest available slot, "because it was too far to walk," and nobody else in the car (my mom and my sister) thought anything was wrong with that.

I had to argue with them for a good 5 minutes before they agreed to leave the car where it was and just walk.

I should emphasize that none of us are over 50 years old or have any medical problems that would justify driving that piddling distance.

It's hard being Mustachian if your family isn't.

[ShavenLlama]

I have a new story.

I live in a small, close-knit neighborhood of 42 houses on a loop. We invited one of our neighbors, who is about 5 homes down, over for a beer. He drove.

[TheDude]

I have a neighbor that drives to the gym which is about .3 or .4miles for their house. Its always good for a chuckle when I see them leaving.

[shedinator]

I have a co-worker like this. He lives about 150 yards further away from the coffee shop than I do. I'm full time, he's part time. I walk the "commute" 10 times a week, he drives it 6 times, often paying $3-4 at the parking meters. Of course, I'm willing to overlook the absurdity of it all when he offers me a ride home at 1030PM in the freezing rain.

[James]

I have a co-worker who daily drives his 1/2 ton truck to work about half a mile.  About 3-4 times per week he then goes jogging for about 4 miles.  I should ask him about it some time just to see how he explains it.

[menorman]

I have a new story.

I live in a small, close-knit neighborhood of 42 houses on a loop. We invited one of our neighbors, who is about 5 homes down, over for a beer. He drove.

Imagine getting a DUI from that...

[mugwump]

Reminds me of the Charlie Chaplin movie where he gets into a limousine to go across the street.  But that was supposed to be parody...

[strider3700]

I live about 500 meters from the highschool.   Every morning at about 8:00 the two girls next door get a ride to the school with grandma  who drops them off then comes home. at 11:30 she drives over and picks them up for lunch, bringing them home.  12:15 back into the car to go back to school and then she comes back.  2:45 off she goes and they're home by 3:05.    I walk the dog over there nightly,  it takes 5 minutes tops.  When I was younger I walked to the same school but from my parents house,  it took closer to 15 minutes.  I never thought twice about needing to walk to school.

[menorman]

Local Wal-Mart is about 1 3/4 miles from my house. Yesterday, I decided to pedal down there and pick up a few things. As I was leaving the neighborhood, I pass a lady exiting her driveway. About 1/3 of a mile down the road, she catches up to and passes me, only to get detained at the stoplight. Since I was on bike and it was a left turn, I zipped past her and the rest of the cars to the stop line. Light turns green, I start off and head down the road, she again passes me up after a little ways, only to have to slow right back down to get in the right turn lane to turn into Wal-Mart. I get to the corner and turn and there she is again, waiting for the line of cars to pass so she can rummage around for a spot. I went ahead and locked my bike up, then entered the store right before she did. To top it off, she wasn't winning any thin contests either. The return trip home yielded similar results.

[Gerard]

My PhD student lives four short blocks from our lab. She drives a car to school, every day. She tells me that she can't go to conferences to network and look for a job because she's "poor".

[Kookaburra]

I live across the street from a department/supermarket. I'm the only person in my apartment complex that walks there. We even share an address with the local autoparts store, and I've seen people DRIVE ACROSS THE PARKING LOT from our apartments to the auto store. Insane.

The entire town is about 5 square miles in area - I haven't driven my car in over a month, because my bicycle is more than enough to get me around town.

[kolorado]

Oh my these are crazy! Last week I had a guy waiting for my parking space at the grocery store. There were open spots 6 down but he idled for about 4 minutes while I loaded and returned my cart(which I had to walk back to that open space to do). He got mad at me and drove off when he saw that I also would be returning someone else's abandoned cart. It was windy and the cart was a hazard. He actually beeped at me and glared as he roared his big SUV past. Loony. I probably got more exercise walking those two carts in 5 minutes than he gets all week. And he could have had the stupid spot if he'd idled one minute more. No concept of his invested time and gas either. Sad.

[Daley]

We even share an address with the local autoparts store, and I've seen people DRIVE ACROSS THE PARKING LOT from our apartments to the auto store.

