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| Our Van |
Here's a photo of the van we bought last year. It's a big one and if you've read this blog before, you probably know that I'm feeling guilty about having purchased such a gas guzzler when I'm supposed to be so concerned about global warming. But then, I'm just not a perfect person. Our reasoning behind the purchase was that we needed a vehicle that would pull that cute pop up camper for us and, more importantly, we wanted to be able to comfortably fit two grandsons and their enormous car seats, our daughter, and the two of us when we traveled - not only on a few camping trips - but anytime we wanted to go together somewhere - which is actually fairly frequently.
Still, the vehicle gets driven several times a week with only one or two persons - not an efficient use of gas. To compensate, I try to encourage car pooling when going on outings with friends and we offer to drive. That's been somewhat successful. We've filled the vehicle at least twice for day long trips and I've had multiple passengers for many shorter ones.
While on vacation, however, Cathy taught me a new way to use our car. She was also headed out on vacation to Brainerd for a few days with her large family plus a friend and couldn't fit them all in her nicely economical Prius - so she asked if we could switch cars. What a great idea!
I love the idea of borrowing but am slow to get into the habit. Just think of all of the resources out there we can use without buying new. Ask your friends or send a note on the neighborhood list serve the next time you have a temporary use for an item. You'll save some money and some carbon at the same time.
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