Monday, November 1, 2010

Moby and Midget Moby

So, we sold our van and got a bigger van. It's all part of the environmentalist in me. It may seem backwards (and maybe it is), but the bigger van is going to be the solution to a lot of things for us.

First lets talk about the old van. The old van was a mini-van that got OK gas mileage. We got a great deal on it and it was a great car for us. But when we wanted to go camping or take a hypothetical friend for a ride, we didn't have room. What it really boiled down to was that the mini-van did everything we needed to around town (where we really wanted to be riding a bike), but it wasn't big enough to do the stuff that we really wanted to use a car for, like go on weekend vacations.

So we bought a new van. It's big. We've decided to call it Moby... you know, like the big white whale. It's a 15 passenger (except it's missing a back seat, so it only holds 11) with a V10 that gets terrible gas mileage. We took it camping the first weekend that we had it and it was great. When we got to the camp site, I asked my wife why we hadn't been camping for so long and she said, "because we wouldn't fit in the car". Problem solved.

The new van is fantastic for longer trips, but around town the gas mileage gets even worse. This provides a great disincentive for driving around town. It's just that with four kids, it is hard to find a safe alternative.

Then we found a bike for sale that will safely haul our 4 kids. We bought one. We call it Midget Moby (or Midge for short). She rides like a dream... except when the kids get coordinated and lean violently from side to side; that makes it hard to steer straight. Except the boys say that Midge needs a bigger engine so it will go faster. We're still working on that. Here's a look at our new bike
Madsen Cycles Cargo Bikes
Now I just need to find a plaid hat.

2 comments:

Heffalump said...

I was wondering about the logic behind buying that huge van! Our big van is a 12 passenger and gets about 13-14mpg.
I have had my eye on those Madsen bikes. They are pretty cool! Of course here, it would mean my kids were in a bucket of water for most of the year. They need to make a rain shelter for the bucket!

Emily A. said...

WOW! We have had the same problem when it comes to going camping. We can't all fit in the 2 door Honda, so we are looking for a larger vehicle with towing capacity. I am SO HAPPY you guys can go camping now. YAY!

I LOVE the bike. If there were a grocery store and library in town, I would totally buy one.

Brilliant Aly and Garrett. Brilliant!