Road of Life
The ride is not always the end in itself. Sometimes it’s an excuse for something else. For me, that excuse is a desire to see the world.
After a day at work, or in some situation where I’m cut off from “the world”, I feel the pull to get out and away and experience the thrum and sound of the places and people who I share this space. The Vespa scooter as it winds it’s way along roads and through towns, the places it delivers me to drink tea and watch the people around me, it is the perfect tool to serve up a dose of the world.
The rain moved out of the valley by the end of the day and the long light as the sun neared the horizon painted a dazzling portrait. Riding the scooter along the rural roads near home entertained the senses — the sweet smells of flowers and grass, the sound of birds lost in twitterpation at the end of a day, and the mesmerizing scenes that unfold mile after mile.
Camera, Scooter or Nothing at All
For much of my life I needed an excuse to experience the world. Some reason was required to walk out the door and look around. It wasn’t enough to just go and do nothing. I’m reminded of hunting and my father. He loved being in the woods but the only time he ventured out was during hunting season. It was the only reason he knew, in his experience of the world, that would allow a grown man to be in the woods.
My mother had wanderlust. She thrived on being in the world. But only within the reasons to be in it. Travel, socializing, work. Like my father, she embraced the accepted reasons to be in the world that allowed her to experience it.
I suppose I did the same. I abandoned hunting for hiking and backpacking. Added bicycling walking to the reasons I could experience the world. Photography provided a passport for experience as well. And riding the Vespa was another road into the world.
Opening My Eyes
A man on a bicycle stopped while I was making this photograph. I saw him coming down the road, a slow meandering ride with his bicycle moving from side to side of the road as he looked around. “A beautiful evening. So much to see.” he said. It was obvious that he wasn’t a rider hell bent on exercise, performance or getting anywhere in a hurry. Like me, he was just looking around.
Looking around. It’s my favorite thing to do. Whether on the scooter, in the car, walking through the neighborhood or sitting in a cafe watching the people. Above all things, I want, I need to experience the world. And the great thing is I don’t have any requirements on time or place. There’s no feeling that experience only exists in some far flung place that means the moments passing by until I get there are somehow less important or meaningful. It’s what allows me to trod the same space over and over again and find it often as rich an experience as the first time I’ve been there.
Riding as the sun was setting in a place I’ve experienced a hundred times was nothing short of magical. I told myself I need to do this more often. That I don’t need a reason. And at the end of my life, I suspect if I have a desire or regret, it will be to experience the world one more time.
Steve, that was beautiful, a great way to “wake-up” this Sunday morning.
Our silver (like yours) Vespa 300 GTSie has proven to be the most important “thing” that Kathy and I have owned, other than our home.
It has almost 17,000 trouble-free miles, several rear and one front tire change/s, and has taken us on overnight, weekend, week-long and multi-week vacations.
And every time I climb aboard, it’s a new opportunity to see the world through the eyes I only have when on my/our scooter.
And every time it’s a new adventure,and whether large or small, the adventure’s in the getting there and what you see, smell and feel while riding.
Our Vespa is our “Vroom with a view” which never disappoints.
Thanks for your kind words Will. Glad I could supply some sunshine!
I feel the same about the Vespa. It has been, and continues to be and important “thing.”
“Vroom with a view” — love that idea.
A friend of mine rode the Alcan highway…his advice…”dont take a camera…you’ll never get there”
With an eye like yours…surprised You get ANYWHERE!
Hooray…sun cometh to Happy Valley…ride on…I will
There are rides where the camera really slows things down. Even on sparse photo rides I still stop way more than most riders. It in part accounts for my reluctance to ride with others. I don’t want to inconvenience them, and I don’t want to feel pressured not to stop or ride faster.
The sun is shining again today. Even though it is slightly chilly it’s a welcome day.
I was more inclined to look around when I rode a bicycle than I am on a motorcycle or scooter. Maybe it’s the mechanic in me but I get lost in the sound of a humming engine at work Stopping seems like turning off the radio during a favorite song and I rarely can bring myself to do it.
If I could, I would ride a silent machine. An electric scooter somewhere in my future may provide that. I’m mesmerized by the movement and flow of machine and air. The sound, it’s something I try to mute with earplugs. I’ve ridden a few really loud motorcycles where I could feel and hear the machine in my bones. It wasn’t a bad thing but I couldn’t escape the machine reality. And when you turn the engine off it’s like your floating in some different world. Really odd stuff.
Maybe I need to ride a motorcycle more to see what happens.
Steve;
To quote you: “There’s no feeling that experience only exists in some far flung place that means the moments passing by until I get there are somehow less important or meaningful. ”
That is profound.
Thank you.
When you write straight through late at night stuff leaks out of your head…
I love traveling. Just about anywhere and anyway. I’m not hooked on any single mode of travel. Any will do. That is the one part of my “work life” that I miss. Being able to travel on someone else’s dime. Only another month and a half and you won’t have a regular commute as an excuse to go for a ride.
I enjoy traveling too but the nature of it has changed over the years. Mostly in pace. When I was younger it was an activity to collect experience. Now it’s more often a means to let go and slow down and disconnect from the noise of day-to-day living.
I’ve had many opportunities to travel at work and turned almost all of them down save for ones directly related to photography and video production assignments. When I was Penn State’s representative to a global educational organization I was pressured to travel to their twice annual meetings. Those were in Rome, Vienna, Madrid, London, San Francisco, Dominican Republic and other places. The organization touted two-way video as a way to connect classrooms around the world. I didn’t attend a single face-to-face meeting but always joined by two way video. My feeling from the start was that the members were wasting the organization’s funding by traveling that way and were not much more than boondoggles and excuses to travel. I was fully able to participate in the business by interactive video. And the networking part was manageable by email.
And of course I absolutely passed on winter semesters in Moscow…
Once I retire, I’ll have a different regular commute. Just not sure to where yet.
Perfect.
Thank you!
My pleasure.
I like the idea of activities like backpacking, scooters and bicycles be a way of experience the world over them being an excuses to see the world.
As a young boy I was befriended by an old cowboy. Anytime we went anywhere, be it “downtown” or to “go see a man” we always took an ambling route, most of the time with a stop or 2. If we made contact with someone new to us there would be a short friendly conversation that could lead to a longer one, if so the question “where you from” would come up. Once the answer was given the response would be,”did you know a Mr. / Mrs. so and so down on very specific location?” To this day I never knew if all these people where real or just a device into someone else world.
The old cowboy died at 104, on the way to his grave site we wound up having to go through a detour, once at the cemetery we got sent to the wrong gave site. At both instances we met stranger that wound up opening up a little of their worlds and helping us along or way.
Some people are masters at connecting with people on a journey. It’s never been my strong suit but I try and be more open with people. I marvel though at the ability to engage strangers. It’s an art and well worth the investment from what I’ve seen. I feel invisible a lot of the time and that’s probably leads to missed opportunities.
Here’s hoping for more experience as I ride through the retirement door…
Wandering about, seeing where that new to you trail leads to, that’s the best kind of riding….
Absolutely. Wandering…
Loved this post! I may not journey to exotic places and some may find monotony in riding the same routes & roads, but I find comfort in it. I love going down a familiar stretch of road, it allows me to feel more at ease and then I find myself engaging more and noticing the surroundings more. Sometimes its not about the ‘big or epic’ but more about the familiar for me.
With so many roads and highways and different sorts of riders and machines, there’s something for everyone. That’s part of the fascination for me — you never know what you’ll hear from another rider. What they do and how they do it — always seems like an adventure to me.