My wife and I sold our second car one month ago and we’ve learned a few things since then.

1) We haven’t missed it yet.

This isn’t entirely surprising because if we thought we might have missed the second car, we wouldn’t have sold it in the first place. That being said, I’m surprised we haven’t had one single instance where we even felt like we needed a second car.

2) The garage is still just as messy with only one car.

We’ve learned that just because you have more space, it doesn’t mean your garage is any cleaner. I think now that there is more space, it is easier to see all the random things laying around.

3) It’s the small things that make you smile.

Every day as I leave and come home from work, it brings a smile to my face when I remember that I no longer have to wrestle my bike in next to a car. I can wheel the bike right into its own spot and load and unload with lots of room. I’m also thrilled with having the space to work on the bikes and can even keep the garage closed if the weather isn’t pleasant.

4) Two cargo bikes are better than one.

Now that we have two cargo bikes, it makes riding places even more plausible. Taking Luci to her grandparents for an extended period requires a lot of stuff. We’ve got the diaper bag, stuffed animals, stroller, portable crib and various other items. In the past, trying to load all of that and Luci onto a bike was a little much, but now one bike takes Luci and the rest of the stuff goes on the other bike. It’s also good strength training to ride a cargo bike. Irene got on her regular bike and said, “this is so easy.”

5) The heat concerns me

I’m worried about the heat. I rode throughout the summer last year and I’ll often tell people who ask, “It’s only hot when you stop.” But, now that I’ll be riding with Luci, I’m worried that the heat might be too much. In an effort to help, I added a shade screen to her seat using a baby backpack shade. (See the photo. I’ll also be blogging on Xtracycle’s site about to construct the cover.) It offers a little shade, especially for her face, but won’t do much when it is 105 out. I suppose we’ll just have to do what most desert rats do and go out early or late. Maybe I should just build a misting system.

6) The rain doesn’t concern me anymore

When I saw the forecast for rain all day Saturday, I resigned myself to spending the whole day inside. That wasn’t going to work for Luci. She is an outdoor girl. All she wants to do is be outside and moving, so I devised a system using a stroller rain cover and the existing shade cover I added. We ran errands in the rain and while I was drenched, Luci was dry and warm. The cover should also be great for keeping the cold air off her in the winter even if she looks like a space baby.

7) We get a lot of funny looks

When Irene, Luci and I are rolling down the street with our two cargo bikes and our bicycle radio playing, we get a lot of double takes. It’s not uncommon to see the passengers in cars to crane their neck at the spectacle we create. We can only hope it makes others think of the possibilities.