No ride lasts forever and all stories come to an end. So it goes with creative projects and I think this one has come to an end, or at least a place where it’s time to let it rest. I may post here now and again but for now my mind is traveling different roads.
A passage by T.S. Eliot comes to mind:
“In my end is my beginning.”
Best wishes to everyone for smooth roads and safe journeys!
Happy adventures, Steve.
???
does a sudden template crash have such an incredible strength? Sounds like a surrender to me, Steve, am I wrong? Was it latent?
I feel like losing a buddy, well, not exactly losing; something like when you start making less and less phone calls, then you start being involved in something and when you recall that, a couple of years have passed without a call…
Of course I hope to be wrong and to see another incredible and sudden new photographic or Vespistic project.
Don’t let S.I.T.S. vanish, you’ve been an inspiration for many folks, they might feel disappointed.
it’s lunch time here in Italy, just wait for lunch time in US and try to count the comments, I bet they’ll be a ton!
Godspeed, Steve, whatever you are planning to do!
Ale-
L’Insetto Scoppiettante
GTS for sale? Good luck, may the winds be at your back as windbag sailors say.
Good Luck in your new adventures, Steve! Riding your blog inspired me to blog, so a big thanks!
I’ve enjoyed your site. And I can appreciate how once it has served its purpose for you, it is time to move on. Farewell and thanks.
Good luck on your new adventures!
I’ll miss seeing the photos of new places you find riding at low speeds. Best wishes and thanks for a great blog!
Bell well Steve-Crusty
Steve,
I can relate. I also predict that you will find after a bit that blogging has become more of an addiction than you realize.
Best of luck with your new adventures.
Doug
Good luck!
I’ll miss reading this blog.
Best of luck on your new adventures! Please do let us know if you continue to venture somewhere else online. I’ve enjoyed reading your posts and looking at your photos.
Farewell SITS, when I was just starting riding, your blog was a touchstone.
I will always be envious of all the roads you have to ride. Ride safe.
Steve,
New adventure? Give us a clue, or a place to read or view your photography.
Brent
Adventures, new and old, sometimes brings us back to familiar places. Hope to see you…
Best wishes, Steve and stay safe out there on your “plain” rides.
OY!, as we say here in the somewhat jaded apple that is NYC. Here I am, completely late with my taxes, and I take this glory weather of a day to pick the mothballs off my retro Kawasaki W650, though I have ridden my gear shifting Bajaj Legend all winter. And you know Steve, it’s dangerous when you create something that people gravitate to, relish in and come to depend on. I’d sooner have settled for the white bread look than no bread at all! You did it my man, with elequence, thoughtfulness and the derring doo to ride in spite of some questional weather challenges and write about it. Been grand to see you bust out the Leica M6, when mine lays forelorn due to the necessities if my Canon MKlll and the digital needs of presswork. May I make a pitch that you reflect, take a breath and don’t abandon us. Riders bloods runs in the veins even when the garage is empty. Cheers, Mate, and drop us a line.
Have fun Steve. Thanks for being a friend. You, Gary and Dan are the three that encouraged me to do what I do, and I owe a great deal to each of you.
Bill
Your photos are stunning and I actually read what you write, I hope to see more.
I’m sorry you’ve reached the end of this road because I’ve enjoyed reading the blog and I’ve enjoyed your photography. I hope whatever new venture you are undertaking will find you in the blogosphere again and I hope I find you then!
As a wise man used to say, “Good night and good luck.”
Thanks, Steve.
So, this must be why I had 533 visits today…
Steve, your journal has been an inspiration, and I will miss your posts. I understand how brightly the creative process can burn, and how something that burns brightly also burns quickly.
What makes the interwebs unique is the persistence of all those pages. Scooter in the Sticks could still be around 100 years from now. And I suspect even then, at least a couple of my readers will click the link and read about this guy in Pennsylvania who rode when the temperature was well below freezing…
Godspeed, and keep the rubber side down.
Orin O’Neill
Scootin’ Old Skool
Steve, its hard to imagine that your beautiful scooter won’t be gracing these pages any longer… thank you for providing us with your pearls of wisdom and beauty; I look forward to seeing where your road leads you.
All the best Steve, your blog has been a fantastic read. I’ll miss it immensely.
Ride safe. Wherever.
reading your blog inspired me to write. well, all the best!
You are an inspiration to many with a dedication and discipline that is to be envied. You always have an encouraging word or a philosophical position (or composition) that causes us to pause and ponder our surroundings.
Our very best goes out to you, Steve, in health, happiness, and prosperity.
Live Well. Laugh Often. Love Much
Don’t worry Steve, it’s in your blood now…. [strong Austrian accent] you’ll be back [end accent].
Steve, in your blog you have written how you have ridden through snow,ice, gravel roads, and even the turnpike. Now that spring is here you think its time to quit? It doesn’t seem right! Your stories are what day dreams are made of. I read of your adventures over my lunch break, and fear that if you stop, I might become a more productive employee. Take a vacation if you have too, but please don’t stop blogging!
Steve,
Happy New Trails my friend.
Phil
Steve,
I have to say, I’m truly sorry to see you go. S.I.T.S was really what inspired me to start blogging, and it has continued to inspire me as a rider, a writer, and a photographer. Keep adventuring, whether you blog about it or not. The world is a better place when experienced by people like you.
