I recently went home for a few days to my hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska. As an avid urbanist and frequent bike commuter in Washington DC, I am always surprised by how easily I fall back into the habit of driving everywhere when I’m home. However, on this trip, I challenged myself to think intentionally about my travel decisions. How can I really be an advocate for sustainable transportation if I can’t even break the habit of driving for a few short trips in my hometown?

To hold myself accountable, I wrote down everywhere I traveled and how, totaling the mileage and time taken (this is typically referred to as a “transit diary”). I love reading and writing these, both to better understand my own transportation decisionmaking and to reflect on everything I got to do on my trip! Note: I do not include walks, runs, or cycling without a clear destination (i.e. exercise that is purely for exercise) in my totals.

Thursday, May 7th

I walk about 10 minutes to the Capitol South metro station to take the Blue line to Reagan National Airport. While this trip takes longer than riding the Blue/Orange/Silver line to L'Enfant and transferring to the yellow line, I prefer waiting for the Blue line and taking it all the way through downtown DC, and northern Virginia because it means I don’t have to lug my suitcase up and down the escalators at L’Enfant. And let’s be honest… I am in no rush; I leave my house in DC at 1:30pm and my flight departs at 4:55pm. Hoping to quell my airport anxiety eventually but it’s not looking like we will get there anytime soon…

My mom picks me up from the Omaha airport and we drive to Lincoln, stopping by the grocery store before making our way to her condo.

• Walking: 0.4 miles, 10 minutes, 1 trip
• Plane: 1,012 miles, 145min, 1 trip
• Metrorail: 5.6 miles, 30 min, 1 trip
• Driving: 66 miles, 66min, 2 trips

Friday, May 8th

I start my day by walking to The Mill on O street to grab coffee. The Mill is my favorite coffee shop in Lincoln; I went to The Mill nearly every day after high school to study and hang out with friends. Realistically their coffee and pastries are probably pretty mid, but the nostalgia blinds me to that reality..

I get back to the condo and lock in for about an hour before heading out around 9:10am to drive 10 minutes to my eye doctor which is located in Fallbrook, the neighborhood I grew up in. Unfortunately, I yap too long with my eye doctor and have to head to another appointment before I’m finished ordering contacts and glasses, but I promise to come back later that afternoon. I drive out to West O street for two back to back appointments. All of my doctors are so supportive of my international move; I’m taken aback by their kindness in helping me figure out the healthcare aspect of such a big life change.

I do still need to order a year’s worth of contacts and send my glasses out to get updated lenses, so I drive back out to Fallbrook. While I’m there, I drive two (2) minutes to the neighborhood YMCA, a trip I never would have questioned until moving to DC. This type of trip in the midwest is really a symptom of having great driving infrastructure; the 0.6 mile trip is barely 2 minutes by car but 13 minutes by foot. There is ample parking at the destination and a slight uphill, so nearly everyone drives.

After my workout, I drive 10 minutes back down to my mom’s condo. Later in the evening, I walk 10 minutes to the Haymarket to have dinner with one of my good friends from high school and make the return trip by foot later that evening.

• Walking: 1.4 miles, 36min, 2 trips
• Driving: 28.7 miles, 59 min, 7 trips

Saturday, May 9th

I wake up a bit earlier this morning in an effort to get some work done before the day starts. Since the Mill on O street doesn’t open until 8am, I walk a bit further to the Mill on P street to grab some coffee. I walk back and get about an hour of work done before walking to Pinnacle Bank Arena for my brother’s college graduation! After the ceremony, I walk back up with some family to take pictures and for a celebratory lunch.

It’s now time to finally do some biking. I have a few essentials I need to pick up from Target. The closest Target to me is on 48th & O street. I have been to this Target more than 100 times in my life but have only ever gone by car. I briefly consider the option of driving but ultimately push myself to get my mom’s bike out of storage and at least attempt to bike commute there.

Biking ends up being relatively easy, though my years of biking in DC have made me a little bit too comfortable with sharing the road with cars and I have to remind myself that this is in fact Car Country and drivers are NOT expecting cyclists. I take a brief intermission to buy a scone and a caramel iced cold brew from the Telegraph Mill. I eat half the scone and promptly chug the coffee before putting in my airpods, blasting 100 gecs and heading up the O street hill.

The sidewalks up O street are in terrible shape; misaligned blocks of concrete create a rather rough ride with sharp edges granting me a bit of undesired air time. I fear a slightly wrong landing will lead me flying into the O “stroad” to my left. However, I do make it to the 48th street Target in one piece. Racing through a parking lot I have only ever driven at a glacial pace within is thrilling. Once I manage to find the bike rack and lock up my bike, I dilly dally in Target for about 30 minutes, picking up a new notebook, a travel deodorant, a bottle of water, and some new airpod tips.

After my purchases, I stand near the bike rack, eating the rest of my scone, watching people walk into the store from the parking lot. I proceed to bike around Lincoln somewhat aimlessly for a while, on a high from the experience of seeing this city as a cyclist for the very first time.

After my bike ride, I walk to the P street Mill to get some work done, then go for a short walk before having dinner at The Oven (and ice cream at Ivanna Cone, a classic Lincoln combo). I end the night by walking back to the condo.

• Walking: 4.36 miles, 102min, 6 trips
• Cycling: 10 miles, 60min, 1 trip

Sunday, May 10th

I wake up and decide that I ought to go to the Innovation Campus Mill location and really lock in. But how do I get there? Allegedly there is good cycling infrastructure in the Salt Creek parkway, so I try it out and am thoroughly impressed. It takes me about 14 minutes to make the ~5km trek (though I do get lost briefly on the way).

