Adventure riding and Vespa are not words commonly linked together. The image of a BMW R1200 GS fording a rushing stream or crossing a desert in is the stuff of adventuring riding. Not a Vespa. Not a scooter. My own definition is broader and finds the possibility of adventure everywhere. I consider it a state of mind rather than a location or route.
Yesterday morning on the way to work I made a detour that took me through a fallow field that I suspect will soon yield to a developers bulldozer. I followed the matted tracks in the weeds across uneven ground. As a kid I would explore these places looking for real estate suitable for a fort or raw material for the next tree house. These places were unknown and uncharted and I was the explorer.
My landscape photography reflects my interest in exploring what is outside my door and while I enjoy trips to far away places I can find the same wonder in my backyard or neighborhood if I am open to it. I saw this tree on one of my adventures just two miles from my front door, a small oasis almost in town that most people never see in their rush to get from place to place.
At 52, I am still an explorer and still excited at the prospect of treasure. The Vespa is a suitable companion. Longer and more challenging trips are still on my list; a ride to Akron to visit the cemetery where my father was buried, a ride through the Adirondacks, and the king of trips that has haunted me since high school the trip out West. And the Vespa can easily undertake any of them from a mechanical perspective. The question will be “Am I up to it?”.
Consider the trip taken by Walter Muma on his 50cc moped in 1978 from Toronto to Alaska and then into the Northwest Territories past the Arctic Circle to Inuvik. Over 11,000 miles much of it on unpaved road. And on a moped. You can read and see the tale written by Walter here:
It is worth reading. The only greater adventure would to do it on a bicycle or walk. The Vespa would be unnecessarily luxurious and overpowered. A sign of an overly consumptive society. Fat Vespa riders.
It’s 5:54AM and a balmy 54° F, fine weather for the ride to work. Another day, another adventure.
Steve, your blog has become my favorite place to visit on the web.
I was thinking about the whole adventure-scooter thing this morning, while riding through the first flakes of Winter here in Minnesota.
This Winter, I am going to concentrate on making the most of every riding opportunity, and recording my adventures to share with others.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Ride well,
=gc=
Steve,
this was an excellent post, and the link was a joy!
Many scooterists remark how our wheels of choice seem to propel us back to our youth, for some if seems to be the “hook” that helps form their obsession with this elegant means of transport. I don’t recall anyone commenting before on how this rejuvinating phenomenon can lead to the pursuit of other mad adventures, escapades which rank alongside those of Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, Jack Kerouac, and Gary Snyder. Certainly there is evidence of it, the Cannonball Run, or PJ Chmiel’s recent “rambling man” venture, for instance. But this is the first examination of a meme, which I am finding more and more alluring.
great work!
oh, and gary,
Post a link to where we can keep up with your adventures, please!
gary: Thank you for your generous words and support. As I have said before it was a chance link to the video that the TV station did on your Baron in Winter riding last year that started this whole blog enterprise. Until then I was happily going through the day just riding to work.
I’m glad I could repay some of that debt.
punkelf: The authors you list certainly touch the spirit of this kind of adventure and there are others, my favorite being Edward Abbey. His essays in Desert Solitaire have affected this spirit in me.
The Rush Hour Rambling link on my main page takes you to Gary’s blog. And he has other fine work in Dairy of a Cafe Racer. His writing and story telling abilities are great.
Hi Steve,
I have been reading frequently and something I don’t recall seeing you mention:
What kind of camera(s) are you using for your photography that you carry with you on your scoot?
Tom
What I see in your photos here are perspectives. I don’t know if you meant it this way, but I’m going philosophical for a minute.
I think adventure is where you find it. It’s also affected by what you bring with you on the ride. In other words, the same ride can be nothing more than a blip if you ride it in a tank, for example. There’s no danger because you could easily overcome whatever is in the way. Thus, no adventure.
The lone tree, the scooter looking so small in the larger picture, those things define adventure. If you bring less with you so that you have to rely more on your own skills and wit, you also open the door wider to having a true adventure. So it’s not where you go, it’s how you go.
Does that make sense? I’m trying to get this in before we need to leave for the Veteran’s Day parade and I think it’s a little rushed.
By the way, how hard did you have to work to get the Vespa into that tall grass?
Dan
Tom: Your question prompted me to post a bit of information about how I approach photography. You can read that post HERE.
Dan: Everything you said made perfect sense. Perspective, point of view, both physical and mental all are at work.
The Vespa is pretty easy to move through tall grass. In this place I followed the tracks of a truck or some other vehicle. The grass was matted down a bit. But I have ridden through alfalfa fields and it is fine. No chain or belt to catch things and as long as I don’t hit any hidden groundhog holes or rocks I am ok. Can’t move with breakneck speed that a dirt bike would allow but I make progress. I’m the turtle not the hare.