Day 18: Riding Russian Sidecar

James McKinley and his wife have watched our July series on not buying gas and decided to offer their unique transportation last night. "I figured what better way to get a ride to work than in a sidecar! Its something unusual I guess that most people don't get to see."

I jumped at the chance to ride in something I have only seen in the movies.

On Day 18 of Putting It In Park, I hop on the sidecar of a Russian Ural motorcycle.

As we roll through West Mobile, we look a little like the cartoon Snoopy with Woodstock in the sidecar.

James says he gets stares and questions all the time. "People ask me if I drove it from Russia to here. I said its sorta hard getting it over the ice of the Bering Strait."

Instead, James bought his 2005 model on a website for 11-thousand bucks. You can get more info on the Ural bikes by clicking here

The desert camouflage-colored sidecar has everything you could possibly need. James points out all the amenities. "I've got a shovel, extra gas if I ever need it, a mount for a machine gun, a spotlight." Did I hear that correctly? I repeat what he just told me. "A machine gun?" He chuckles, 'A machine gun, yeah. The traffic gets bad around here."

The eye-catching Russian ride gets 32 miles a gallon. James says it beats driving his pick-up that gets only 17 miles a gallon.