This is my 1980 Benz being charged. Sue Frause photo.

When I received the diagnosis of parasitic draw, I did consider ditching the car completely.

I must be having some sort of weird carma of late. The signs are everywhere. A couple of dead batteries last month resulted in a new one.

Then, the day I was to do all my errands before taking off for Norway, my buddy Benz was dead again.

While I was gone, Farmer Bob checked it out and got her up and running. He thought it might be the alternator.

So I called my mechanic who gave me the diagnosis of parasitic draw.

I think it sounds worse than it really is.

However your phrase it, cars are a pain.

Coincidentally, The South Whidbey Record's Michaela Marx Wheatley wrote a fine feature about islander Kurt Hoelting, who gave up his car for a year. You can read the story here:

One year. Without getting into a car. Seriously.

I recently met a fellow journalist who chose to be carless.

Wes Lafortune is Carless in Calgary.

Wes Lafortune and his wife Sue Wilmot of Calgary gave up their GM Geo Tracker three years ago. Although it looked great, it had high mileage and was wearing out. It was either fix it or buy a new car.

Then there was that third option: no car.

The couple is now in their third year of being car-free.

Their situation is a bit easier than Kurt's, since they live in the city. They are able to use a combination of walking, biking and taking the bus/train. They don't have children, so carpooling and hauling kids around isn't an issue.

But Wes says some friends and family think they're weird.

"We're not trying to set a trend or do anything politically," said Wes. "It's just the practical thing."

Wes says the plus sides include being more fit, being less agitated and an annual savings of $8,000-$9,000 a year. When they do need a car for special occasions, they rent one, which adds up to around $2,000 a year.

Their transportation costs have been cut by 75 percent.

Wes also likes the social aspect of not having a car. "We bump into a lot of people we know biking and walking," he said.

But there is a downside.

"We receive fewer social invitations," said Wes.

Read about a community in Germany that is car free in The Christian Science Monitor. Planet Green has a feature, Throw Away Your Keys: Living Car-Free. And closer to home, Seattle's Sightline Institute has a series about living car-lessly.