Scooter in the Sticks

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

ABCD: A Bloggers Centerline Day

by 30 Comments

Today is May 1, 2011, now officially known as A Bloggers Centerline Day.  This moto-world event is the brainchild of Gary France, Harley Road King rider and author of USA Tour on a Harley-Davidson. Head over there to read the rules.  If your picture is the winner you’ll receive some cash.  But you need to do it today.  I had planned to post earlier about the contest but just forgot.  Really.  Wasn’t trying to minimize the competition…

So here I am, on the road I love so much.  When I left the house this morning I was a bit puzzled about where to shoot the picture.  Most of the quiet secondary road’s markings are more along the lines of roadkill than paint.  Persistence paid off and I was able to make a few shots.  Any of you who have made self portraits with a little point and shoot camera know what a pain it is to get the timer working, get the camera in postion, get yourself in position, and then wonder if the thing is going off.  And then up and check and do it all again.  By the third shot I was dead and on the road.

On into town to meet some friends for breakfast.  Sunday morning is quiet in State College.  Only the devout students are up this early.  Guess there aren’t any devout students.  At least not in the alley.

And one last shot on the way home.  Another road, another try.  With a belly full of eggs, ham, bacon, potatoes and toast, and a big glass of orange juice there was no way I was going to get down on the road again.  So here I am, on the centerline, my father’s scruffy old Wolverine boots, celebrating the first ABCD: A Bloggers Centerline Day.

Looking forward to perusing other blogs to see what kind of centerlines are in other parts of the world.

The Resistant Rider

by 7 Comments

My dog Junior watched with a forlorn look as I rolled the Vespa out of the garage.  The language barrier kept me from explaining I would only be gone a few hours, that there was work to do today that would keep me from riding longer, that I would be home soon to offer treats and tennis balls. Riding lust effectively inoculated me from any battered baby seal looks that Junior can muster.  I’m immune to canine manipulation.

The riding plan was loose, almost non-existent, a general direction and time constraint with plans to limit my stops for pictures.  Charlie6 of Redleg’s Rides inquired about the appearance of the Vespa GTS with the GIVI E370 topcase.  That request haunts some of these pictures.

From the moment I twisted the throttle I could feel a vague, mental discomfort about the road ahead.  Familiar, and not unlike what best-selling backpacking author Colin Fletcher describes as “Fletcheritis”, the anxiety a hiker feels before a big trip.

A recurring and scurvy condition (typically, a horrendous slump with variegated symptoms, uniformly exhausting and dire, or semi-dire) that oozes into existence at such moments of crisis.

And though I was only planning a trip of a few hours I could quickly tell my heart was elsewhere.  Too many thoughts in my head, too many stories swirling in my brain. 

A ride is a series of decision points, at least for me when it’s no longer a question of where to go but what to do.  A turn off into a field would offer a chance to consider the options.  The summer tires on the scooter are not nearly as good off the road as the winter tires I have been using for the past few months.  Made a note to be careful.

Another stop, another picture, and I surrender the riding plans and decide on breakfast instead.  I can ride another day.

Parked across the street from the Cafe on the Park in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, a familar breakfast stop. By this time my stomach has taken control from my brain and I’m nothing more than an automaton.

Only one biker in the place.  One of those bikers, the kind that have nothing in common with me.  And wear clothes with far more words on them than I’m comfortable with.  I have a black T-shirt on with the word “NO” in white letters across the chest.  It’s a work related thing.

Bacon, the candy of meat.  Breakfast erases just about any concern I have.  The only way this could have been better is if I was eating it after 120 run that was just the first of four riding legs before needing to be home at 4pm.  But that will have to wait for another day when I’m not suffering from psuedoriding relucto wimpism.

After renewing membership in the clean plate club I made plans to ride to the local farmers market to visit a tame animal the owner of the cafe described.  Seemed appropriate to visit a petting zoo since I didn’t appear too thrilled with riding.

In the park beyond the Vespa a group of Tai Chi practioners moved in slow motion.  For a moment the Vespa seemed overly powerful.  Just for a moment and then it returned to it’s utilitarian state.

This is Bentley, a 17 year old American Bison and his owner indicated he is tame, that she raised him by hand from two days old.  I inquired on the life span of a bison and was told he cold live for 40 years.  Since the owner was at the farmer’s market selling bison steaks and roasts I wondered to myself about his longevity until she interjected that Bentley isn’t worried.  He won’t end up on the table.

She shared another interesting factoid — the American Bison is the only land mammal that never gets cancer.  Did not know that.

