I thought I’d post a video of my adventure to and from Big Lake, MN on the Northstar Commuter Rail Line. MetroTransit will be offering FREE rides on Northstar, November 16 and 17, 2010. Don’t make my mistake and go a day early!

Special shout outs to Premium Draft for the song, They Don’t Understand (my cousin plays bass guitar in the band!). Also, watch KSTP channel 5 on Nov. 16 at 10pm! I may be in a segment then about ridership on the Northstar Line (I’ll post links if so!).

I’m going to let a big cat out of the bag with this post. My partner and I are going to be moving to Minneapolis at some point this summer. We’ve been longing to be near friends and family, and to be in a place that genuinely supports us as a Car-Free couple.

Yes, we’ve been without a car for well over a year now! I sold my car in February of 2009, when I realized I was driving it once a week to the other side of the street, and weighed a car payment and insurance payment against what Michael and I were making in income at that time. I’ll admit, it was a bit difficult at first, but around the 8th month, the goal of a year being car-free was just too tempting for us to go back and “buy a car.”

So, while Michael’s been interviewing for transit-related jobs, I’ve set up shop two days per week at Meridian Bodywork in St. Louis Park (a first ring suburb of Minneapolis). Every Sunday, I hop on the afternoon Jefferson Lines bus to travel to the twin cities, stay with a good friend, and do massage and Reiki on Mondays and Tuesdays.

The sweet part – my “commute” only costs me $24 round-trip on Jefferson Lines, and I can take MetroTransit EVERYWHERE in the twin cities. I don’t even think that gas in a car would be that cheap for the ride from Duluth to Minneapolis one way! Definitely a good exploit of the system!

But yes, I’ve already spent the $20 on my GoTo Card in the last 3 weeks in Minneapolis with not only going to and from my office, but to the MayDay Parade, coffees and lunches with friends and clients, and just some general explorations of the city again. All worth that $20 though!

I miss having a bike down here though! The Cedar Lake Trail passes right near my office building in St. Louis Park, and I just long to hop on it to go back to Minneapolis. From the looks of the direct path it takes, I’m sure it’s faster than my bus trip between St. Louis Park and Downtown Minneapolis.

I’ll have to look into transporting my bike on the bus…

Happy Commuting everyone!