Scooter in the Sticks

Exploring life on a Vespa Scooter and Royal Enfield Himalayan motorcycle.

Encountering Harley Davidson Motorcycles

by 24 Comments

Vespa GTS encountering a line of Harleys in Boalsburg, PennsylvaniaBaby Boomers

I read a story recently about the problems facing Harley Davidson — an aging customer base with dim prospects for replacements.  Same for all the big manufacturers.  While we aging riders with money (or credit worthiness) continue to support our brands, there are fewer young people interested in riding or have the disposable income to spend on a motorcycle.

All this came back to me on Friday night when I ran down to Duffy’s Tavern in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania to pick up dinner and found a queue of Harleys lined up out front.

Looking at the assembled machinery I could only tell one thing for sure — there were a bunch of old folks around.

Managed to grab dinner and scoot away before detection.

Scooter in the Sticks — Again

by 13 Comments

Vespa GTS scooter and Mt. NittanyVespa repairs complete

Back on the road.  Cold ride home this evening.  Scooter purrs quietly and smooth as butter with a new clutch and drive assembly.  The Heidenau K61 tires are sweet.

Time for a long ride…

Things You Should Know About Riding Scooters

by 36 Comments

Vespa GTS scooter coming off the Allegheny frontScooters are great on the road

Aside from “How many miles per gallon do you get?” and “How fast will that thing go?”,  the most common discussion I have concerning the Vespa focuses on a belief that it’s great in town but you need something different for “the road”.  It’s not hard to imagine the origins of this belief, at least in the United States, since almost all the marketing and promotion of scooters focuses on it’s utility in the city and frugal consumption of fuel.  The marketing agencies probably recognize the equally well ensconced belief of American riders that you need a liter sized engine or larger if you plan to do any serious riding.  Like riding 50 whole miles to breakfast with like minded bikers.

The reality is you can ride a scooter practically anywhere other than through deep water.  The Vespa GTS 250 scooter I own will cruise all day at 70 – 75mph on the freeway (shoot me if I regularly choose that route).  And on all other roads it is just fine.  All day long.

So if you think a scooter is only good for running down the street to pick up groceries (which it is) think again — men and women criss-cross the continent on scooters.

I made the above photograph after descending off the Allegheny Front and heading home on a road crossing Bald Eagle Ridge.  The Vespa didn’t blink being away from town. It will rip along at any legal (and some illegal) speeds making it a fine companion for anything from a Ducati to a Harley.

Vespa GTS scooter under a cloud filled skyYou can see the world on a scooter

I’ve ridden my Vespa to a lot of places in Pennsylvania.  It’s a great sightseeing machine that will take me and my gear (including food and water) anywhere I want to be.  Even if it’s a muddy field that I need to traverse to photograph a tree.

Whenever I start to think about longer scooter rides I always think about two riders who have pushed the scooter envelope:

Mike Saunders and his transcontinental scooter expedition on a 50cc Honda Ruckus

Mike Hermens and his trip across America and back on a Vespa GTS 300

Both these fellows, and a lot of other riders, have done big rides on their scooters and saw the world in the process.

This picture was made near the village of Rock Spring.  Turning off PA Route 45 I was surprised how watersoaked the field was.  Luckily the turf was thick and I didn’t have to content with the mud below.

Vespa GTS scooter on an unimproved township road in a forestScooters are OK off the pavement

While my Vespa GTS scooter is not a dirt bike it’s fine for wandering along the thousands of miles of dirt and gravel roads in Pennsylvania.  Don’t plan to jump or ride over logs or expect a soft ride when the road surface gets rough — the suspension was designed for pavement and reminds of that fact when you hit a rock or pothole unexpectedly.  More aggressive tires adds more stability and feel, especially in loose gravel.  If you go this route keep one thing in mind — it’s hard on the cosmetic appearance of the scooter.  Lots of scooter riders, particularly Vespa riders, keep their machines glistening in every detail.  Riding off the pavement will challenge that goal.

I made this photo on a road I had missed for years.  I passed the turnoff many times but a new township road sign caught my eye.  I must have thought it a private road in the past.  The township should have added “Dead End” to the sign post.  After wandering for some miles through the woods and up the side of the mountain I came to the end of the road — a big dog standing in my path probably saying in a canine thought wave, “MY property starts here.”

