SCOOTER DIARIES 2010

EPILOGE

2010-08-08T16:10:00.000-07:00

3637 trouble free miles on Big Red and I am home again. Once again, I was shown what a great, vast and beautiful country America is. Heck, I probably would even like Kansas if I could ride across it with temperatures not in the low 100's.

There were a couple of troubling things I saw on this trip. First was the open racism from some people. More the one person referred to "that nigger in the White House". Illegal immigrants were being blamed for everything. Second was the question I get a lot "aren't you afraid?". When I said "afraid of what?" they would reply, "well you know..." The sad part about our country is that politicians, news networks and corporate marketing are exploiting and creating fears for their gain. From undefined terrorist to scary germs to burglar alarms ad's to people that do not look like me, people have grown afraid of "well you know...." life!

When I bought Scoot three years ago, I thought my first trip from Florida to North Carolina was going to be a monumental event. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ride across America on a Vespa. Crossing America three times in less than four months was not even fathomable.

I would say that is the end of the scooterdiaries2010, but you never know. Next year I hope to get back to just meandering instead of long rides.

As always, I challenge you to get our to of your comfort zone. You may be surprised that you really more comfortable there.

Day 16 last day out

2010-08-08T16:09:00.000-07:00

This post was going to be; "got up, rode home, the end". Did not work out that way as I met a few interesting people.

I started with the hotel breakfast. Now I remember why I have not had a hotel breakfast on this whole trip. Big Red and I headed down US19 and since I have rode and written about this road before I will skip all that.

The first interesting person I met was Bill Wright. Bill had been a commercial fisherman in California. He loved his job, but he sold out and retired. His wife had died two years ago and he was just sitting around the house watching TV. Stories of handicapped people traveling across American on foot or bicycle kept getting his attention. The story that got him off the coach and on the road was a story of a young cancer patient that started riding across America, but sadly died before he complete the ride. If the kid could do it Bill thought he should too. He had left California last January and headed for Key West and was now on his way back. His goal was to be home before Christmas. He camps and stays with friends. Like riding on the scooter, he was seeing stuff he never would have seen in the motor home with his wife. They hit all the famous places, but he was hitting just as wonderful places that you would probably never would see. His example was Fanning Springs State Park were he had stayed last night. It was beautiful, he said, with tarpon jumping out of the water at sunset. He was also seeing the present downside of America. There were 10 homeless families living in tents at the park. Asked if he had met any bad people, he said yes. Some of the habitual homeless said are quick to steal from you, but at the top of the list was the whole state of Louisiana. Louisiana is probably the hardest state to bike across and I agree with him. The roads are horrible and there are no shoulders. He said people seemed to take pleasure in running him off the the road. He had been through 4 sets of tires, three tents and had had the most flats on the trailer.

While talking to Bill, this Harley police officer pulled up to see if we were OK.

Down the road I met Jack. Jack had ridden his bike from Naples to Pensacola for a job. The job did not materialize and he was headed back to Naples.

In Weeke Wachee, Fl. they have built a new school and the entrance road is named VESPA.

The pot of gold at the end of rainbow and a long wet ride today. Thank you Vicki for being a wonderful and understanding wife.

pot gold at the end of the rainbow

Day 14 and 15

2010-08-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

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AUGUST 5
Since I would not be around for the 9AM breakfast, Macy had left me real coffee and some home made banana nut bread. I woke earlier than planned but enjoyed a slow breakfast in the room.

Still, Big Red and me were on the road by 5:30. Another day of riding through timber land and not much of anything to see. The road had a nice canopy in the cool of the morning, but by the time it started to warm up, it was an open 4 lane.

about 100 religious signs. many made no since to me.

shade tunnel

SoSo, Mississippi

We arrived at the Mobile downtown airport about noon and my good friend Ed Quaid had just landed from flying BP personnel around the gulf looking for oil. He had one more flight to make, so I hung out at the airport until he returned and visited with his boss and told helicopters lies.

