By Weston Irons Posted June 4, 2015
High school is a grand time in one’s life. You enter a whole new world where you are given many more opportunities to do what you want to do, you are now treated like an adult citizen, and the bonds you form with your fellow classmates will last you a lifetime. It is also a time when you will finally be able to hit the streets with that brand-new car your parents just bought you and that driver’s license you just earned. Although we dream about the day for much of our young life, is being able to drive (legally) all it’s cracked up to be? Or is it even really necessary to get your license?
Living in a small rural town like Winnemucca, everything is within walking distance, excluding Grass Valley of course, but who wants to go there? Although walking everywhere is a somewhat strenuous and sometimes boring process, it is very possible to get where you need to go and the distances are reasonable. Now, riding a bike in Winnemucca is an extremely effective way to get around and has many different benefits. In my own experience from riding to different places, I can get across town on a bike sometimes faster than a vehicle, and you don’t even have to have my toned legs and conditioned body to be able to do that. With a fairly healthy physique and a little bit of disregard for traffic laws, on a bike, you’ll be able to get places at the same time, if not faster, than a car. Reap the benefits of the bike.
Owning a car can be pretty expensive. Insurance is always a pretty penny and if you own a gas guzzler of a truck, paying for gas will definitely leave you broke. It is truly much more cost-effective, as well as environmentally friendly to walk or ride a bike. Plus if you have a lot of good buddies like myself, you can carpool everywhere. Repairs on vehicles are also a common occurrence, and your bank account will certainly not appreciate the cost of those.
I cannot deny that having a car and your license has many different perks as well. But I’m here to let students know that it is not the end of the world.
