Dear Car: I'm Breaking up with you

Sacramento Press published this piece that I wrote about my decision to ditch my vehicles. 

What the hell. I'll post it here too. 


The great American love affair with cars dates back nearly a century – about the time Henry Ford promised a car in every garage.

However, for me — a licensed driver of 34 years — my affair with cars has reflected more of the love-hate kind.

On the one hand, who doesn't love to sit behind the wheel of a sleek and powerful sports car, propelling down the highway at ungodly (and illegal) speeds? And what about the freedom found from driving an indefatigable, fat-tired Jeep over hill and dell? Or the requisite California experience of cruising back-country roads (or the Pacific Coast Highway) in an oversized classic convertible with the stereo blasting?