Scooter in the Sticks

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

Remembering to Live

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An email arrived today with a link to a video that’s a powerful reminder of how unfortunate circumstance can insidiously rob a person of joy and experience.  It might whisper a frightening refrain about safety, or a smug conversation about acting your age, perhaps a response to illness or age that seems too much to bear.  Whatever thief steals through the night of existence, it’s important to at least have our eyes open to the possibility that we can make different choices — some large, some small.

I’ve posted this video several times before.  Each time I watch it my throat tightens, part in anger towards a world that often devalues a person as they wear on in years, and part because I feel the exhilaration of saying “Hell no, I will not go quietly into the night!”.  So for anyone needing a reminder of the power inherent in each of us I share this video.

I hope I’m able to ride at 80, to have the good fortune to be physically and mentally able to embrace a last ride.

Ride safe.

Simplification of Life

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Vespa GTS scooter

After a long week where the world feels like it’s closing in on you it’s nice to be going for a ride on the Vespa.  Simple, direct, with few cares or worries.

Riding makes me think of the words of Henry David Thoreau:

“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.”

A Vespa is part of my own simplification of life.

Life on the Road at Sixteen

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Vespa scooter in rising sunRiding is always peaceful, drenched in solitude, with every care and concern washed away by mechanical sorcery and the rush of air through the mind.  That’s what I tell myself when I think about riding.  Standing in the middle of the road making a picture of the Vespa scooter as the morning sun sweeps across the world everything seems organized and correct with life unfolding exactly as required for me to be happy, joyous and free.

I realize I have considerable capacity for self-delusion.

The feeling persists though and I’m drawn to the road for another fix, contriving reasons to ride, and for those times I can’t ride I descend into obsessively reading ride reports and forum posts on the latest gimmicks and gadgetry for the scooter, doing anything to stay connected to the rush.

This behavior is not new and has endured since childhood.  Life on the road at sixteen was different superficially — I was focused on a 1962 Ford Falcon instead of a Vespa, but the appetite to be on the road was no different than it is now though at the time I did not realize I was hooked on seeing what’s over the next rise in the road, around a sweeping curve, or when unknown paths will take me.  I wonder if my need for having time alone was not forged behind the wheel of the Falcon and refined through the years up to this life on a Vespa.

Most days, I still feel like a kid.

 

Experiencing the World

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Soybean field in morning sun

A crisp fall morning, dew clinging heavily to soybean pods as sunlight works to burn away morning fog, these are the things that kindle the desire to be riding into a new day.  The journey from bed to the road isn’t always easy; the desire to sink into bed just a bit deeper, a while longer is strong.  Following my disposition I would probably never see a sunrise or experience the mysteries of  dawn.  This morning I had chores to do but was glad to be out on the road to be experiencing the world.

Writer Joyce Carol Oates has commented on the concealed benefits of chores:

As a farm girl, even when I was quite young, I had my ‘farm chores’ – but I had time also to be alone, to explore the fields, woods and creek side. And to read.

I have to agree — riding my Vespa to do chores and errands almost always provides those things.

Vespa GTS in the fogA longer than normal walk with an insistent dog got me on the road later that I would have liked.  The sun had already burned off the heavier fog that can completely shroud this area.  It did not diminish the quiet though to be alone with my thoughts and explore the place where I live.

Cornfield in fog

Autumn is screaming.  Farmers are chopping corn and the leaves have already dropped from the ash trees next to my house.  Before long there will be snowflakes in the air.  Still, it’s worth stopping and looking around.  I remember the first time I make a photograph of this particular field nearly twenty years ago and it still holds the same visual attraction.  I’ve parked the Vespa here many times so I could walk around and wonder what I’m seeing.

Vespa GTS in a foggy field

Opportunities to explore and make photographs were hampered this morning by the influx of traffic into the valley for Penn State’s homecoming football game.  I didn’t want to cope with the tens of thousands of vehicles that fill the roads and streets during the run up to the game so I put the camera away and turned towards State College, Pennsylvania to take care of a few errands.

Farm field near State College, Pennsylvania

Had to stop to make one last picture before heading into the gauntlet of football traffic and hopes of a loaf of Gemelli’s french country bread.  No luck on that score then on to Wiscoy for Animals for a back of bird food and on home to relax.  It’s dark now but the effects of the ride linger.  Can’t wait for the morning and one more chance to move through the world…

Riding a Vespa on Gravel

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Vespa GTS scooter on gravel roadMade this picture of my Vespa GTS 250ie on the way home from work.  Fortune provides myriad paths to ride from the superslab to grass footpaths.  A favorite is the gravel roads leading across Penn State’s east side farmlands that wind through field and dell as the sun sinks low in the sky.  On top of the lovely scenery is a chance to practice riding in the loose stuff, gravel that changes from packed hardness to loose mounds of limestone that make the Vespa float and stumble like a Saturday night drunk.  Years and miles of practice have done much to boost my confidence in riding a Vespa on gravel.

More than a few have asked me about it raising concerns ranging from dropping the scooter to grit and dust being sucked into the engine. While it’s certainly possible to dump the scooter in the gravel (I have some friends that have done it with their motorcycles) I’ve not yet done it myself.  I’ll credit a careful, chicken-like approach, to all things new related to riding.  I go slow, sometimes stopping to assess the situation, ponder approaches, and then get back on the scooter to slowly engage.  I can remember the first times I rode on gravel and thinking it was absolutely the worst decision because of how uncomfortable it felt. Keeping at it, practicing, exploring gradual increases in speed and technique, led to a comfortable existence on gravel.

The same approach was employed for the motorcycles I’ve ridden in similar environs though bigger tires and wheels have a marked advantage over the little tires on the scooter.  I know motorcycle riders like to think there’s a hierarchy of skill that has a motorcycle higher up the evolutionary scale but when it comes to gravel and any kind of off-road riding, the scooter is at the top of the pyramid.  It’s just harder to manage.

Every ride to work is an opportunity to practice something.  One day it might be letting go of some nasty thinking, another how to squeeze a little more speed out of a gravel road ride…