I then bike from the Innovation Campus Mill to the Telegraph Mill, grab another iced coffee, and stop by Open Harvest to grab flowers for Mother’s Day. I bike from Telegraph District back to my mom’s condo downtown.

I have plans at the P Street Mill, so I decide to try out Lincoln’s bikeshare system to get there. I’m relatively inexperienced with bikeshare systems other than Capital Bikeshare in DC. From what I’ve heard, bikeshare programs have pretty varied success across the country: I’ve heard sprawling cities tend to struggle to have successful systems because station density is not evenly spaced geographically for the system itself to truly be reliable. After all, what makes Capital Bikeshare a success is the consistent use by members for day to day activities, rather than one-off edge case trips.

My experience using Lincoln’s bikeshare system was relatively smooth, although I found their pricing model unfavorable; rather than being able to purchase one single ride, the options were a 24hr pass for $8, a 3-day pass for $12, and a monthly pass for $20. Naturally, I purchase the $8 pass, though this ended up feeling like a waste as I only use it for one 5 minute trip. I could have used it more, but when I visit the bike rack across from The Mill later that evening, it looks like this:

Thus, I end the night by walking from the Haymarket to downtown.

• Walking: 1.2miles, 22min, 3 trips
• Cycling: 7.33 miles, 38min, 4 trips

Monday, May 11th

I walk to the Cornhusker hotel (about 4 blocks) for brunch with my family. Afterwards, my grandma and I drive to her house where I add a few items I brought from DC to my storage pile living in a closet in her basement. We drive to the Fallbrook YMCA to go swimming where I do a short swim workout of 3x10minutes, which ends up being 750m, coincidentally the total swim distance for a sprint triathlon. My grandma drives me back downtown to my mom’s condo.

I walk 5 minutes to the Mill on O street and get 45 minutes of work done before walking over to 9th street for a haircut. Incidentally, I have one of the best haircut experiences I’ve had in years. The haircut itself is unremarkable, but it’s the first time as an adult where getting through the social part of the haircut does not feel like pulling teeth trying to make conversation. Then (shock horror) I go to The Mill on P street again and finish up some work before heading out on a bike ride.

The intention is to bike to Pioneer’s Park (about 45 minutes both ways), but about 20 minutes into the ride, I pick up my speed on a gravel path, try to turn a bit too confidently, and wipe out completely, scraping up most of the left side of my body and bleeding pretty substantially from my left elbow. I muster up the courage to ask a mom heading to her car if she has a disinfectant wipe and she kindly offers a few along with a large bandaid. I pick some gravel out of my skin and enjoy an incredibly painful ride back to my mom’s condo, having very much learned my lesson about the differences in cycling surfaces.

• Walking: 1.1 miles, 24 minutes, 4 trips
• Driving: 15.5 miles, 33 minutes, 3 trips
• Cycling: 6.98 miles, 43min, 1 trip

Tuesday, May 12th

Today I’m up a little later, so I grab coffee from the Mill on O street. I get a bit of German and personal work done before driving 15 minutes to a doctor’s appointment in South Lincoln. After the appointment, I drive 20 minutes to Cultiva near UNL’s East Campus and order a crepe with nutella and bananas and a black coffee. I then drive another 20 minutes to the Fallbrook YMCA to lift. Finally, I drive to Pioneer’s Park to take a long walk and soak in old memories of picnics with friends and other high school shenanigans.

After my walk, I drive back downtown and set down the car keys for what I hope is a very long time (perhaps years?). After five different car trips in one day, I am exhausted and a little rattled. My day ends with walking 10 minutes to and from Ivanna Cone in the Haymarket to grab ice cream with my family.

• Walking: 1.4 miles, 32 minutes, 2 trips
• Driving: 38.5 miles, 75 minutes, 5 trips

Wednesday, May 13th

This morning is a bit frantic trying to get some German practice done, pack, and squeeze in a workout before a big day of travel. But I still manage to go on a walk to grab coffee in the middle of it all. Then my mom drives me to the very swanky new renovated Lincoln airport. And I fly to Chicago!

• Walking: 0.4 miles, 10 min, 1 trip
• Driving: 4.9miles, 10min, 1 trip
• Flying: 470 miles, 73min, 1 trip/li>

Conclusion

Car dependence is a cultural issue: when everyone around you drives everywhere, you drive everywhere. This culture drives your habits, and habits are hard to break. This entrenched routine also shapes the available infrastructure, which reinforces modal decisionmaking.

Even as someone passionate about sustainable transportation and active mobility, I drove quite a bit on this trip because it was the most efficient option. I had to fight hard against my instincts to drive on multiple occasions and actually push myself to cycle, even when the weather was beautiful.

What I didn’t realize until now is that, of the five full days I was in Lincoln, I myself only operated a car a total of two days. This is somewhat of a big deal; normally when I go home, I feel like I am constantly driving. The main caveat that I will make here is that this would likely not be possible if I were staying out in the suburbs, where I grew up. This is an excellent reminder that transportation is, in fact, intrinsically linked to housing.

On a personal note: this was my last time going home before I move to the UK, and likely my last time visiting for a while. I’m glad I finally figured out how to bike in this city, but am just slightly mortified it took me so long (24 years in case anyone was counting). Lincoln can, in fact, be a cycling city if you try hard enough. To be continued...

Grand Totals & Visualizations