Scooter in the Sticks

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

A Walk in the Woods

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Danner boots on walkerThe Boots Are Made For Walking

Sometimes it’s good for the soul to take a walk in the woods.  It works the body, it works the mind.  Afterwards, whatever was chewing on the spirit is often gone.  Just a mile down the road from my home is the Stan Yoder Memorial Nature Preserve, a fifteen acre plot of land in Boalsburg that was rescued from development by the community.

It’s a good place to wear out my Danner hiking boots.

Trail in the Stan Yoder Memorial PreserveInto the Woods

This time of year the preserve is generally empty save from the birds and small mammals that live there.  Signs of deer and bear can also be found from time to time.  But mostly it’s quiet and provides a measure of solitude for anyone with a few minutes to walk.

Trail at the Stan Yoder Memorial PreserveDown the Trail

Each time I walk through the preserve I’m reminded of how rejuvenating a walk in the woods can be.  It’s not unlike a ride on the Vespa scooter only a bit more physically challenging.  Often I’m here with a dog.  I’m thinking in the future I may bring along lunch and just hang out and breathe…

Dog log bags at the Stan Yoder Memorial PreserveDog Log Support

I always travel with plastic bags in my pocket.  But for those dog owners that forget you’ll find a couple reminders and resources to keep the preserve free of canine land mines.  I didn’t see any on this walk.

Bench at the Stan Yoder Memorial PreserveSitting

For a lot of people this place must be a bore.  No ball fields or tennis courts.  No picnic pavilions with barbecue grills or tennis courts or swing sets.  There’s nothing to do.  In a world of frenzied activity and chaos a park like this is a romantic anachronism.  How many people want to sit alone on a bench in the woods and write poetry anymore?

View at the Stan Yoder Memorial PreserveThe Woods

I would have loved this place as a kid.  These days I would be shocked to see any kids here without their parents.  Different world now.  In all the years I’ve been coming here I bet I’ve not seen a dozen people.  I wonder what that says…

2017 Brave, Bold Blogger Challenge

This post is part of a month long writing prompt challenge conceived by Kathy at Toadmama.com.

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.

Vespa Medicine

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Reflection of Vespa rider, Steve WilliamsNoise and Chaos

After a week of a sore back, thoughts of retirement and looming deadlines at work, I was ready for some Vespa medicine.  Something to slow down the neurons firing in my head. A ride on the scooter to soak up the crazy energy and let me savor the world.

Heading for a cup of tea I looked at my reflection in the window.  Smiling, thanks to a little ride into town.

Vespa GTS scooter in State College, PennsylvaniaScooter for the Urban Jungle

I can hardly invoke the term “urban” or pretend the towns I ride through are a “jungle”.  Still, it’s what I encounter. The ribbons of asphalt encountered in the countryside make the jaunts through town seem hectic in comparison.  The Vespa was designed with these sorts of places in mind and performs so well that I almost look forward to the times when I’m not looking for groundhogs and deer and instead grow wary of pedestrians and traffic lights.  The Vespa medicine is so strong that I seldom find even a slight rise in heart rate amidst the traffic that has others voicing their displeasure with horns and hand signals.

Riding soothes the beast.

Vespa GTS scooter under a heavy gray skyEuphoria in the Mist

God I love riding in the mist, navigating under a murky sky in a thin drizzle.  All riders have a description in their head of ideal riding conditions.  My own lean toward cold, dark and wet.  An unexplained thrill runs through my body that I can only attribute to some internal fantasy at work transforming an ordinary experience on the road into something just short of magical.  There’s a romance in the ride that sparks a physical reaction that’s hard to describe.

The effect of the Vespa medicine is enhanced.

Vespa GTS scooter at Wegmans grocery storeUnexceptional Riding

Seldom see a motorcycle at the grocery store.  Nothing adventurous, heroic or ego-building in collecting supplies.  The scooter seems to yield more easily to utilitarian tasks.  Or so I believe — it’s something magical about the Vespa and has little to do with the rider.  Whatever is at work, a ride to the grocery store can be as thrilling as a ride through the Quehanna Wilderness area.

I’m powerless over my Vespa and my life has become unmanageable.  Vespa medicine has unlooked for side effects.

Vespa GTS scooter on a rainy dayHome Again, Home Again Jiggety-Jig

From home to market and back again — living a nursery rhyme on a scooter, an aging man swept up in mechanical magic that propels an ordinary experience into something more, an undeniable craving to be flying along the road with the cares and concerns of life burned away leaving a simple thrill at being alive in the world.

