• Walk: This mode of transport needs no explanation. One tip: Live somewhere that is within a mile or so to most of your job and shopping-social life-activity destinations. Now put on a good pair of shoes and start working those leg and glute muscles! • Bike: This one is also self-explanatory. One addendum: Check out this local merchant who sells motorized bikes, because sometimes you just want to cruise. • Hop a bus. Take Sacramento Regional buses and/or light rail: Learn the bus system here. One caveat: Services end before 10 p.m. Not good news for night owls or swing shift workers. • Ride a moped: Craigslist and other sites offer listings of people selling street legal mopeds and sco

The great American love affair with cars dates back nearly a century – about the time Henry Ford promised a car in every garage. However, for me — a licensed driver of 34 years — my affair with cars has reflected more of the love-hate kind. On the one hand, who doesn't love to sit behind the wheel of a sleek and powerful sports car, propelling down the highway at ungodly (and illegal) speeds? And what about the freedom found from driving an indefatigable, fat-tired Jeep over hill and dell? Or the requisite California experience of cruising back-country roads (or the Pacific Coast Highway) in an oversized classic convertible with the stereo blasting? I have loved all of these things. H