gratitude Archives - Page 3 of 8 - Scooter in the Sticks

Vespa Scooter Freedom

May 7, 2021 by Scooter in the Sticks 16 Comments

Vespa GTS scooter along rural road. — This looks like freedom to me. Of the mind, the spirit, and the body.

Freedom is the oxygen of the soul.
MOSHE DAYAN

An escape from the noise of everyday life into a state of Vespa scooter freedom is a gift of hope and joy. The same now as it was when I began riding a scooter so many years ago. In minutes the noise and stress that can accumulate in my head burn off like fog on a sunny morning. The air embraces my body and I’m flying. All I can think is it’s great to be alive.

It doesn’t take long until I’m far from home. The scooter has quietly transported me to a different reality. The long road, the spring light, the promise of life emerging again from winter reduces my world to something simple I can grasp. Like the throttle of the Vespa.

Riding provides a taste of freedom, and it quickens the soul.

Turning a Page

January 1, 2021 by Scooter in the Sticks 33 Comments

Vespa GTS scooter on forest road. — On the road into the unknown.

A Slap in the Face

This past year has seen the world struggle. No amount of riding could free me from concern for myself, my family, and those I love. As much as I want to believe that today, the start of a new year, will be different, it’s merely turning the page in the middle of a long novel. There is no magic today, no sudden cleansing of the world. What was bearing down yesterday remains today.

I have faith that the future will be bright, that suffering will ease and those things that provided pleasure and joy will return. But not today. The same struggle goes on for some time to come.

When I looked at the photograph of my Vespa in the forest just two months ago, I’m reminded of how exciting it is to peer into the unknown. Not knowing what lays ahead. Not sure what I’ll encounter. I have that same feeling now as I embrace the start of 2021.

I pray each of you reading these words will find hope and solace amidst whatever challenges you face.

The Heart of the Ride

December 14, 2020 by Scooter in the Sticks 18 Comments

Vespa GTS scooter on rural road. — A decision point. A pause to consider where to wander.

The Heart of the Ride

I wake in the middle of the night and think. Sometimes about riding. More often about the deranged state of everyday reality. I prefer thoughts of riding. Of moving, traveling, experiencing. It’s the heart of the ride.

Autumn almost escaped. It’s the swiftest of seasons. The landscape changes from green to orange to a drab, monochromatic scene as the trees surrender to the power of autumn. I feel a physical and emotional quickening as time churns in me as it drags me toward winter. I know something is ending. And something else begins.

I find myself once again standing alongside the road with no idea where to go. A drifter on a scooter with nothing pressing to do. A ride on the Vespa affords me an opportunity to bear witness to the rapid transformation of color, light, and fragrance. And like so many rides without plan or destination I find my only goal is pushing the scooter out of the garage. Where I go from there is anyone’s guess.

It’s the journey that attracts me. The mystery. The tapestry of unknowable experiences that may await. And these are the things I think about while riding my Vespa. It doesn’t happen in the car, or even very often on the motorcycle. Riding the scooter takes me to the heart of the ride.

Returning to the Moto-World

May 28, 2020 by Scooter in the Sticks 12 Comments

A rural, central Pennsylvania farm landscape — The world I stepped away from two months ago is different now upon my return riding a motorcycle.

Out of the Garage and Into the World

It was a cool, gray day in my little part of the world. Somehow it feels a little different than it did just two months ago when I parked the scooter and motorcycle.

I don’t know how those of you who retire from riding in September and don’t return to it until spring manage. After a six-week riding hiatus due to pandemic restrictions in Pennsylvania I was experiencing no-moto cabin fever.

Still, I felt restricting myself from riding the Vespa and K75 was prudent considering all the unknowns at the time and my own unique immune system quirks which squarely place me in the high-risk category of humanity. One day before the stay at home order was to expire in Pennsylvania I pushed the motorcycle out of the garage and into a new world.

It seemed like an eternity since my last ride.

I tentatively returned to the road riding a motorcycle. My BMW K75.

VLOG: Gratitude During the COVID-19 Pandemic

April 6, 2020 by Scooter in the Sticks 30 Comments

Man jumping in air next to a Vespa scooter at sunrise — Finding gratitude and joy in memories of riding.

Remembering Good Times, Having Faith in Tomorrow

If I had to choose one photograph that depicts the joy I feel while riding it would be this one of my friend Paul Ruby leaping in the air on one of our many early morning rides. This photograph was made over ten years ago but that feeling has not diminished in frequency or power.

During the coming days and weeks, many of us may entertain our darkest fears and concerns.

I have. But I also have choices. I plan for the worst but continue to hope for the best. Part of that process stems from the fine memories I have of life in the rear view mirror, a strong belief that all things pass, and faith that there will be a new tomorrow. I just don’t get to know what it will be until it gets here.

Until that time I daily give thanks for what I have. Finding gratitude, even in a storm, warms my spirit and fuels hope. I produced a short VLOG entry on some of the things rattling in my head.