Exploring life on a Vespa, Royal Enfield Himalayan, Honda Trail 125, and a Kawasaki W650
It’s hard to know while pushing the scooter out of the garage what kind of ride it will be. Some miles from home, standing alone along the cool waters of Spring Creek, I’m content to be an observer, a wanderer, going nowhere but somewhere. Deep inside a lust for life is emerging. What’s important and energizing is becoming clear.
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The light at dawn, I’m convinced, has a special power to renew and restore the spirit.
Glow to gleam and on to dazzling light as I push the Vespa scooter into the driveway for a short ride to town. Sunbeams, medicine for the mind, food for the body, I stand a bit taller in the radiance that’s nature’s gift to humanity.
A simple event. A fine way to begin the day. My love of sunlight.
Heliophilia.
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The scooter is the lightest it will be all year. The first rides after removing the winter protection from the scooter. The machine feels as if it’s floating over the road, nimbly dodging patches of gravel and pavement holes and cracks from a too harsh winter. And with it all goes a lightness of being that’s nearly beyond description. How do you tell someone of a smile wrapped around a heartache fired by a sense of freedom felt while bathed in wind and light.
I no longer manufacture reasons to ride. More often than not I say to my wife, “I’m going for a scooter ride.” She understands that I get something from them even if she can’t experience the feelings first hand. The rides of early spring bring a new optimism and hope for better things ahead. Winter quickly burns from memory as the scooter travels through a complex mix of birdsong, fragrances of flowers and moist earth.
Astonishment rides along with me as I drink in the spring.
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Have you ever been scared during a ride? I’m not talking about the fear resulting from near collisions or sudden obstacles in the road. I’m referring to the psychic uneasiness that provides the fertile bed for scary stories and the darkness lurking within. It’s perhaps summed up best in the opening narration of the Twilight Zone:
“There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.”
Imagination. It provides the bright, happy thoughts of rides and adventures. And it can transform a sunny day ride into something unsettled, haunted and uncomfortable.
On a ride last fall with my friend Andy Heckathorne that’s exactly what happened. You never know how things will go when you’re out riding a Vespa scooter.
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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.
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