Riding the Freedom Trail in Maryland
From Do Not Trash the Brand
I hate my car. Two catalytic converters just blew. Cost to replace: $1700.00
The only thing that I like about my car is the radio. As a transportation vehicle it stinks. When I was a kid, I loved the power, the ability to ride 200 miles in a day without blinking, or sleeping in the back seat when I couldn't afford a motel.
Those days are gone. My car is a ball and chain sitting in traffic on the inner loop of 695 at 3:00 pm in the afternoon sun. My first used car cost me $800. Today I can't buy one for less than $5000. If my income had gone up by the same amount, I won't be so depressed. I'd be rich. Not a slave to mosuburbia.
Things are not getting better. My disenchantment with the car is a nationwide plague and drivers are taking it out on bicycle drivers. Patriotic cowboys of the road. American's last symbol of independence and freedom. You can still buy a nice used bike for $75 and my Schwinn is still going after 25 years.
Many people consider buffalo and wolves a thing of the past. Who cares if they disappear off the face of earth? Fortunately, bikers are a tougher and more adaptive species, they will live on, and long after my rotten car is sitting in a heap of another overflowing junk pile on Rt. 40, two wheelers will be riding the freedom road to paradise.