Scooter in the Sticks

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

Happy Ending

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Vespa GTS scooter at a happy ending before workEnd of the Road

I often find myself at the end of the road when riding the Vespa.  Continuing on isn’t possible or desirable.  A change in direction is necessary for the journey to continue.  It’s uncommon to arrive at the end of the road and think of it as a happy ending.  Remembering miles and miles of gravel strewn dirt forest roads only to come to an impassible gate is something other than a happy ending.  But that doesn’t happen often.

On a recent, meandering ride to work on a foggy morning I came to a place where I didn’t want to push on through the tall, wet grass replete with ticks and ground hog holes.  Besides, it was time to get to work where I was nearing another end of the road.Continue Reading

Looking Out the Window

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Glass of water on window sill with Vespa scooter outsideMorning Water and Vespa Scooter

I always look out windows. Wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, there’s a hope of actually seeing the world. Sitting in the back seat of the car next to my granddaughter it was interesting to watch her young eyes peer out the window at the world.  I wondered how different her world must look from one weighed down with a lifetime of experience and opinion.

Mornings find me in an oak rocker with a bowl of cereal, gazing at nothing in particular, looking out the window as the day takes shape.  But the looking drives me like nothing else.  When I’m tired and exhausted you won’t find me rising to answer a phone or take on another chore, but I’ll always take another look out the window.

Riding is like that.  I’ll always ride one more mile — to see what’s out that road window ahead.Continue Reading

Power of a Blue Sky

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Vespa GTS under a blue sky.Thoughts Under a Blue Sky

Riding home from work today, the first hot day of the season, was a slow and meandering trip under a clear blue sky.  Looking up at the clouds I felt an elation I can only associate with everything being okay — at the moment and in a more general sense.

I know it’s just a feeling but always a welcome state of mind on a hectic day that’s a montage of activity at work and home mixed up with the news of the day.  As I thought about this post, I happened upon a passage written by Anne Frank regarding the hopeful nature that comes from looking up at the sky.  Written nearly 73 years ago, her words and thoughts, at age 14, seem far beyond her years. Seemed somehow appropriate despite the dramatic difference of her world from mine.

“It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.
It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more”

Anne Frank
– July 15, 1944

 

See the World

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Vespa GTS scooter at sunset along a rural roadRoad 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.Continue Reading

Oddness and Other Life Experiences

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glowing sunrise view of Vespa GTS scooterRiding into the Sunset or Sunrise?

Today promises to be an odd life experience.  I’ll be interviewing a person who may replace me at Penn State.  Writing questions last night I found myself wondering if we need someone like me, or someone who can address gaps, pain points and a future I don’t even know exists.

And I wonder if I’m riding into the sunset of a life or into the sunrise of a new one.  I prefer the latter.

Not scooter ride today.  The cage may be called into service at some point during the day.  But I know I’ll think of riding once or twice between now and when I fall asleep tonight.

Riding — it’s really a disease…