Scooter in the Sticks

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

Swear an Oath

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I swear I will turn off my cellphone when I get in the car.

As much as I grumble about others using their cellphones while driving I use mine too — kidding myself that it’s safe because I have it tucked into the visor on speaker phone.
I read an article in the New York Times this evening that was a bit sobering. The article is called Drivers and Legislators Dismiss Cellphone Risk.
Read it. And better yet turn off your cellphone I guess. I know how easy it is to rationalize it being safe or necessary. A real time saving multitasking life extending invention. I’ve said those things. I don’t believe them anymore. So I’ll make a change.
I swear.

Revisited: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

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How many riders have a copy of Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance on their bookshelf? How many more, like me, have struggled with the text, the philosophy, and failed to make it to the end of the book? The pages turn easily for me when Pirsig describes the ride, the road and the people he encounters. But I bog down in his discussions of the metaphysics of quality. And I wouldn’t finish despite thinking it was a great book. Until now. Until I happened upon Mark Richardson’s book Zen and Now.

It felt good to read that Richardson struggled with Pirsig’s book just like I did. Many attempts at it, a bit farther through and then bogging down. Zen and Now is Richardson’s excellent riding story and interpretation of Pirsig’s book. After I finished reading it I picked up Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, read it from cover to cover, and got it. Knew what it meant and decided again what a great book it is.

Richardson decides to ride the same route, visit the same places as much as possible as Pirsig and his son did that summer in the summer of 1974. His book not only provides the kind of vicarious experience that a good writer and rider can produce it does an amazing job putting the Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance in a context that means something to my life and riding. Many riding books and stories push me as a reader to the sidelines as the author plays out the story on a stage. Richardson does something different. He brings me onto the stage and I feel as if I am part of the trip.

I don’t often recommend books but this one is special. Check out Richardson’s Web site for more information or click the Amazon link below to buy it. (If you do I may make my first 25 cents from Scooter in the Sticks!)


Kick Starting the 3 Prints Project

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Some of you might have wondered what has happened with the 3 Prints Project. Due to circumstances beyond my control, my dog has been eating my prints, there was a storm, no a flood, a tornado, locusts, it’s not my fault that I haven’t been shooting any film.

Well, I have shot some but have not ventured into the darkroom. Summer is a busy time for me and I just haven’t had time. And once I step away from the routine I am one difficult boy to get back in gear. But Gordon and I have continued to meet almost every Sunday morning and I am ready to start up again. So perhaps this time next week there will be more real live silver prints. None of this digital nonsense…

It is nice to take the scooter out on a sunny morning for a short ride. This one to the Pump Station is really short since it is less than a mile from my house. But after photo talk, bagel, juice, tea and a scone I had plans for a short ride before tackling some garden work.

No Vespa pictures on the ride. As lovely as things were the sunshine leaves me cold photographically sometimes. I did marvel at this lone tree though. I have a lot of lone tree pictures.

This evening I had to ride into town and parked in this lovely Motorcycle Only space. Not usually my first choice of parking in town but always nice to have. And on a Sunday afternoon there are few machines to crowd me.
All that’s left to do this evening is drop my Ford Ranger off for the Pennsylvania Safety Inspection. The last time my truck visited the mechanic it cost me $2800 dollars. I expect to get off cheap this time!

Evening Rapture

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It’s not always about the Vespa and riding…

An evening in the garden with Kim. Both of us with small digital cameras sketching the surroundings. We can both get lost in the image making process. It’s interesting how differently we see the same place.

This season has been exceptional for plants. The temperatures have remained mild and there has been plenty of moisture for growth. Our garden quickly becomes a jungle of plant growth if neglect it long.

Bluebells have appeared likely seeded from birds that visit. As the light fades the flowers glow.

Last night we visited the People’s Choice Festival in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. After all the artists and crafts people closed up shop for the night we remained to shoot more pictures. Kim has been experimenting with a new Panasonic Lumix camera. Her photographic approach is less constricted than my own. She isn’t concerned about all the “rules” that I learned over the years that can choke away creative exploration. She had a show recently of collage and photography and sold more photographs there that I have in my entire career. I can learn a lot from her.

The Vespa did enter the picture late in the evening when we decided some ice cream was required. A ride in cool night air under a full moon. And a return home with Moose Tracks and Peanut Butter Cup.

Evening rapture…

What Price Freedom?

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Independence Day.

I’m on the road going nowhere for no reason other than my own enjoyment. Despite the fuel sipping economy of the Vespa I know in the long run this probably isn’t a sustainable model. Someday it might not make sense to burn gasoline for recreation. Maybe.

On Independence Day I wondered if riding was an expression of freedom or merely a distraction from the real meaning. Military themes and observances are common here. A monument in remembrance of one of the first unit organized in the Continental Army. Maybe this has something to do with the meaning of Independence Day.

Tanks and other implements of war stand as silent reminders to the price paid for the landscape in which we can express our independence.  The price is hard to comprehend.

Markers stand among the gravestones in the older cemeteries indicating those citizens who served or fell in wars and conflicts throughout American history. When I think of July 4th I often imagine the battles so many endured or died in to gain and protect our independence. At times I feel I am not living up to my responsibility to protect it. It seems like there is a responsibility that comes with independence off the battlefield that makes demands everyday. It’s probably more than imagining I can do whatever I want.

Probably.

Riding stirs my thoughts and I wrestle with the meaning of Independence Day. As I write this I believe the meaning is clear. Freedom is change, or rather the courage to change. That was true in 1776 and remains so today. The world changes. Independence might be more a flow than a point. Maybe it mirrors what I like about riding — the journey is the important part and not the destination.

Here’s to all of you and best wishes for your own celebrations of Independence Day and hopes that it stays with you every day.

Scooter in the Sticks

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

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