Lost in Thought
In My Head
Finding this sign on the back of a Honda Metropolitan scooter had me wondering if my recent tendencies to be lost in thought were a result of not riding the Vespa enough. It’s been sitting quietly in the garage sucking electrons from a Battery Tender for over a week now. The weather has been fine and I certainly could make the time but still it sits.Continue Reading
Finding the Past
Love at First Sight in 2007
Doing a little housekeeping in Adobe Lightroom, I stumbled upon the first picture I made of my 2006 Vespa GTS 250ie scooter. It was shot in the shop at Kissell Motorsports, prepped and ready for me to take it home. One of the cool things about going through digital images, or any photographs for that matter, is finding the past.
My friend Paul had driven me to pick it up and was admiring a Ducati motorcycle — a family of machines that he would eventually buy into to the tune of at least three different motorcycles I can remember.
For me, I was smitten by the lines and shine of the Vespa scooter. And committed to a long term relationship because of how it was to ride. I still have the scooter, a little less shiny and rougher around the edges, but I’m still in love.
Continue ReadingRide in the Country
Let the Ride Begin
My friend Paul and I planned a short ride in the country culminating in breakfast and a return home. Can’t always go on long adventures. For awhile it seemed like I could never manage much more than a few dozen miles at a time.
So breakfast as the goal and a short ride as the approach would have to be enough as we gathered on Main Street in Boalsburg.
Continue ReadingSeeing With New Eyes
“The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”
Marcel Proust, Novelist (1871-1922)
Channeling Proust
Don’t remember the last time I’ve ridden through a new landscape, one I’ve not ridden through or near many times. But I am familiar with the idea of seeing with new eyes. One of the mesmerizing aspects of riding is how often the rarefied, highly focused visual attention to detail to the road opens a door to noticing much more. And in those moments the detail and emotion of even the most familiar places reveal new secrets. Rain, mist, heavy skies — they conspire to recreate the world. And while on the Vespa, I’m a witness. Add to it the free flow of thoughts and feelings and its no wonder a well-traveled path looks new.
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