Today I would like to write about transportation. If you are lucky enough to have a car take good care of it. Get it in for regular maintenance. If you can pay cash for it. A car payment if necessary, can drain a budget very very fast.
If you are like my family we only have 1 car. when it stops working it kind of puts one into panic. I have had adventure after adventure with this prospect.
First the water pump and radiator went out. This caused the car to overheat while I was getting it to the shop. I paid for that to be fixed with my savings. Then it was still leaking. The shop told me the head gaskets had warped as a result of the overheating. This fix cost more then I had to fix it. So I babied it until it basically died.
As a result of this I have been left on the side of the freeway, in Park and rides and even at my Grandmothers door step.
After careful consideration I decided it was time to find alternate transportation.
I started by asking for rides. I hated to impose on anyone but my father worked in the same direction as I needed to go 2 days a week.
I woke up early and he picked me up and took me to work and brought me home. This was working well until there was a day when he was unable to pick me up.
I researched my other option. Public transportation. Utah is not the greatest at this but I can say it is not as bad as I anticipated.
I was lucky enough to have a bus stop 1 mile from my home. It cost 2.25 to ride all the way to Draper City from Orem. The only hitch in the plan was the 4.5 mile walk to my work from the nearest bus stop. I had a very nice friend that lived in Draper that picked me up and took me to work. I had a friend from work drop me off at the stop after work. I then got to ride the bus home again. This was the first time I have ever had the chance to ride the bus. It was not as I expected. I found more people rode the bus then I had expected. I also found it to be cheaper then I planned. The people that rode the bus ranged in age from 80 to 18. They came from all walk's of life. Students, Business people, and common workers. I don't know what I expected but being the people watcher that I am I found all kinds of things to watch. There was a student who needed help with breaking a 5 dollar bill in order to ride. I helped out with quarters. There was a father and little girl who was riding from Draper to Utah County and he was great at keeping her entertained quietly. There was a women that appeared to be around 80 she sat very quite and waited. There was a man who got on and took the last available seat. As we came to the next stop their was a young lady that boarded. This man gave me hope for humanity, as he stood up and gave his seat to this young women. It was very refreshing.
My husband came to the rescue with a magic can of liquid aluminum and it has temporarily fixed the problem until the doctor gives him the go ahead to work on cars again. This will get me to and from work at least for the short term.
We are looking at paying cash for a second car. This way we do not break our fragile budget and we can still get around with ease.
Public Transportation is very easy and good to use. However, I deiced my favorite means of transpiration is by Automobile.
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