Amazing what a little Vespa medicine can do.

Just Thinking

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Steve Williams portrait by Paul Ruby

Photo by Paul Ruby

Lost in Thought

The past couple weeks I’ve had a lot on my mind — everything from retirement to installing a freeze-proof faucet on the back deck.  When my head gets full of ideas and wants to ruminate I’ve learned to sit back and let it happen.  Resistance is futile.

My friend Paul made this picture while we were waiting for breakfast at a little cafe in Millheim, Pennsylvania.  We were on a little photography adventure sans scooter or motorcycle.  The forecast called for rain and nastiness.  I remember thinking while sitting there that it was a pretty nice morning and I should be on the Vespa.

Vespa GTS scooterRiding the Vespa

I’ve ridden some over the past two weeks but just haven’t felt like posting anything.  Sometimes a ride sharpens awareness and focus that writing a blog post is simple.  They almost write themselves.  Other times, like now, there are no ideas.  My fingers are making a forced march upon the keyboard in a stream of consciousness effort to post something before going to work. Call it an exercise in willpower and hope.  Hope that I can leave the mental wrestling behind.

Made this portrait of my trusty Vespa GTS 250ie (vintage 2006) on a foggy morning along PA26.  Not enough fog to create any interesting imagery.  I remember feeling disappointed because I could see…

Vespa GTS scooter on a rough gravel roadRutted Roads and Little Wheels

The Vespa isn’t a great performer on rough and rutted roads.  The little tires jolt and jostle as they plunge into the depths.  Unless it’s my aging body demonstrating the decline in shock absorbing tissue in my joints I’ve been thinking that I may need need shocks on the scooter.

Staying on the pavement provides a fluid, flying and smooth ride.  Not sure why I keep heading down trails intended for something other than a Vespa.  My desire to explore is strong but at times brings my choice of machine into question.

Maybe I just need different tires.  And shocks.

Vespa GTS scooter in a pastureVespa in the Grass

Trees.  I’m always attracted to them.  Especially ones standing alone.  I suspect the same attraction applies to the Vespa situated by itself in so many photographs I make.  Perhaps a reflection of my own tendency to want to be alone.

This past weekend I wandered through a dizzying crowd of people and machines at a Harley event. It’s no place for thinking or reflecting.  Or even being yourself.  I imagined for a moment I was at a casting call for Sons of Anarchy.

One of the things I like best about the motorcycle and scooter riding communities is how diverse they are.  I like to think at some basic level though we’re all brothers and sisters on our respective rides…

Vespa GTS scooter on a farm laneWhere Am I Going?

A frequent question both on and off the Vespa.  And one that I don’t often find a satisfying answer.  For the past couple weeks I’ve been thinking about where I’m going.  It’s not a good place to linger.  Perhaps with this post I can move on to other things.

Maybe it’s time to ride to work…

Vespa Meditation

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Buddha statue in a treeStrange Reminder of a Vespa Meditation

I saw this Buddha statue in the hollow of a tree toward the end of a ride. It highlighted what I was experiencing on the scooter — a deliberate and ongoing rumination of thoughts and questions that cloud my mind along with a more and more focused recognition of the world as experienced as a scooter rider.

Sometimes it’s nice to let body and mind free for a few moments to seek some natural balance.

Vespa GTS scooter on Bald Eagle ridgeWinding Along the Road

It was still cool, low sixties, when I rode over Bald Eagle Mountain on a wonderfully twisting road complete with a hairpin turn.  The challenge was to let go of plan and expectation so I could be present for whatever presented itself rather than be completely locked in my head.

I saw a half dozen deer in the middle of the road during the ride included a couple of clumsy fawns.

Vespa GTS scooter in timber cutOff-road Vespa

Could pass up an opportunity to check out the view from a newly cut woodlot.  A short ride off-road on the scooter reminding me of how versatile the Vespa actually is.  While not a dirt bike the scooter can easily handle most of what a casual rider would encounter off-road.

Vespa GTS scooter at a lime plantMaking Photographs

I try and make photographs that reflect what I saw and felt on the road.  They serve as snippets of memory recording the stories made up by the details discovered during a ride.  That’s not dependent on riding a Vespa or connected to any particular camera.

When I first stopped at the limestone plant I lined up the scooter in the picture but something was missing — the old railroad tracks.  They were part of what I felt about the place.

Didn’t go far on the ride, less than 50 miles, but I’ve learned that I can get my head focused in a way to see and experience more.  It’s not just fun, it’s a Vespa meditation.