Luckily for me he was friendly and was content to watch me turn around and head back down the mountain.

Vespa GTS scooter parked along a rural roadScooters support contemplation

There are moments and places that reveal themselves during a ride that cry out, “Stop, look and listen!”.  I’ve encountered them many times and have learned to heed that call.  The words are loudest when I’m alone and traveling slowly, the landscape more a still life than a movie, and there’s time to hear the voice and stop.  Had I been racing along at 60mph I would be cresting the hill before I understood what was happening and unlikely to make a decision to turn around to see what just happened.

In this case I found a hardwood remnant from an agricultural past — those lone trees left in a field to park a team of horses in the shade when the farmer had lunch.  With air conditioned cabs and working draft horses relegated mostly to Amish and Mennonite communities those trees are confusing icons to more modern visitors. One thing I hadn’t counted on when I turned off the road — the tree capturing my attention — is the field had been heavily dressed with cow manure and the recent rain had left an inch of semi-liquid manure covering the ground.  Once you’re in it though what can you do.  Riding up the road I let the bottoms of my boots drag along the pavement to scrape as much manure away as I could.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll wash the scooter…

Scooter parked underneath a railroad bridgeScooters can take you to creepy places

Some places have bad energy and unfortunately the scooter has no warning system that signals their approach. On a rare occasion I stumble into a place that feels haunted by something dark.  After wandering along a narrow path through the woods I found myself beneath a railroad bridge still used by Amtrak and whatever commercial traffic crisscrosses Pennsylvania.

But something wasn’t right here.  I could feel it in my bones and a little voice was telling me I don’t belong here.  I made a few quick pictures but could not stop looking over my shoulder wondering when something would appear from the woods.  I heard no banjo music.  The Vespa scooter started and I left this place behind.

Vespa GTS scooter at a cross road.Scooters give you choices

A scooter gets you off the wheel and onto the road, away from the chains of responsible living and to places where you can make choices based, for once, on what you want.  Seems a rare occurrence.  Never happens in the car but time and time again I find myself standing in the middle of the road wondering which way I’ll go.

I wandered this intersection for about five minutes before getting on the scooter and turning around and heading down the road to the right.  When I got to this point I was planning to head straight.  Mental calculations told me the right=hand route was longer and would provide more riding time.

Just a few of the things you should know about scooters — Vespa or otherwise.  They’re not just good for town.  They’re good for the soul…

The Excuses We Make

by 39 Comments

Sunrise on the road with Vespa and DucatiOn a stop just after sunrise I realized how often during a ride I just want to look.  Not for a photograph or acknowledgement of a specific sight but just to absorb the world. Thinking about it I also realize how often some other activity got me to that place of looking — ride on the scooter, a journey to make photographs, or even a walk with the dogs.  Far less often is going out by myself for no other reason than to look.  I wonder if looking is nothing more than a pleasant side effect of other activities.

Paul Ruby with Ducati motorcyclePaul Ruby and I were on our way to breakfast when I stopped to make another photograph.  Neither of us had any idea where we would end up eating but were confident that something would reveal itself if we were patient.  During this stop I remembered sitting in the woods with my father, perhaps 45 years ago, while we were hunting squirrels. It was a fine fall morning with the woods glowing orange and yellow from the sun filtering through the leaves.  He told me he loved walking in the woods this time of year.  I recall thinking he never went into the woods except during hunting season and then only a few times.

Riding, photography, hunting — are these the excuses we make just so we can enjoy the world?

empty roadRoads lure me into secret journeys even when I know where they lead.  For a moment, especially when a new day is coming to life, they promise an unknown adventure just waiting for me to discover.  Those moments keep me coming back for more.  Keep me standing in the world and watching for nothing and for everything.

riding the vespa scooter and Ducati motorcycle on an abandoned roadBreakfast was still somewhere in the future when a paved road gave way to an abandoned one and potholes and decaying pavement from years of neglect became the challenge of the moment.  This stretch of road lies between the Loganton exit on Interstate 80 and Watsontown to the east.  I never knew this road existed and suspect it was abandoned when the interstate highway was opened.  Twenty miles of slowly devolving asphalt and gravel with no cell service or traffic.  A single overhead electric wire ran the length and appeared to be in use though I never saw any reason for it.

