Scooter in the Sticks

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

Aimless Wandering

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No Destination

Lately, I’ve been engaged in days of aimless wandering.  Some on the Vespa through fog shrouded forests. Others on foot during daylight and night.  No destination in mind, just allowing myself to drift through the landscape, admiring the world, and wondering what it all means.

Aimless wandering requires a measure of letting go, at least a little, of goals and expectations.

At home, I’ve been tinkering with this website, attending to performance issues and shortcomings that I’ve largely ignored.  Examining page speed on the GTmetrix site I was shocked to find how poorly the site was performing.  After a few days of intense education I managed to cut the response time in half and achieve passing grades on the test.  Continue Reading

Restorative Powers of Scooter Riding – or Motorcycles

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Portrait of Vespa scooter rider Steve Williams reflected in mirror

Canon G15 6.1mm 1/1000 @ f2.8 ISO 100

Riding Reflections

This will be a short post.  It’s premise and conclusions obvious to many who already ride a scooter or motorcycle.  To others, and perhaps most of those men and women who are thinking about riding, the idea that riding has any sort of powers or rewards beyond transportation or recreation may not even register in their thinking.

I don’t want to preach.  I’ve long ago understood that what I believe, the actions and approaches that work for me, may be utterly useless for others.  We each walk (or ride) our own path and come to understand and embrace what we will regardless of what others accept or reject.Continue Reading

A Walk in the Woods

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Danner boots on walkerThe Boots Are Made For Walking

Sometimes it’s good for the soul to take a walk in the woods.  It works the body, it works the mind.  Afterwards, whatever was chewing on the spirit is often gone.  Just a mile down the road from my home is the Stan Yoder Memorial Nature Preserve, a fifteen acre plot of land in Boalsburg that was rescued from development by the community.

It’s a good place to wear out my Danner hiking boots.

Trail in the Stan Yoder Memorial PreserveInto the Woods

This time of year the preserve is generally empty save from the birds and small mammals that live there.  Signs of deer and bear can also be found from time to time.  But mostly it’s quiet and provides a measure of solitude for anyone with a few minutes to walk.

Trail at the Stan Yoder Memorial PreserveDown the Trail

Each time I walk through the preserve I’m reminded of how rejuvenating a walk in the woods can be.  It’s not unlike a ride on the Vespa scooter only a bit more physically challenging.  Often I’m here with a dog.  I’m thinking in the future I may bring along lunch and just hang out and breathe…

Dog log bags at the Stan Yoder Memorial PreserveDog Log Support

I always travel with plastic bags in my pocket.  But for those dog owners that forget you’ll find a couple reminders and resources to keep the preserve free of canine land mines.  I didn’t see any on this walk.

Bench at the Stan Yoder Memorial PreserveSitting

For a lot of people this place must be a bore.  No ball fields or tennis courts.  No picnic pavilions with barbecue grills or tennis courts or swing sets.  There’s nothing to do.  In a world of frenzied activity and chaos a park like this is a romantic anachronism.  How many people want to sit alone on a bench in the woods and write poetry anymore?

View at the Stan Yoder Memorial PreserveThe Woods

I would have loved this place as a kid.  These days I would be shocked to see any kids here without their parents.  Different world now.  In all the years I’ve been coming here I bet I’ve not seen a dozen people.  I wonder what that says…

2017 Brave, Bold Blogger Challenge

This post is part of a month long writing prompt challenge conceived by Kathy at Toadmama.com.

Vespa Meditation

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Buddha statue in a treeStrange Reminder of a Vespa Meditation

I saw this Buddha statue in the hollow of a tree toward the end of a ride. It highlighted what I was experiencing on the scooter — a deliberate and ongoing rumination of thoughts and questions that cloud my mind along with a more and more focused recognition of the world as experienced as a scooter rider.

Sometimes it’s nice to let body and mind free for a few moments to seek some natural balance.

Vespa GTS scooter on Bald Eagle ridgeWinding Along the Road

It was still cool, low sixties, when I rode over Bald Eagle Mountain on a wonderfully twisting road complete with a hairpin turn.  The challenge was to let go of plan and expectation so I could be present for whatever presented itself rather than be completely locked in my head.

I saw a half dozen deer in the middle of the road during the ride included a couple of clumsy fawns.

Vespa GTS scooter in timber cutOff-road Vespa

Could pass up an opportunity to check out the view from a newly cut woodlot.  A short ride off-road on the scooter reminding me of how versatile the Vespa actually is.  While not a dirt bike the scooter can easily handle most of what a casual rider would encounter off-road.

Vespa GTS scooter at a lime plantMaking Photographs

I try and make photographs that reflect what I saw and felt on the road.  They serve as snippets of memory recording the stories made up by the details discovered during a ride.  That’s not dependent on riding a Vespa or connected to any particular camera.

When I first stopped at the limestone plant I lined up the scooter in the picture but something was missing — the old railroad tracks.  They were part of what I felt about the place.

Didn’t go far on the ride, less than 50 miles, but I’ve learned that I can get my head focused in a way to see and experience more.  It’s not just fun, it’s a Vespa meditation.

Evening Riding

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Vespa GTS scooter at sunset

Riding at Sun Down

Often, I feel a sudden burst of mortal awareness as the sun nears the horizon. The end of something. Or perhaps the beginning. Life with the lizard brain is never easy to predict or understand — just relentless in it’s march of survival and desire.

I look to the sky whenever I feel stifled or trapped by a mind refusing to disconnect from the trials of a day. The tapestry of clouds and light kindled a need for the camera and a desire to go for a ride. Even a short journey through familiar ground.

A short time on the road.  Evening riding.

Pausing on the approach to the expressway to make a photograph I wondered at the longing for rest as I looked at the open sky. Riding, the Vespa is my counselor, questioning and directing a conversation no one can hear. It’s why I ride.

Vespa along freeway with truck

Flying the Expressway

Odd choice to ride on the expressway. It was the fastest route to what big sky we have; glimpses of what the landscape is like in the flatlands. Open and looking at heaven.

And then a monster roars by. The modern era bear or Tyrannosaurus. It’s hard to dismiss the destructive power of a large truck hurtling just a feet away. A potential embrace too awful to imagine.

Yet I continue to ride.

And enjoy it.

The joy of evening riding.