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

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Searching for Treasure

June 14, 2016 by Scooter in the Sticks 15 Comments

Vespa GTS scooter at Jo Hays OverlookView From Above

You never know what you might find — evidence of something.

Or more.

Searching for answers to simple questions haunts my imagination. Looking out over the valley I call home I wonder how I’ve come to this moment in my life where I’ve stood on this overlook countless times and never really asked, “Why am I still here?”.

In a world in perpetual transition, with people moving rapidly from place to place, changing jobs, friends and families. I’ve worked for the same employer for 42 years.

I feel as if I’ve become an anachronism living here for so long. Sitting in a cafe during the middle of the afternoon, alone with these thoughts as I write, it comes to me. I’m searching for treasure. Not gold or silver, but rather moments in time where I recognize something that makes me smile, or wonder at the beauty, or just suddenly feel the flame of life leap up from my chest and utter to myself, “Holy shit!”.

I’m sure that’s how it was as I stood looking out over the valley on that cool, beautiful morning.

Vespa GTS scooter along mountain road

Rambling on a Vespa

Winding through the mountains and forests of central Pennsylvania has moved from coincidence to obsession. A thrill persists in the aloneness found in these places with space to think and dream about nothing and everything. Riding the Vespa has opened the doors to a search I was struggling toward for a long time before I started riding.

The scooter has a simple elegance in it’s design and utility as a vehicle to transport a rider physically, and more remarkably, spiritually.

This little machine is a fine companion.

blue sky with clouds and con trailsLook Up Once in Awhile

Not everything important is on the road ahead.  Or even to the left or right.  I try and take time to look up from time to time.  On clear days the blue sky is dazzling; so different from the night sky dripping with stars.  As a kid I would strain at night to see to the edge of the universe.  Now I understand the meaning of eternity.

And then off I go ducking the scooter left and right through tight curves and imagine a barn swallow gliding over fields and pastures.

Vespa GTS scooter on the summit of Jacks MountainAmiable Vagabond

Kim compared me to one of our dogs this evening — Iggy Pup.  He was an American Foxhound who was always searching for treasure — rabbits, deer, food, and myriad attractions only a dog can appreciate.  He had little interest in people save for those who fed him and kept his nose to the ground.

I’m like Iggy when I ride.  People don’t account for much of my interest.  Stopped at the summit of Jacks Mountain I forced myself to walk across the road to say hello to three riders.  Two were on large scooters, a Yamaha Majesty and a Suzuki Burgman.  The third was riding a Harley Davidson of some kind.  Big one.  After some brief discussion of the fine weather, where we were riding to and from, and some general chatter about being safe I was drained.  Like Iggy I was more interested in the rabbit I hadn’t found yet.

They were all surprised to learn how fast the Vespa scooter could move.

Everyone always is.

Vespa GTS scooter along a mountain roadThrough the Mountains

Pennsylvania has mountains.  Not by Colorado or Alaska standards.  But for someone from Illinois or Nebraska, we have mountains.  The roads are good and the views open to a wider world.  And trees everywhere provide a sense of wilderness that you don’t get motoring along through the agricultural valleys.

Vespa next to barn with biblical saying painted on itIn the Scooter’s Dreams the Road Goes on Forever

The road will end.  And I believe there is more afterwards.  The night sky tells me that as does the immeasurable complexity I see all around me.  I’ve ridden by this sign before but this was the first time I stopped to make a photograph.  Not so much to share here but as an acknowledgement of faith — fealty to an intuitive understanding I’ve long avoided.

Searching for treasure perhaps.

Vespa GTS scooter on the road to Shade Gap, PennsylvaniaOn the Road to Shade Gap, Pennsylvania

Riding south along US522 pushed me into a more rustic area of Pennsylvania, one full of legend and mystery for me.  In 1966 America was held spellbound by the kidnapping of 17-year-old Peggy Ann Bradnick which led to the largest manhunt in U.S history at the time.  “The mountain man got Peggy Ann!”, the cry of her younger brother as William Hollenbaugh dragged her off into the dense woods as she and her siblings were walking home from the school bus stop.  Walter Cronkite provided nightly updates on the search which lasted a week.

I sense bad energy here.  I’ve heard stories of serpent handling churches and the Klan.  None of it may be true, but it’s in my head.

History.

