Scooter in the Sticks

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

VIDEO: The Thrill of Riding a Vespa Scooter

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I’ve struggled to share with people the experience I feel while riding a Vespa scooter. The video below is an attempt at presenting the emotional energy of riding as I do.

I fully realize that different riders will have different experiences. Speed and following the perfect line along a winding road may be the pinnacle of experience for one while a leisurely wandering rings the bell for another.

This video reflects my experience. The thrill of riding a Vespa.

A statement on what riding a Vespa scooter means to me.

I have to confess a level of reluctance in posting this video. All of them in fact. I’ve become comfortable over the years writing about my experiences, how I feel, and what I think. But putting my voice to the writing has changed things. It feels more exposed and open. More personal perhaps. Maybe revealing more than I intend.

So bear with me as I experiment technically and emotionally.

I hope each of you is surviving whatever unique demands the COVID-19 pandemic has placed upon you. Be safe. Be smart. So you can ride another day.

Returning to the Moto-World

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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.

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Honoring the Dead

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view of a horizon in farm field
A gray day in Central Pennsylvania

Thoughts on Memorial Day

Memorial Day has special significance in Boalsburg, a small central Pennsylvania town that claims to have started the observance of this holiday. Add to that a shrine to the soldiers lost by the 28th Division of the United States Army at the Pennsylvania Military Museum and you have an ongoing reminder of the sacrifices made by men and women in this country.

With less than 10 percent of our population being veterans or serving actively in the military we owe them a debt of gratitude that’s difficult to repay. We owe them more than a vacation day disguised as a celebration of their service.

Granite monument to the battles of the Civil War
A granite monument at the Pennsylvania Military Museum remembering some of the campaigns of the Civil War.

Most of us never had the chance to sacrifice for our country until now. Until a global pandemic has swept across the land leaving our people and economy shivering in surprise and fear. Even the rosy predictions from the White House now peg the death toll at 135 thousand citizens by the end of the summer.

Service and sacrifice are at hand now. Each of us has the opportunity to honor the blood shed by our military through our own choices. To reflect their selfless dedication in our own behavior. To put the well being of our friends and family, neighbors and strangers, ahead of ourselves. We have the opportunity to celebrate the fallen men and women and reflect their sacrifice in our own.

I can’t say what that is for anyone but me.

Today I keep my distance from others as I can. And when I can’t I respect them by wearing a face mask. I am generous and give as I can. I remind myself often that all that I have in this life came with a cost. And I continue to hold in my heart that the United States of America a place of kind and honorable people.

I offer my best wishes to each of you on this Memorial Day.

Video: The Brevity of Life and Other Thoughts While Riding a Vespa Scooter

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Lessons on the Road

I don’t often write about how to ride a scooter. So I won’t start now. Rather I share some of what I experience while riding a Vespa. The thoughts that swirl in my head, concerns for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That sort of thing.

This VLOG entry is a reflection and re-creation of the sort of things that rattle around in this old man’s head — at home and on the road. It’s almost a video about riding a Vespa.

I’m halfway to my goal of ten video entries before I decide if there’s reason to continue.

Let me know what you think. Subscribe to my YouTube Channel if you want to see more.

I’ll be riding a Vespa scooter more and more as I determine it’s safe to do so. I hope each of you finds the right decisions for you and the specific part of the pandemic you find yourself in.

Video: Maintenance, Helmets and Riding A Vespa Scooter in the Pandemic

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Riding the Vespa scooter around the neighborhood after changing the engine and transmission oil to make sure there were no leaks. Any excuse to ride.

Another VLOG Entry

Only four entries into my ten video target to determine if making videos has any utility in my blogging life and I’m behind schedule. My plan was to post every other Monday.

This entry is a quick update on the status of things in my world and a continuing experiment with cameras and microphones as I search for the idea blogging setup for me.

If you like these entries let me know and subscribe in YouTube. I’m not sure why at this point though someone told me it’s important. As I understand it, if I get a million subscribers I can make some money. I think I have to take some of my clothes off though to achieve that number.

Stay safe on the road and in your dealings with the strange new world we’re traveling through now.

A quick update on the moto and pandemic happenings in my little world.