My father only walked or embarked on a journey if there was a good reason to do so.  Standing around and admiring a view was not a good reason.  I’m trying to remember the last time I walked out the door and down the road without a reason or purpose.  Have I forgotten the joy of childhood — doing nothing?

Ducati motorcycle and Vespa scooter along a creekAs a kid I could have spent all morning playing in and around a creek like this.  As an adult I have things to do and places to go.  Not even enough time to pull off my boots and socks and soak my feet in what I’m certain was a frigid water.

I do remember doing nothing.  The last time Kim and I were in Maine and I sat along the coast in the morning watching the sunrise over the ocean and suddenly being aware the sun was up and it was getting hot, my mind wandered and led me into some sort of trance.  On a good ride something similar can happen.

Dexters RestaurantDerrick’s Restaurant in Dewart, Pennsylvania was our breakfast destination — a recommendation from a fellow some miles down the road at a gas station.  Sixty-eight miles from home we pulled into the parking lot to take our chances on a small local eatery.  Finding a nicely restored 1965(?) vintage Ford Falcon with a 302 V8 engine was an omen that we were at some sort of eclectic place of power.

breakfast at Derrick's RestaurantDerrick’s was one of the cozier, pleasant and odd places I’ve had breakfast.  It was a mix of Christian themes and Budweiser art. Paul commented on the menu prices that they were the lowest costs he had ever seen.

We ate well.

Vespa scooter on the roadAfter breakfast the sun had risen high enough into the sky to shred any vestige of magic from light and other illusions.  It was just hot and bright.  It did not deter us from adventuring on and discovering a small bakery in Muncy, Pennsylvania selling cowboy cookies or a variety of Amish buggies on the road.  But as Paul knows I’m not much interested in photographing during the bright days of summer.  So the ride continued another hundred miles before returning home to a lawnmower and excited dogs.

And I also carried home the thought that the excuses we make to get out into the world should be unnecessary.  Maybe it’s time to just walk out the door with nothing to do and nowhere to be — just like I did when I was nine years old.

That was freedom and I didn’t even know it.

Scrutinizing Vespa Riding

by 20 Comments

Emma has her eye on me.

baby in strollerGranddaughter Emma had a watchful eye on me today.  Not sure if it was my striking good looks, the bumblebee colored riding jacket, or interest in scrutinizing Vespa riding that had her attention.  The steady, thoughtful gaze had me wondering what was so special.

Vespa scooter parked in townFirst idea to come to mind was the difference between riding for pleasure and riding as general transportation.  Both are possible with a scooter or a motorcycle and the difference is really the choices made by the rider.  There are lots of pleasure riders in the world.  Perhaps the majority of riders fall into this category.

Riders who use their machines as transportation are common but in my opinion a decidedly smaller group.  I see few motorcycles in the grocery store parking lot or at the dry cleaners.  And I have to admit I don’t understand why.  A ride across town to pick up a loaf of bread at the bakery is just as satisfying as a ride across the valley to breakfast.  I’ve found extensive pleasure and solace riding to work or using the Vespa for errands and chores.

Pre de Provence Argan Body ButterOne stop allowed me to surprise Kim by picking up some PRE de PROVENCE Argan Body Butter — one of the preferred massage creams in our house.  It’s just the sort of thoughtful gesture riders make for their significant others.  The common misconception is that we are singularly and selfishly obsessed with riding at the exclusion of all other concerns and needs.

That’s a riding myth.

Vespa GTS scooter in Boalsburg, PennsylvaniaThe surprise was on me when I got home — Kim already had a supply of Argan Body Butter.  Riders are likely familiar with the welcome thrill of hearing they’ll have to mount up and head out into the world again to properly complete a task.

Back at Bella di Vita in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania I corrected the situation and acquired another spousal favorite.

150808_vespa006The correct choice in this case was a jar of Cote Bastide Fleurs D’Oranger Body Cream — an alternative and slightly more lavish choice.  But since it easily fits in the topcase of the scooter I figured what the heck.  Just another pleasant experience of riding.

Thinking back to my granddaughter Emma this is probably exactly the kind of thing she was thinking about when she was carefully scrutinizing Vespa riding.