Scooter in the Sticks

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

A Tiny Taste of Freedom

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Vespa GTS 250 scooter on a farm lane.
Free in the world on a Vespa scooter.

Do You Taste Freedom When You Ride?

This portrait is different from other portraits made of the Vespa scooter. I made it with a tiny taste of freedom in my mouth.

The word freedom is tossed at everything from promises made by salesman about new cars to politicians proclaiming it with shaking fists. Abstract descriptions of something that has so many different meanings to so many different people that it’s difficult to feel it. How do I know when I’m free?

On this morning, at the moment I made this picture, I could feel the thrill of freedom in my chest. Like a kid released for the summer on that last day of school. For me, it began the moment I stepped out of the DMV with my renewed drivers license indicating I no longer needed to wear glasses when I ride. The surgery for removal of cataracts and subsequent implantation of new lenses correcting my vision to 20/20 gave a tiny taste of freedom then, and on this morning when I pulled on my helmet and didn’t have to legally fiddle with glasses it burst into life.

It was shocking how exciting it felt. So much that I had to temper the emotions so I could pay attention to the road. As I rode a smile acknowledged gone was pressure of glasses to my temples and nose, no ongoing need to raise the visor to reposition the glasses, and no more fogging of glasses on those frigid rides.

A little thing in a complicated world. But I’ll take every bite of this tiny taste of freedom. What about you? When was the last time you had a taste?

Vespa Scooter Freedom

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Vespa GTS scooter along rural road.
This looks like freedom to me. Of the mind, the spirit, and the body.

Freedom is the oxygen of the soul.

MOSHE DAYAN

An escape from the noise of everyday life into a state of Vespa scooter freedom is a gift of hope and joy. The same now as it was when I began riding a scooter so many years ago. In minutes the noise and stress that can accumulate in my head burn off like fog on a sunny morning. The air embraces my body and I’m flying. All I can think is it’s great to be alive.

It doesn’t take long until I’m far from home. The scooter has quietly transported me to a different reality. The long road, the spring light, the promise of life emerging again from winter reduces my world to something simple I can grasp. Like the throttle of the Vespa.

Riding provides a taste of freedom, and it quickens the soul.

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Riding Freedom: Scooter in the Mountains

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Foggy forest road near Little FlatFog on the Mountain

Standing in the yard with the dogs this morning I could see fog on the mountain.  The scooter moves toward it like a compass needle points north.  I feel the draw.  And I feel the pressure of responsibility to work, or take care of the incessant business of life.  A friend suggests I abandon work and go for a ride.

While standing here making the photograph of the road disappearing into the fog I’me struck by how infrequent it is that I feel disconnected from responsibility, free from the thoughts that I need to be somewhere or do something.  Riding goes to great lengths to help detach for awhile.  I suspect many experience that riding freedom. But I wonder what true freedom feels like.  Or even if it exists at all.

I had to revisit a piece I wrote for Motorcycle.com called Riding and the Taste of Freedom.  See how my thinking changes.  Or doesn’t.Continue Reading

Perfect Riding Season

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Vespa GTS scooter on a foggy, fall morningFog and Vespa

Fog, my favorite, along with dropping temperatures, all part of the the perfect riding season.  Yesterday morning a meandering ride to work offered a chance to see the world looking slightly different.  Unusual.  A feat considering how many hundreds of times I’ve ridden along the same path.  Still, I’m seeing things differently.

And feeling different.

Fall quickens my senses. It heightens desire and illuminates mortality as I recognize the passing of time marked by the movement of the season and the slow run up to the sleep of winter.  All of it, the chill in the air, the shift in light and the change in color work together to make this the perfect riding season.

For me.

The Vespa has been performing flawlessly almost as if it’s woken up and screaming for a more satisfying time on the road.  We’re a perfect match, the scooter and I, and I wonder how I ever thought a motorcycle could add anything to my experience of the world.