I can actually see the logic in this in regard to certain activities done at an auto parts store. If the place does basic installation and diagnostics, the employees have to do the work in a designated area for liability reasons. Granted, it's embarrassing if the person in question doesn't know enough to figure out how to replace wiper blades, a battery or headlights on their own, but people in general seem to hold any sort of engineered tool with even the mildest visual complexity like cars, bicycles and computers as these mystical devices that are impossible to comprehend and service. Just be thankful they're driving across the lot and trying the pseudo-DIY approach instead of driving to the mechanic and spending several times more for the same thing.

[velocistar237]

Confession time. I drove to the grocery store this morning. It's a 7 minute walk away. It was raining, but still, I've walked before in the rain with my grocery cart.

[menorman]

Confession time. I drove to the grocery store this morning. It's a 7 minute walk away. It was raining, but still, I've walked before in the rain with my grocery cart.

It's illegal here to take the shopping carts from the store properties.

I live across the street from a department/supermarket. I'm the only person in my apartment complex that walks there. We even share an address with the local autoparts store, and I've seen people DRIVE ACROSS THE PARKING LOT from our apartments to the auto store. Insane.

The entire town is about 5 square miles in area - I haven't driven my car in over a month, because my bicycle is more than enough to get me around town.

I know what you mean. I was at another area Wal-Mart a couple months back and I was unlocking my bike from the rack, another gentleman was loading his scooter and gathering his things together. Of course being Wal-Mart, some of the employees were on break and so one started talking to the guy about the scooter. They were in awe and remarked on the wisdom of scooting after he told them he gets about 100 mpg and only fills once a month or so (he didn't actually live far from the store either). I've yet to see a mass of scooters showing up in the employee lot at Wal-Mart. After seeing the parking lot at Wal-Mart, I have little sympathy for quite a good segment of the "poor" in our society. The parking lots are routinely full with the cars of both the customers and employees who all choose to willingly keep themselves poor by driving the incredibly short distance between their home and the store for mostly superfluous items. I'm almost tempted to go stand in front of one of my local stores and ask people why they drove there for that trip (followed up by why does that trip need to happen at all).

[velocistar237]

Confession time. I drove to the grocery store this morning. It's a 7 minute walk away. It was raining, but still, I've walked before in the rain with my grocery cart.

It's illegal here to take the shopping carts from the store properties.

Not if it's yours.

[JoeK]

Oh my these are crazy! Last week I had a guy waiting for my parking space at the grocery store. There were open spots 6 down but he idled for about 4 minutes while I loaded and returned my cart(which I had to walk back to that open space to do). He got mad at me and drove off when he saw that I also would be returning someone else's abandoned cart. It was windy and the cart was a hazard. He actually beeped at me and glared as he roared his big SUV past. Loony. I probably got more exercise walking those two carts in 5 minutes than he gets all week. And he could have had the stupid spot if he'd idled one minute more. No concept of his invested time and gas either. Sad.

Excessive idling drives me crazy.  At the laundromat down the street from me, I saw a woman doing laundry, and she was reading a book while waiting for her laundry to wash.  However, instead of waiting inside the laundromat, she decided to sit in her giant SUV with the engine running the entire time.  What a waste. 

[jpo]

This thread has inspired me to start jogging the ~1 mile to the gym instead of driving! It's a good warm up and cool down for lifting.

[johnnylighthouse]

Right On!

[James]

Confession time. I drove to the grocery store this morning. It's a 7 minute walk away. It was raining, but still, I've walked before in the rain with my grocery cart.

It's illegal here to take the shopping carts from the store properties.

Not if it's yours.

This made me laugh...  I had the same question shoot through my head when I read "grocery cart"...  :D

[Stagleton]

Wow, I always complain about the US and driving, but some of these stories are crazy. I don't understand why so many force themselves to drive such long distances, have cars with engines that are AT LEAST 2.5 liters and then complain about gasoline prices which are insanely low and no one seems to think it sounds ridiculous (except people who read this blog). It makes me wonder if I've seen some light or just different shadows in the same cave.