Scooter in the Sticks

Exploring life on a Vespa, Royal Enfield Himalayan, Honda Trail 125, and a Kawasaki W650

A Person Who is Looking for Something Doesn’t Travel Very Fast

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The trip to and from work today was slow and deliberate. Random patches of ice in the morning and patches of gravel this afternoon required careful attention. And adequate attention translates in speeds below normal.

E.B. White’s quote used in the title of this post reaches beyond the obvious. It means more that the resultant slow speeds at which I rode to safely manage hazards on the road surface. White suggests a necessity of deliberation for anyone engaged in a search. Moving, acting, and living slower is not the default mode of popular culture or the majority of the riding community. Traveling from point A to point B as fast or packed with as many mini-experiences as possible often is the travel mode of choice. Motorcycles and scooters capable of triple digit speeds are not conducive for 25 MPH meandering. Each of us makes our own choices and riding is no exception.

My ride today reminded me of how much I am looking for — inside and out. I stopped on the way home to look at the snow covered corn stubble reaching across the valley I call home. I’m looking for something I can’t describe or explain. While there a bicyclist stopped to ask if I saw a bear. Each of us was obviously looking for something different.

I’m fortunate to have open roads so near to home in spite of growing development pressure. The road above is typical of many of the secondary roads that loop through the countryside.

I wasn’t sure this morning if I would ride to work. Temperatures hovered near freezing insuring there would be some icy patches would remain. I’m glad I did ride because it provided a chance to look at the morning sky. I’m still not sure why but I never look carefully while driving or riding the bus. I just get plugged into the fast lane.

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A Riding Photo Project

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Committing to a photography project is difficult. Mental gymnastics intended to clarify and focus a direction generally leave me thinking that every photograph has been made and adding to the sum total of human expression is a pointless exercise. Every mundane chore or diversion looms larger and the camera sits quietly in the dark. My brain really makes it difficult to start.

The images I make of the Vespa while riding are easy. The rides are fun and I like the way the scooter looks. I can pull the digital camera out of my pocket and in a few seconds I’m done. What I’m talking about now is a body of work related to the scooter only because the scooter may be transporting me to the location in which I would photograph. The Vespa is not a subject. Perhaps the ride is the subject. The photograph above was made during the last ride of my LX150 shortly before permanent mechanical failure. It is the sort of image I might make as part of this project. Whatever the subject is what is clear is that I have not been able to sustain action or production. I do a lot of thinking. Thinking is good, just not for photography, at least not for me.

During a phone conversation last weekend my friend Gordon, also a photographer, suggested we get together periodically to help each other along through doubt and motivation, to prod through support or shame the production of new work. Friend Paul was added to the group and Kim took part in our first meeting on Monday night.

I’ll share my part in this. I agreed to shoot two rolls of film, process, contact and make two work prints to show when we meet every two weeks.


A quick calculation in my head shows one hour to process the film and two hours to make the contact sheets and prints. I can’t estimate the photography time. The above contact sheet shows images made during the last ride of the LX150.

I need a carrot but more often I need a stick directed at me to get me moving. Thinking about photography doesn’t get me any farther than thinking about riding does. In each case I need to just get in motion. Things only happen when I am engaged in the process. I’m hoping that combining the camera with the Vespa will make something happen. I have faith in things happening when I am in motion. I’ve decided to share this journey in Scooter in the Sticks. I’ll allow you to see the process and the rough results as I haul my camera around. If I am really lucky I’ll feel guilty not keeping up with my photo production goals. So look for some black and white photos to appear at least every two weeks. Give me hell if I drop the ball.

Karma and a Riding Misadventure

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Maybe I watched too many episodes of My Name is Earl. I figured if I did something nice for someone Karma would take care of me and that winning lottery ticket would blow up against my riding boot. Sitting on the back of my friend Paul’s truck at the end of the day 60 miles from home I was rethinking the Earl model.