Many have tried…

Vespa GTS scooter in fall lightChanges in Light, Changes in Me

Riding home from work, even in bright sun, feels different.  My eyes sense the change in the angle of light, the sun’s position in the sky when I leave the parking lot.

I know autumn has arrived.

I act differently than I do in the warmer days of summer.  I want to ride — feel the desire in my bones.  Even if only the for the few miles of commuting.  I take detours.  Stop and take off my helmet to let the sun heat my face.  I’m like a man who’s journeyed through a desert and finds a pool of cool water.

That soaring of spirit and the illusion of freedom, if only for an instant —  that’s why I ride.

The scooter is waiting again.  It’s a new day of the perfect riding season.

Riding Sets You Free

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It’s as if no one can touch you when you ride…

Vespa GTS scooter on the open roadLure of the Open Road

No matter how many times I see the road reach out into the distance I still get a thrill.  In this place, I experience a sense of freedom.  It keeps me coming back.  On the road no one can touch me.  Cares and concerns melt before the wind and pavement.

I’m certain that riding sets you free.

My friend Paul Ruby and I were going on “a little ride” to breakfast.  Stopping in the eastern end of Penns Valley so Paul could look at an old pickup truck I had a chance to survey the road ahead leading through Woodward and Hairy Johns and on toward Laurelton.

Vespa scooter and Ducati Hypermotard motorcycle in the mountains of PennsylvaniaIn the Mountains

Pennsylvania has mountains.  High places covered by a hardwood forest with threads of roads twisting and turning through a fern, rock and moss paradise.  Riding introduces you to truth.  Sometimes uncomfortable.  When I started riding a Vespa 15 years ago I could still scramble up these rocky hillsides to make a photograph.  Now it’s a careful trek with the knowledge I could easily break a leg or ankle.

Or maybe I just need better boots.

This picture was made just a few miles from where I dropped the scooter.  I was still worried that something bigger might be wrong than the handle bars being out of alignment.

And we hadn’t even had breakfast yet.

Vespa scooter on a sharp curveNo Grids

There are no grids of roads in central Pennsylvania as you climb through the Appalachian Mountains.  If I think about them more than a moment I have trouble imagining how they ever came into existence.  Or how people made their way through this part of the country 200 years ago.

The Vespa was tracking fine through the most severe turns and curves and any concern I had for the alignment issues faded.  The scooter really is at it’s best in this environment.  Just watch out for the loose gravel that seems to be everywhere.

Paul RubyPaul Ruby

Departing the Carriage House Restaurant in Mifflinburg, Paul can’t pass up an empty pack of L&M cigarettes as an opportunity to pose.  I didn’t spend enough time directing him into the proper Euro grimace.  And we really needed a pack of Gauloises cigarettes for the right Ducati feel.

All the photographers I’ve known enjoy being photographed.  Paul is no exception.

Ducati motorcyle and Vespa scooter together on a rural roadCloud Drama

The skies played tricks on the mind the entire ride.  Heavy clouds and darkness followed by bright sun and dazzling colors.  Riding through that constantly changing illumination just makes the whole experience seem surreal.  And I’m an actor in a play bent of flying free.

Riding sets you free.

Ducati and Vespa along the Susquehanna RiverPause Along the Susquehanna River

Surveying the view of the river I notice Paul is tossing his helmet in the air.  I didn’t ask and he didn’t say but I suspect it was his idea to make the picture more interesting.  I just wondered how he would feel if he dropped it and the helmet rolled of the edge to the riverbank below.

He never dropped it after numerous tosses.  Don’t lend him your helmet.

Scooter and motorcycle on the roadRiding Sets You Free

The weather was perfect and the low humidity provided rare summertime views to the horizon.  The ride was great even if breakfast consumed 147 miles.

I’m addicted.  Or at least suffering a compulsion that drives me out the door and onto the road.  I hesitate to count the hours I spend riding.  Or thinking about riding.  If riding sets you free how come I can’t stop?

When I ride in the snow or sub-zero temperatures am I free or in denial?

Right now, I don’t care.  I just want back on the road.