Scooter in the Sticks

Exploring life on a Vespa Scooter and Royal Enfield Himalayan motorcycle.

Remembering Jack Riepe

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John Patrick "Jack" Riepe portrait
John Patrick “Jack” Riepe — March 10, 1954 to October 18, 2023

Words, Smiles, Laughter and the Battered Baby Seal Face.

With great sadness I have to report the passing of Jack Riepe, writer, speaker, and evangelist of BMW K bikes. Especially the K75 models. His humor was evident in the monthly BMW Owners News column he wrote, in his books, his talks and presentations, and in any conversation you might have with him.

The motorcycle world lost someone special.

In the above photo Jack was demonstrating to me his Battered Baby Seal look. A signature look for him akin to Zoolander’s Blue Steel. He insisted any woman he was interested in melted from that gaze. Seeing them flock around him at the BMW Rally in Bloomsburg I kind of believed him.

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Desert Solitaire

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A copy of Edward Abbey's Desert SolitaireA Favorite Book

Scrutinizing the books in my library I came across Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey, a collection of personal accounts of life as a park ranger for three summers in southeastern Utah. The essays were the first in which I recognized the pursuit of solitude and aloneness, a theme I’ve explored since.

The Deadman at Grandview Point, one of the essays in the collection, has remained with me since I first read it and has fueled many daydreams and thoughts about life.

Abbey also wrote The Monkey Wrench Gang, his most famous novel which told the story of activists sabotaging environmentally damaging activities.  Today those activities would be regarded as terrorism in some quarters.

Edward Abbey on book jacket of Desert SolitaireA Man on Foot

Abbey was a wanderer, hiker, backpacker among the many other things he did with his life.  His writings appeared for me at a time when I was restless and helped quiet the discord in my head.  I still remember on of the lines from this book:

“A man on foot, on horseback or on a bicycle will see more, feel more, enjoy more in one mile than the motorized tourists can in a hundred miles.”
― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

I’ve walked a lot of miles and can attest to the truth of that statement EXCEPT I include the Vespa scooter along with foot, horse and bike.

inscription on Desert Solitaire bookBook Inscription

Almost 26 years ago I wrote, “To remember my growing disgust with civilization” inside my copy of Desert Solitaire.  I don’t remember now what caused me to write those words and without some research regarding the politics of the time or a retrieval of a journal from that time I won’t know for sure. It’s a strange reminder though of who I was and what I was thinking.  Different than I feel today.

My father would say I have a case of the old mellows.  I gave him a copy of this book.  He didn’t like it.  It’s not for everyone.

Lois on the Loose

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While perusing the newly released books at our local library I came upon Lois on the Loose by Lois Pryce. Any book with a picture of a motorcycle on the cover gets my attention. This one recounts Lois’s story of riding from Anchorage, Alaska to Ushuaia, in the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America.

Pryce has a lot of good stories to tell. I connected right from the start with her painfully familiar description of how the day-to-day workplace can feel if you would rather be riding.

I smiled at her experiences with other riders giving sage advice concerning the suitability of making the trip on a small, underpowered Yamaha XT225 Serow. I suppose holding the book in my hands refutes those judgments. Pryce does point out one leg of the trip that her little motorcycle wasn’t up to but I seem to remember that involved riding at 14000 feet or something. She took the low road instead.

Making this trip largely by herself and without a formal support or backup systems seems remarkably courageous to me. I can’t see myself doing it. I’m really glad she has the writing and storytelling talent to allow me to share the trip vicariously.

If you are interested in more information about the trip, book, bike, whatever, check out her Web site — Lois on the Loose.

Sojourn Chronicles

D. Brent Miller, author of the Sojourn Chronicles blog recently interviewed me for a podcast, which is now available HERE.

Brent is planning to produce a regular podcast and you will find one with Carla King who like Lois Pryce had her own riding adventure. She made a solo-circumnavigation of the United States on a Russian sidecar motorcycle.

If you have a minute check out Brent’s site and the podcasts.