Scooter in the Sticks

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

Scooter in Fog

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Lone tree in the fogMemories in the Mist

Every dog I’ve owned for the past 25 years has peed on this tree.  I’ve walked past it hundreds, if not thousands, of times and it seems unchanged.  I can’t say the same myself. Riding to work on another foggy morning the Vespa seems to have a mind of its own — turning and taking me where it will.  It’s especially strong with a scooter in fog.

Fog.

It’s not an ideal riding environment.  Perhaps dangerous.  Definitely presents more risk that any rider, scooter or motorcycle, should consider.

Vespa GTS scooter and traffic in fogFog and Traffic

I believe there’s no single right decision regarding riding in fog.  Or rain, darkness or wind for that matter.  Some riding skill books suggest only riding in warm weather during daylight hours with nothing affecting traction or visibility.  That path has the least risk.  One could go further and add no rush hour traffic, no heavy traffic, no high speed, no ill cared-for roads.  The list of risks is long.

Very long.

I was talking with a friend yesterday who moved from central Pennsylvania to a place north of New York City.  He described the difference in riding as one of anxiety producing risk where speed limits are ignored and everyone is in a competition to get ahead.  Literally.

Different risk.  Different choices.

Standing along the busiest route to work on a foggy morning I realize there are unique aspects of my riding environment that allows me to mitigate my risk more than my friend in New York.  For those considering riding in fog here are some things in play for me:

  1. Other drivers are largely non-aggressive.  If I slow down for the fog they do as well and not pressure or tailgate.
  2. There are plenty of opportunities for me to pull over and allow traffic to pass and then get back on the road.  This isn’t possible in other parts of the country, especially in more urban areas where traffic never breaks.
  3. There are many ways to get where I’m going.  Often roads with little to no traffic.

Vespa GTS scooter in foggy forestScooter in Fog

I can’t resist.  The visual stories are too strong.  My imagination overpowers reason and I find myself in magical realms.  When I grow up perhaps it will be different.

There’s fog on the mountains this morning.  The clock counts down to a trip to the chiropractor and then a day of script writing.  The fog sirens are loud though.

Drifting Through Fog

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Vespa GTS scooter on fog shrouded forest roacForest Magic

The dogs begin stirring before dawn, when they hear the birds come to life in the garden.  I play dead to delay getting up to take them outside.  Except when there’s fog.

I was drifting through the fog with plans to ride somewhere for breakfast.  To manage the risk and lack of visibility, I choose the roads less traveled.  Secondary roads.  Forest roads.  Paths.  You can spend more time entertaining your imagination on those roads.

And with fog, the world transforms itself into myth and legend.  And the early part of my trip had a little forest magic too.

Vespa GTS scooter in the fogSilent Landscape

There’s an uncanny stillness to a forest in fog. It can be a lovely escape from the noise of the world or swollen with anxiety over some unseen danger.  Today I was somewhere in the middle.  I tend to trust my gut with riding related choices and that little voice was whispering to turn around.

I had planned to ride along the ridge, head east over the mountain and then south toward breakfast in the next county.

Vespa GTS scooter on foggy gravel roadRetreating from Gravel

My route would require 20 miles of gravel roads, something I would normally not think twice about.  But my new Heidenau tires don’t like gravel.  With the scooter moving around in even the lightest stones at 15mph it would be more of a grind than I wanted to take.

The Vespa is not a dirt bike.  With the right tires it could easily move at 40mph.  But uncertain traction and a diminished view of the road surface seemed a poor mix.

Yellow lines on foggy road with Vespa GTS scooterEternity in Every Moment

On a foggy day the road can seem as if it goes on forever.  I’ve learned that every moment counts on a ride.  For safety and as opportunities of discovery.  Maybe that’s why I don’t pass up opportunities to ride in the fog.

Vespa in the Fog

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Vespa at a rural intersection on a foggy morningFoggy Morning

This photo was made on the way to work just a mile from home on a less than direct route.

There’s a ritual that blooms each morning with the return to consciousness. Eyes scan the room, hand reaches for the water glass and the dog stirs in anticipation of a new day. Simple moments gather momentum from bed to shower and on toward the back door; two dogs now prancing as if today will be the best day ever.

Ever.

During those moments I glance out the window, a sneak peak of the story that might unfold in the next minutes and hours. When I see fog, like the dogs, I prance. Edging toward the end of the 62nd year on earth I feel lucky that I can be pushed to prance. The crashing of waves on a rocky coast, a sudden rainbow after a storm, tall white clouds against a strong blue sky — each has the power to unleash a dancing sprite that still breathes inside. Riding a scooter has added years to that dancer’s life.

And my own.

The prospect of riding to work in the fog causes all to fade in anticipation of the grey shrouded world of mystery and imagination. An ordinary, pedestrian trip from home to office becomes an epic journey of struggle and revelation.

I love riding a Vespa in the fog.