Bought a sirloin steak and headed for home.  All plans for a nice long ride evaporated in a cloud of mental resistance.  Oh well, I had to go to work anyways…

Failure and Imagination

by 8 Comments


J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

I don’t often post non-riding items on Scooter in the Sticks but this video warrants a look.  Early this morning I watched author J.K. Rowling deliver a powerful message on the lessons of failure and the power of human imagination.  I expected Harry Potter but heard something more striking.  Rowling talked about imagination as a unique and special power.   

At the end of her address she offered a challenge to graduates that is equally appropriate to riders and their journeys.  Rowling  invokes the words of the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca:

“As is a tale, so is life, not how long it is but how good it is.”

So I guess I’ll continue to focus on the good trips.

I found this video quite by accident at Alison Day Designs.

Favorite Vespa Rides

by 10 Comments

After years of riding, writing and taking pictures it’s easy to loose track of individual rides.  I went through Scooter in the Sticks and picked out some of my favorite or more memorable experiences.  They aren’t Vespa reviews or anything like that.  Just reflections of the kind of experiences I have had.
I didn’t include any winter rides on the Vespa or motorcycle rides.   These are the rides that any Vespa owner could undertake without concern for rain, snow or ice. 

In my estimation riding is a little miracle accessible on a daily basis.  Hard to describe if you’ve never ridden before.  And if you have you probably have a collection of your own favorites.

A pre-dawn ride from State College, Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh to explore the landscape of my youth. A day of exploring and 320 miles of scooter adventure.

Heading south through Maryland and West Virginia for a pleasant 258 mile ride.

An overnight trip with my friend Paul through the Wilds of Pennsylvania.

A couple hundred miles of Vespa riding will change a person’s outlook.  Riding east towards Centralia and the Coney Island Lunch.

Solitary riding through the empty parts of Pennsylvania with a camera and desire to explore.

Relaxing on a Vespa LX150 through north central Pennsylvania.

A riding response to being characterized by another blogger as a curious toddler.

A picture story of a Vespa ride through the sticks.

Embracing the special riding qualities of a Vespa that make the world a little more exciting.

Fat, Happy and Sitting in Front of the Computer

by 25 Comments

Yesterday evening I stopped to inspect the artillery pieces that would be part of some Civil War event at the Pennsylvania Military Museum today.  The light was nice, drew out the Canon G9 to create the quintessential Civil War Vespa image only to find the SD card was absent from the camera.  Luckily the iPhone was in my pocket so I was able to satisfy my photographic hunger at some level.

It was just starting to rain so I hurried home to the warmth and protection afforded by middle class living.

This morning Junior and I visited the men huddled under a tent awning trying to stay warm and dry.  Weather makes friends of the worst enemies because I saw Union and Confederate soldiers in that group.  I asked how they keep their powder dry and was told the cannon charges were inside plastic bags and then wrapped in aluminum foil.  With aluminum foil not being invented until 1910 and who knows when the first plastic bag appeared I wanted to ask a question.  But Junior insisted we move on to the ball throwing part of the day.

He remains impervious to the rain, wind, and creeping cold that these kind of days deliver.

Anyways, I have been getting a lot of grief lately about passing on that 1988 BMW R100 GS.  Some of it from myself too.  One thing that comes up over and over is the limited capabilities of the Vespa.  Having put over 30 thousand miles on modern Vespa scooters I can find only two limiting factors:

1.  It is impossible to ravage the speed limits on the Interstate highway system.  Just not enough power.

2.  Stream crossing ability is limited.

3.  Riding over big obstacles is problematic.

Other than that you can pretty much go anywhere and do anything that time, money, and skill will allow.  And I won’t go into the many other things a Vespa can accomplish that I don’t ever see anyone on motorcycles doing around here.

Whenever I hear the limitations argument I always think of Walter Muma, the fellow who rode his Honda moped from Detroit to Alaska and back — 11,500 miles.  And he did it in 1978 when those Alaskan roads really were adventure territory.

I understand why people want big cushy bikes — it makes things easier and more comfortable.  And it allows you to compress distance when you have limited time.  And specific machines can enable to to pursue certain kinds of performance if that’s your goal.


Calgary photographer and Vespa rider Sergei Belski recently completed a 4400 mile trip on his GTS 250ie.  Looks a lot like mine.  And he travels light.  Check out his site.  He makes some nice riding pictures.

It’s stuff like this that makes me smile a bit when guys pigeonhole the scooter as an “around town” thing.  It’s that kind of thought process that has them thinking a Harley 883 is a “girl’s” bike or that anything less that 1000cc is underpowered.  Exactly how much do these guys weigh?

So, just sitting here, eating, wasting time, watching the rain come down, and waxing philosophically about riding and adventure.  Hell, I should gear up and go for a ride.  We’re only supposed to get another half inch of rain in the next hour or so.

How bad can it be?  I’ve got those great German tires on the Vespa after all…