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I lived in that kind of place. I also had my one nearby friend. We would ride our bicycles more than 5 miles along US-44. It has 2 lanes each side for a total

by burfog 7y ago

I lived in that kind of place. I also had my one nearby friend. We would ride our bicycles more than 5 miles along US-44. It has 2 lanes each side for a total of 4 lanes, 2-foot shoulders, and traffic that often got to a decent highway speed. There could be snow on the shoulder. One of the older bridges was narrow, with only about a half-foot shoulder. We went anyway. We had similar woods. We went out there and built a fort. We camped. We misbehaved. We went to the railroad tracks and put coins on the rails. We hiked a mile to a lake, carrying an inflated raft and fishing or camping gear. Don't blame the suburb if you chose to play video games. I hear that cities also have video games.

stouset 7y ago
Nowadays I am a cyclist and I feel comfortable riding alongside traffic for any distance. Even if it had occurred to me that riding five miles to a friend was possible (cycling is currently enjoying a surge of popularity, but at the time it was somewhat unfathomable even to adults that you might ride a bike for such distances), I'm not sure that would have been a practical or reasonable thing for an eight year old to do. By the time I was fourteen or fifteen I felt comfortable riding my bike farther distances, but at that point I was nearly able to drive a car alone anyway. The "woods" I mentioned were small enough that there was no point away from easy eyesight from some neighbor's living room windows. Sure, we played in them. But there was no actual sense of isolation. There were no train tracks anywhere nearby. There were some tiny lakes, but they were clearly on other people's property. It's great that you seemed to live in somewhere more rural than me and that was an area you were able to thrive in. Still, if you look at populations of people as a whole I suspect you'll find orders of magnitude more bored and unhealthy kids (who start getting into real trouble) in suburbs than you find in cities where there are actually plenty of opportunities and things to do.
lultimouomo 7y ago
> We would ride our bicycles more than 5 miles along US-44. It has 2 lanes each side for a total of 4 lanes, 2-foot shoulders, and traffic that often got to a decent highway speed. There could be snow on the shoulder. One of the older bridges was narrow, with only about a half-foot shoulder. We went anyway. And I bet it was uphill! Both ways!
ryandrake 7y ago
Same here. I don't get this trope where we're pretending that a car with a parental chauffeur is the only method of transportation. I roamed all over the place as a kid with my first bicycle. Shorter distances when I was very young (6-7) but up to dozens of miles as I got older. I was raised by a single parent who was often working, so there was no car available, but using this great miracle machine, I could still visit friends, explore nature, build forts, etc. Suburbia just means you need to ride your bike a little further to get to your friends' houses.

by burfog 7y ago

stouset 7y ago

Nowadays I am a cyclist and I feel comfortable riding alongside traffic for any distance. Even if it had occurred to me that riding five miles to a friend was possible (cycling is currently enjoying a surge of popularity, but at the time it was somewhat unfathomable even to adults that you might ride a bike for such distances), I'm not sure that would have been a practical or reasonable thing for an eight year old to do. By the time I was fourteen or fifteen I felt comfortable riding my bike farther distances, but at that point I was nearly able to drive a car alone anyway. The "woods" I mentioned were small enough that there was no point away from easy eyesight from some neighbor's living room windows. Sure, we played in them. But there was no actual sense of isolation. There were no train tracks anywhere nearby. There were some tiny lakes, but they were clearly on other people's property. It's great that you seemed to live in somewhere more rural than me and that was an area you were able to thrive in. Still, if you look at populations of people as a whole I suspect you'll find orders of magnitude more bored and unhealthy kids (who start getting into real trouble) in suburbs than you find in cities where there are actually plenty of opportunities and things to do.

lultimouomo 7y ago

> We would ride our bicycles more than 5 miles along US-44. It has 2 lanes each side for a total of 4 lanes, 2-foot shoulders, and traffic that often got to a decent highway speed. There could be snow on the shoulder. One of the older bridges was narrow, with only about a half-foot shoulder. We went anyway. And I bet it was uphill! Both ways!

ryandrake 7y ago

Same here. I don't get this trope where we're pretending that a car with a parental chauffeur is the only method of transportation. I roamed all over the place as a kid with my first bicycle. Shorter distances when I was very young (6-7) but up to dozens of miles as I got older. I was raised by a single parent who was often working, so there was no car available, but using this great miracle machine, I could still visit friends, explore nature, build forts, etc. Suburbia just means you need to ride your bike a little further to get to your friends' houses.