Price of Gas Affecting You, Too?

[Raptor]

13 MPH is pretty slow in my experience. That said, even at a more realistic speed (I averaged more like 17 back when I was bike commuting), 32 miles is probably about a 2 hour ride. I agree with you that this is not a viable solution. It worked out well for me because it was actually considerably faster than my only other option at the time (bus). It'd take me 45 minutes plus or minus 5 minutes depending on weather conditions (wind direction and speed, mostly) to do the 13 miles to work on my bike vs a minimum of an hour and 15 minutes on the bus. Sometimes it was more like an hour and a half, depending on the bus schedule on any particular day. Obviously this led to me biking whenever the weather was not awful. (Biking in the rain sucks, and anyone who tells you otherwise is a big fat hairy liar - I'd actually rather bike in the snow than the rain, even given that I ride a road bike with skinny, nearly slick tires.)

As for your perceived danger, I don't really see that your height is all that relevant. As long as you run a headlight and a taillight when it's anything less than bright out (edit: heck, run that blinking tail at all times!), you shouldn't have a problem being visible. Your height might actually count as a benefit to speed and/or efficiency, as your aero profile should be better than mine.

I get that biking isn't a good option for you, but I have a hard time understanding how a car is practical either, though. 64 miles/trip is what, 2-2.5 gallons of gas if you get pretty decent gas mileage (high 20s to low 30s MPG), so that's about $8-10/trip. Seems like you're probably spending in the neighborhood of $200/month or more on gas alone. The true cost is of course higher, as you need to take maintenance costs, insurance, etc, into account.

Didn't see this post last night.

I live in a rural area and drive into the city, meaning there isn't any public transportation. With that said, it's not exactly wise for a woman of my size to be biking by herself in an area like that. At least if I have an issue with the suv, I can lock the doors and wait for someone.

I spend about $160 a month on gas, sometimes less. It just depends on if my parents decide to use the suv, which is theirs. More often than not, they'll fill it up.

That depends on what kind of scooter you get. My younger brother has a scooter that'll do highway speeds. It's nowhere near as fast as a real motorcycle, but it'll keep up with traffic, gets great gas mileage, and is legal for highway use. I apologize, but I don't know what type it is exactly, just that while the controls and "format" of the vehicle are those of a scooter, he had to get a motorcycle endorsement on his license because of the engine size. (I think it's either 125cc or 250cc.)

Can it do 75 mph? That's what I do on the toll roads.

Regardless of it all, for my situation, a bike, motorcycle, or scooter isn't viable for my situation. Rainstorm? I'd end up arriving at college/back home soaked. Snowstorm? Yeah. Driving in last week's blizzard was bad enough in the truck. Visibility was down to 10 feet, at best. If I lived in the city, sure.