People Mover Part 1

Alaska now holds the coveted honor of having the most expensive gas in America. Which is ironic, since we grow it right here at home.

Actually, this statistic isn't entirely accurate. Our average includes the cost of gas in remote places such as Bethel, which is populated by a little more than 6300 people and where the cost soars to $4.98/gallon (and reportedly as high as $5.98/gallon). We are still able to pay under $4.00/gallon, especially if we use our grocery discount or go to Costco.

Either way, we're feeling the burn. Last year late in the summer I discovered that People Mover, our local bus service throughout Eagle River (where we live) and Anchorage, provides free rides for kids on Thursdays. I took advantage of it when we had only one car and my eldest son had swimming lessons while Alex was working. Every Thursday, my four (at the time) children and I took a bus ride one mile up the highway so Noah could take his lesson. The roundabout way made the trip a full hour each way. The kids enjoyed it. The scenery was fantastic. It worked out fine. The buses are very clean and even have children's books in the back. Sometimes they were very crowded and sometimes they were completely empty. Always, the drivers were very nice and pleasantly sociable (laughing at how I'm referring to them as though they are a strange breed of human or something). I committed to taking further advantage of this the following summer when the days are so long and taking the bus ride into Anchorage for an outing would be an exciting way to get out of the house with kids without spending an arm and a leg for gas (which, in retrospect, seems laughingly cheap).

We decided to do our first excursion today and posted this in a few different places to invite our friends to join us. My suspicion is that more people like me would use the bus more often if it was demystified, because I received emails from people who really wanted to join us at some point but needed basic information, like "Do I need car seats for my kids?" and "How long would it take altogether?", etc. I think I was afraid of the bus until I started using it during college. It remains to be seen whether my children will ever get their own car keys before they are married (this will also be when the semi-permanent snow suits are removed).

More later. I have homework waiting for me, now that I have stumbled downstairs at 2 in the morning after falling asleep with the kids.