Exploring life on a Vespa, Royal Enfield Himalayan, Honda Trail 125, and a Kawasaki W650
Warm weather has me on the road again. The act of riding reminds of the Vespa scooter as therapy. Whatever darkness descended in winter lightens and vanishes like smoke in the wind as I ride along country roads. Everything looks different. Brighter. The light is dazzling. The world is flush with the fragrances of spring. The Vespa works its magic on me.
Continue Reading
Not the sort of call you want to receive upon entering your house less than an hour after having an MRI. That’s the message my wife got in response to a search for why her back pain suddenly increased.
Funny what stands out the ER. Overhearing doctors discussing a helicopter to move her to a level one trauma center reinforced the seriousness of her situation. Eventually, a ninety minute ambulance ride with Vancomycin dripping into her arm made the move.
Five days in a hospital — IV antibiotics, biopsies, pathogen cultures, disagreeing medical teams, bad sleep and too much food changes you. Fatigue changes to exhaustion and you lose track of time. And there’s the watching, watching someone you love vulnerable to unseen demons. Bless the calm, gentle, compassionate nursing staff that seem expert at making sense of the chaos and bringing humanity to the bad dream.
Osteomyelitis. A spinal infection of bone and dura matter.
Home now and embarking on a different medical adventure. Forty days of four times daily infusions of IV antibiotics. Technology, a PICC line and a little training has me working toward my junior nursing badge. A few minutes ago I completed a midnight infusion followed by a saline flush and Heparin.
Perhaps as I get more comfortable with the schedule I can push the Vespa out for a ride. Three inches of snow covers the world right now but it can’t last. And I have material for posts going back to summer. Perhaps the current constraints will push to finish some stories.
Or not.
Just a few words to say I’m still breathing and my wife appears to be doing well.
I stood for awhile gazing at this copse of trees wondering what it was that I found so attractive. I’ve been here many times and have photographed it many times. After standing there for a few minutes I realized I was getting no where. And the camera hung limp in my hand, incapacitated by thought and descending into a rabbit hole where nothing good would happen. “Just take a picture and move on,” I said to myself. “You need to think less and work more.”
Think less. Work more.
My new mantra. Specifically it’s intended for the existential malaise I feel that keeps me from working with the camera. The mental critic that assures each scene I consider or print I make has already been done. And better. The critic goes on to remind me of the opportunities I’ve missed, my personal shortcomings, and the general futile game I’m playing when it comes to anything creative. Best I seek a position as a small cog in some unimportant machine.
The more sinister effect is how it can seep into every aspect of life from the huge mess I’ll make if I attempt to fix the leaking pipes in the basement to the folly of cleaning up the garage because it will just get messy again.
And that critic tells me how dangerous it is at my age to be riding a Vespa scooter and to blog anything about it is just ego run wild or screaming into the wind where no one is listening.
The only way to shut up that critic is to think less and work more.
Continue Reading
A year ago I was riding. Snow, sleet, ice — none of it seemed to interfere with me venturing out on the Vespa scooter. But now, well, I find myself completely disinterested in the cold or cold weather riding.
Continue Reading
Extra Rims to Mount Heidenau Snow Tires on the Vespa GTS ScooterFinally, after years of mucking around mounting and un-mounting tires, I bought a pair of used rims on eBay so I could permanently mount snow tires and make winter Vespa riding a little safer. Now I just have to swap wheels which is easier and faster. I’ve looked for sometime for some inexpensive rims. These arrived from Michigan (left) and California. I was surprised how beat the California rim looked with it’s completely worn out tire.
So I’m creeping slowing toward full readiness for winter.