-Samuel Perry
2Down365
Too cryptic for me. What are you giving up: the blog or the Vespa?
If it’s the former, OK. I can take it.
If it’s the Vespa… no-ooooo. Say it ain’t so.
Awwww!!!
Steve, say it ain’t so!
I understand how the blog can feel like a weight… after several days of not posting, you feel guilty. I’ve been there.
IF that is part of what has brought this decision about, have you considered sharing the blogging burden? It seems to be working for Crystal over at girlbike.
Check out this post on my blog
Seriously, I’m living in the sticks of Connecticut now, and I’d be happy to do some scooter blogging here. I bet plenty of others would be willing to step up to the plate.
Seriously, Scooter in the Sticks has been such a voice of reason in the scootering and two-wheeling blogosphere, as much as I wish you all the freedom you need to have a life and pursue your creative goals, it would be shame for this blog to go away.
So many of the two-wheeling voices out there are so focused on speed, fashion, or trendiness. You gave a voice to the pleasures of the ride, and how that experience can effect the rider.
You will be missed my friend.
Steve,
Many thanks to you for all the great reading and photographs. I find myself thinking of your pictures as I ride. I will be forever endebted to you for the inspiration and high standard you set with both your writing and your photography. I wish you all the best my friend.
Ronman
Dear Steve
I had hoped that you would continue your blog. It was an enormous inspiration. I ride my vespa 50 kilometers a day to and from work and could relate to your stories on the days to day elements of riding. Which clothing to use, how to cope with the wheather, having an eye for the environment around you, the humour between friends when riding, the moodswing between getting ready to ride and riding. I hope it is just a matter of having done this perhaps too intensely and you need a break. I hope to be able to enjoy to photographs in some form !
best
Ike
So I guess it’s farewell to the best in the “business”.
Wherever life takes you Steve, have a great ride!
Bessa
Scooter Log
You were our inspiration and continue to be. We will truly be lost without your example and goal setting. Maybe it is selfish of us all but we don’t want to loose this communication. We so look forward to hearing from you, like a far away relative or friend that keeps in touch and fills a void in our lives. We respect your decision, but we hope that this is a passing phase and you have a change of heart. Your loyal readers….
You came. You added a great deal of value. I am more enlightened in the way I look at certain things because of your shared insights. Thank you.
Good Luck with the new adventures. I am certain you will be fantastic at what ever you are doing. I enjoyed your site and insights immensley! Adios!
I understand your situation very well.
I did a monthly column on Canadian railways for thirteen years, a two or three page column each month for a circulated railfan magazine. I also had done a monthly bulletin board
and printed column as well. Suddenly, all of it was no longer fun. Yes people were disappointed at my abrupt departure.
However they learned to live without my monthly jottings; sadly we too may well do likewise with Scooter In the Sticks. Life is too short to feeling the need to report on your happenings to the world. You have your own life to live;
trust me you’ll be happier for your decision as time goes along.
Thanks for all the thoughtful posts and the personal encouragement. You have been an inspiration to many of us in the blogging world. After this perks for a while, let’s talk again. I can always use a good excuse to run out to Starbucks and use free wi-fi.
Best of luck!!
Thank you all so much for the kind words. It’s really hard to know what to say. Scooter in the Sticks has been fun in large part because of all of you.
I took a ride with a friend on Saturday morning and he commented at breakfast that I didn’t stop to make any pictures. I smiled and thought about the new freedom I have. The ride is different now.
I’m not going to hit the delete button so things will remain unless Blogger gets tired of it or needs the server space. And I can see myself posting something again if I find something outside the ordinary and plain riding I do. Time will tell.
I’m not ready to share exactly what I am doing right now. Call it superstition — I don’t want to jinx anything. I have created another blog, at least the technical stuff, and when it is ready to receive visitors I’ll let everyone know.
Again, I am grateful for the encouragement and support you have offered over the past couple years. It’s been quite a party.
Warm regards,
Steve Williams
I raise my pint.
*CHEERS!*
Nice riding with you, even if it was just “virtual”.
Steve
TheScooterScoop
(that scooter site that never made your blog roll 😉
hehe. Just messin’ with ya Steve. Thanks for stickin’ us back in there. I hope you and your camera take time to enjoy the open road this spring!
“Don’t stop!” is what we say.
“Slow it down.” is what you may think.
It may be only a phase; but it’s necessary.
When you pick it up and start again, I will be the first to say,”Welcome back, Steve!”
—Lorenzo
Been there, buddy. I certainly understand. Please let us know if/when you start something new?
Ride well,
=gc=
P.S.
I’ll be in touch…
oh Steve, so sad for me. Glad for you. On a dreary day when I needed uplifting it was always a joy to steal some time and sit with you a while. Look at your photos, read your writing, trying to imagine what your life is like, what your town is like. Ends are only beginnings that haven’t begun. I wish you the best.
Sherry
Nova Scotia
Obviously you will be missed.
Steve,
I’m sad you’re that your path is changing as you are one of the reasons that I blog. But, I also wish you the best of luck as you head in a different direction.
Good luck and thank you for some absolutely awesome time spent reading about your experiences and appreciating your photos.
I’ve enjoyed your perspective Steve, enjoy your new venture.
Gail
Oh man, really? I just subscribed!