I have been on vacation during the holidays but until yesterday didn’t really take a long ride and with the weather warming into the 40’s I figured now was the time, especially since I just did all the maintenance on the scooter. I departed around 9AM under cloudy skies and a 28° F temperature. The grass and cars were covered in frost but the road was dry. I bundled up in my riding gear and was off. I had my Mamiya 7 camera along to shoot some black and white landscape pictures — the official start of a new project. The plan was to explore some really open spaces along Nittany and Sinking valleys. The sun was trying to push through the cloud cover creating a glow in the sky and on the frost covered fields.


While shooting this picture a gentleman from a nearby home trotted over to ask about the Vespa and share that he had an ET4. What better omen for a great ride than running into a fellow Vespa owner! We talked for a few minutes and then I was off towards the more remote sections of the valley.


The light continued to glow and warm. Stopping to take pictures, pulling off my mittens and exposing them to the cold air was taking it’s toll on hand warmth though and it wasn’t long before I would preheat them on the headlight before pulling the mittens back on. There were a lot of neat little spots along the way including this old garage covered in signs and license plates.


I have passed it many times and always wanted to stop to make a picture. And these silos seemed to jump out at me when I went by requiring another stop for the big camera and a quick snapshot with the digital camera too.


I had decided to ride into Tyrone for lunch when a tractor-trailer driver flagged me down. He had a paper in his hand so I figured he was more interested in directions than in the Vespa. Two Vespa encounters in one day were too much to expect. The driver and his 14000 pounds of seed were lost and worse the place he was trying to find was about as hidden away as possible around here. I lent him my cell phone so he could get directions and as I watched his look become more puzzled and frustrated I asked for the phone. After a few minutes I determined exactly where the delivery point was and that this guy from Indiana would never find it. What else could I do but volunteer to lead him there. It was only about 10 miles in the opposite direction that I was now headed but heck I am always up for a change in plans. So he jumps into the cab and I get on the scooter and hit the starter button and it just whirrs. “Dead battery” flashes in my head. I get off and hit the kick-starter (yes, the Vespa LX150 still has a kickstart) a few times and the engine starts and off we go.

It was a nice ride especially with an eighteen-wheel escort behind me that didn’t want to run me down. Once we hit the dirt roads though I was kind and he had a hard time keeping up. I had to stop a few times to make sure he was still there. We arrive at the agricultural enterprise and they are glad I led the truck there. It occurred to me then that they would have come and got him if I hadn’t volunteered to lead him. Turned out that I was glad I did because I found some roads and places that were fine riding and offered lots of photo possibilities for my new project. The farmers have put up their snow fences but we haven’t had any snow yet. They do make for nice pictures.

Lunch was out of the question now until I got to Altoona that lay over the far ridge and 12 miles to the left.


I was smart enough at this point to not shut the engine off when I was taking pictures. I figured I would check things out when I got to Altoona. The really smart rider would have ridden home to troubleshoot in his or her own garage. An hour later I pull into my in-laws driveway and go inside for a fantastic meatball sandwich.

The fun begins now as I try and get the Vespa running for the trip home. I had it in my head that the starter would not engage because the battery was low. Swapped the battery from my father-in-law’s ET4 and the same thing. And my battery started his scooter fine. At this point I ask to use the computer and post on the Modern Vespa site for help and receive immediate help from the Technical Moderator Gary that I should run down the ground to make sure it is solid. He helped me troubleshoot but as the afternoon waned I figured it was time to truck the scooter home. I called my friend Paul who graciously offered to drive his truck 60 miles to get the scooter and me. Here you can see Paul on the left with my father-in-law Bob.


They both did a lot to try and get the Vespa running. We loaded up and headed for gas and a bite to eat, the least I could do.

It was dark when we left and suddenly we have no headlights on the truck. I’m beginning to wonder now what I’m being punished for. Karma is not with me. It wasn’t until we got home that Kim put things in perspective for me. It was a great ride, I did a good deed, I met another Vespa rider, I had the opportunity to be with family, a good friend showed his friendship, I was home safe, and perhaps there was a reason for not riding home. Kim pointed out what I couldn’t see because I was focused on what I wanted—the scooter to start—and wasn’t seeing the bigger picture. This wasn’t a misadventure but another adventure. It’s all in the way you look at things.

The scooter is in the garage and the heater is running. Another adventure awaits.