Vespa and fog breaking over a mountainClearing Skies

Some of the most dramatic landscapes are revealed beneath a clearing sky.  Sometimes those moments are fleeting as the clouds break for an instant allowing the light to change.  And then it’s gone.  I’ve watched the weather move through the Nittany Valley for over 40 years and it still holds my attention.

Riding a Vespa in the fog provides more opportunity to see the landscape that I ever did in a car.

Vespa in the fog along a rural roadAlong a Murky Road

Absent a horizon I can imagine roads stretching across great distances, I feel my spine stretch and stiffen, girding myself for adventure if only on a miniature scale. Riding has switched on genes first programmed when prehistoric ancestors pursued mastodons and saber toothed tigers — business of life and death that few riding on the roads of America ever approaches. For a few minutes I am more, greater than my self. Riding provides a lavish physical and emotional connection to the world. Fog transforms it to a realm of magic.

Vespa in the fog on a rural gravel roadRiding in the Fog

Let no rider be lured by fog’s siren song onto the rocks. There is much to tend in the real world — concerns for visibility both by the rider of others and others of the rider. Fogged visors and slick roads add to the challenge.

And the risk.

I never tire of considering risk. I value my life and respect the threats to it but I do not dwell on unfortunate coincidence or disaster. I never ask, “What if this happens to me?”. I always ask, “What if I have to stop riding?”

It’s a dark world in which I can’t ride. I know it will happen someday.  Choosing to stop riding is as puzzling to me as people who surrender their dog or cat to the pound because they purchased a new carpet. Things change.

Riding is indelibly etched in my DNA and has waited for decades to surface. There are no cures or 12 step programs. Only the burden of desire carried each day that claws inside whining and snarling to ride.

Fog only stirs the beast.

What ignites your riding desire?

Riding in Frozen Fog

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If you really want to know what Middle-earth is based on, it’s my wonder and delight in the earth as it is, particularly the natural earth.  — J.R.R. Tolkien

Meadow covered in ice crystals from a frozen fogAwakening from a dream only to find another.  For a week at the beginning of December each day began shrouded in fog and mist.  And on a few sub-freezing days the world was painted with ice crystals while riding in frozen fog.

I understand Tolkien’s wonder and delight at the world.  I need not go far to find it myself.  The Vespa has transported me to and through many wonders.

These mornings have been the coldest riding so far this fall and for the first time required some extended thought and consideration of the road surface and potential for ice.  For successful winter riding I believe a fundamental shift in thought and temperament is essential.  I counsel against sub-freezing riding for the simple reason that most riders have a difficult time becoming someone else in winter.

The road while riding in frozen fogI love being alone in the fog, standing on an empty road lost in fantasy, a prisoner of imagination.  I’m living in my world, but just down the road, just out of sight in the fog is another.

Riding in frozen fog is doubly challenging due to limited vision on top of the potential for ice on the road.  Riding is different; more controlled and governed.  Roads covered in frozen fog aren’t the place to lean aggressively through turns or push the envelop of speed and power.  It’s a different kind of riding.

Trees shrouded in frozen fogSubdued, ice covered scenes lined each side of the road as I wandered along on the Vespa.  Making photographs was, in part, an excuse to test the surface of the road with the sole of my boots.  Most of the ride showed little ice on the pavement but since there’s been no salt yet this season I couldn’t count on a dry surface.

Ice covered trees forming a tunnel while riding in frozen fog A Hollywood production would make a scene like this.  Riding along through the morning revealed a continual magical landscape that left me wide-eyed and smiling.

And cold.  The time has come to put the Tucano Urbano muffs over the handgrips to keep the wind away from my aging fingers.

Vespa GTS scooter in a frost covered fieldHow often do you ride and find yourself wishing?  Wishing for more time, for one more ride and one more road…

When I find myself wishing I wonder if I’m sensing time slipping by more quickly, or maybe just realizing how fleeting all of these experiences really are.  Like fog and frost.

Vespa GTS scooter in the fog in Rothrock State ForestI’ve driven or ridden this stretch of forest road countless times since I first made the journey in my VW Beetle back in 1972.  And now I stand there thinking I may never pass this way again.  Fear and anxiety live in the fog and mist.

Riding down the mountain toward town I had to stop periodically to warm my hands — additional evidence that I need to get the muffs on.

Riding in frozen fog with the Vespa GTS scooterAll I want is to see the world one more time.  The fog strips away the noise and confusion leaving the bones of the world.  I think I can see where I’m going.

Making photographs in the cold weather calls on me to sacrifice my hands in order to manipulate the tiny buttons and wheels on the digital camera.  After all these years you would think I would have solved that problem.

At this moment I decide to ride toward hot tea and warmth and give up the pursuit of the magic landscape.

Round bales in the fogOn the way to the Pump Station in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania I stop to admire round bales in a field.  They stand like ancient dolmens on watch for something I can neither know or understand.

Perhaps overwhelmed by the visual part of the ride, the constant scanning for ice, the continual eye movements looking for vehicles fore and aft, I begin to fall slowly back to earth from the creations in my head, unexpectedly exhausted from the ride.

And that is a glimpse of what it’s like for me to ride in frozen fog…