Sweeping Roads on a Perfect Morning

The plan was breakfast at a hitherto unvisited cafe in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania. The Everyday Gourmet. Unlike most breakfast rides that generally require less than an hour on the road, this one would require scooter and motorcycle twice that time. Enough to transform serene thoughts of life and liberty to pure, hunger fueled obsession.

I knew I should have had a bowl of Cheerios before leaving the house.

It was a fine morning though and traffic was generally light. Our route would take us on roads neither Paul or I had ridden before, always special, and the weather moved from clear air, to mist and on to blue skies and sunshine.

Stopped along a road that climbed into the Allegheny Mountains I was reminded of how beautiful this area is. It’s easy to lose sight of that and focus on all the things that make it less than perfect.

On this morning — it was perfect.

Sunny Morning Enlightenment

Every ride is different. If they weren’t, I would have lost interest in riding a long time ago. My attention can’t be held by the machine I ride. It’s just a tool necessary in being a rider. In the pantheon of cosmic questions, albeit a minor one, is “Why do I ride?”. The answer isn’t important but it has fueled some mental gymnastics on my identity as a rider. On this day I experience a little riding enlightenment.

Scooter rider? Vespa rider? While enjoying a morning ride I realized there’s a difference between someone who identifies with a particular riding machine and someone who’s a rider.

I’m a rider. I just happen to ride a Vespa scooter.

Morning Glow

I’m pretty sure of the five senses, sight exerts the most power in my life. It accounts for the lifelong fascination with photography and catalogs the bulk of my memories. When I grow antsy at home, the phrase most likely to pass my lips is, “I need to get out and see something.”

Stopped along a road that wound past a local farm I wished I knew how to paint. The light was at once soft yet bright, and the color of grass, soil and sky glowed. When I ride, I enjoy seeing things.