Vespa GTS scooter and covered bridgeCovered Bridges

For as many of these sorts of bridges that are indicated on maps I’ve encountered very few.  I’m not doing something right.  Don’t want to turn into a bridge chaser but may make some more deliberate efforts to explore these throwbacks to a simpler time.

160610_vespa_ride036Visual Monotony

The trek from Shade Gap to Mifflintown was nearly 40 miles of nothing — farm after farm after farm. The boredom felt during this stretch of the ride could have been the result of an aching shoulder or a growling stomach.  The road just stretched on and on…

Vespa GTS scooter along Juniata River road near Lewistown, Pennsylvania

Lunch and Homeward Bound

Stopped to pick up a sandwich for lunch to eat along the road in the shade.  Poison ivy kept me dining upright but it was still a fine way to take a meal on the road.  Two vehicles passed by during the 45 minutes I was here, a road wandering along the Juniata River headed toward Lewistown, Pennsylvania.

With a couple hours of riding ahead before arriving home I was happy to have the chance to explore a bit more along the road.

And continue searching for treasure.

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Alone on the Road

November 8, 2015 by Scooter in the Sticks 25 Comments

Vespa GTS on a rural roadRiding alone has curative powers for my irritated mind.  Destination or route don’t seem to matter as much as being alone with my thoughts.  Being alone isn’t as much a desire as it is a need.  Without recurring doses of time alone I get:

  • irritable
  • grumpy
  • disagreeable
  • out of sorts
  • quick-tempered
  • cranky

Basically a pain in the ass.

At some level I probably recognized this personal quality and adjusted my interests and time to satisfy the need to be alone.  Walking, hiking, wandering with a camera and now riding.  A few miles on the scooter and the world begins to make sense.  Or at least my restless thinking begins to calm down.

This morning it was cold when I left the house with the temperature at 41F.  Destinations rolled through my head as I pushed the Vespa out of the garage but none fired enough neurons to form a plan.  A plan isn’t really necessary when being alone is the goal.

Vespa GTS 250 along Spring CreekMost of the leaves are down now and we could see snow at any time.  The days continue to shorten and already I’ve gone to work and returned home in the dark.  This morning I took a short ride just to soak up some sunshine and embrace the day.  I’ve been by this place many times but I’ve still not really seen it.  When asked if I bore of riding the same paths I always think of the photographer, Josef Sudek, who during the Nazi occupation of Prague spent years photographing in his little studio and window and made a remarkably complex and rich collection of photographs.

There’s much more to see on the roads I travel.

large pumpkin statue made of round hay balesI never saw this hay bale pilgrim all ready for Thanksgiving.  Someone spent some time and effort putting it together including the use of hydraulics considering the weight of a round bale of hay.

Lots to see on the road.

Vespa GTS 250 scooter in a field under a blue sky with cloudsA perfect morning.  Looking at the scooter in such an idyllic setting it’s hard for me to understand why anyone would oppose someone learning to ride.  Even when considering more traffic intensive places the question persists.

I’ve heard a resistant spouse or lover raise the danger question fearing the almost certain death that accompanies riding.  It may present as “we have children” or “I had a friend who rode…”.  I understand the concern and I’ll be the first to admit that riding is more dangerous than driving a car.  But there are other points to consider.

Who is taking the greater risk?  A distracted driver, frustrated and in a hurry to beat traffic or a rider focused on the road, relaxed and happy?

And who is a better partner, parent or lover?  The angry driver who comes home wound tight or the rider who arrives home with a measure of serenity mixed with pleasure?

Vespa along rural roadI like to think riding has made me a better person.  I certainly feel lighter and happier after a ride, even a short one through ordinary places, alone on the road, alone with my thoughts.

bagel and tea at the Pump Station CafeAt the end of the ride I stopped at the Pump Station Cafe to make a few notes and read a few more pages from Thomas Merton’s Thoughts In Solitude.

Like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values, it takes some work to understand and for some the Christian perspective can be a problem.  Even though Merton was a Trappist monk, his writing kept his religion personal and never felt as if he were preaching.  The first book I read by Merton was The Seven Storey Mountain, a fascinating story of Merton’s withdrawal from the world and into a monastic order of silence.

It’s safe to read — I wouldn’t fear abandoning your worldly possessions to become a monk.  And besides, if you have a scooter or motorcycle, you don’t really need a monastery.

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