Killing time, I walked around and poked my noise in various places. There is a cargo building who's parking lot is being guarded 24 hours a day by the national guard. Not "really" guarded. There are 2 guys at the entrance of the small lot and 2 at the exit. I asked what was so important that the NG needed to protect and they said it was BP stuff. A lot of the stuff related to the oil spill, for some unknown reason, is provided military or law enforcement protection. Nice young guys are will be deploying to Iraq next year.

pfc whittington

Ed and I wanted to but Big Red in the helicopter and just fly on over to Apalachicola and have beer and oysters, but Big Red was having none of that.

AUGUST 6
Ed had to start searching for oil at the crack of dawn so we were on the road by 5:30 again. I beat the Mobile rush hour but made parts of the rush hour at Pensacola Navy base and Elgin Air Force base. I had planned on going through the middle of the pan handle on Fl20 and miss the beach traffic, but Big Red was not having it and we found our way to the beach.

We hit several rain shower. Some were pretty heavy so we had to seek cover. The owner of this Harley was on a week long ride with his, son. Sadly, yesterday they were informed that his 11 year old granddaughter had died totally unexpected. They were headed home when his son laid his Harley down. He told his dad he could not ride the bike home as his mind was not on the road. They renting a U-Haul and it was a wise decision. It was a sad visit with the father.

I saw several oil clean up operations on the beach and booms in the bays, but the rain keep the camera in the pocket for the most part. Almost all the equipment I saw, and all of these trucks, were brand new.

I passed up Apalachicola and beer and oyster and continued on to Perry, FLA and the Hampton Inn. This is nothing exciting town but has the Deal Oyster House (sorry no beer, how can you eat oysters without beer?) and the Goodman BBQ. It is in easy striking distance of home in St. Pete. The crown jewel is the Hampton Inn. Great rooms, great staff, and most importantly great FREE happy hour for 2 1/2 hours. It get my room rate back in Margaritas!

Day 13

2010-08-05T13:24:00.000-07:00

heat survival riding day 4

When I walked out of the hotel in Hot Springs at 5 AM Big Reds temperature gauge said 87 and you cut the the air, as they say , the humidity was so high. The first thing I noticed was the smell of the armoured jacket I was wearing. Boy did I stink. Guess it is time to do laundry again.

Off we go in the dark. By 6 AM we were well into timber woods of southern Arkansas. There was no traffic in my direction, but lots of trucks were headed to Hot Springs or maybe the rock quarry just south of the city. There is not much to see here. Just timber land and after the early morning rush of trucks, very little traffic. New Edinburgh was an interesting dead town complete with a "smitty".
(sorry for the less than great pictures)

In the very southern part of Arkansas it turned into rural farm land again, with soybeans, corn and rice. I came up on a crop duster strip or the politically correct term aerial applicator. The ground crew was John lllll and Carlos Sciara IV. Carlos III was flying the plane. John was a local and Carlos was the 4th generation Italian immigrant. Carlos I and just passed away, I believe, in the last year and Carlos II had been a farmer but now was selling farm land. It took about 20 minutes before Carlos III came in for a second load.

He was kind enough to come over and we talked for a few minutes. He said their season was winding down and for the winter he went hunting and fishing..

carlos cleans carlos's windshield

pilot carlos takes time for a photo

I had told Carlos IV and John I had lost my hat back down the road. They said I had to stop in and see Mr.Brian, the other half of Sciara and Whittington, and they were sure he would give me a hat. I did and they were right and he gave me a hat. Carlos said the season was slowing down but watching Brian in the office you could have fooled me. The phone was ringing the whole time and he was taking business. He had been just a ground applicator but six years ago added aerial application. Since then he said it seems like he works twice as hard and made half as much money. Sounds like every aviation operation I have ever owned. Brain was an interesting person. He was born and raised in Eurado had never really left his town and did not want to. Even being a history buff and interested in civil war, he had never made the 75 mile drive to Vicksburg which is full of civil war history until a preacher friend came to Reno.

I had been traveling on AR 9 & 8. They went from wide smooth roads with wide shoulders to a road that had been raked I think when it was paved back in 1910 and Big Red went weaving down the road like a drunken sailor to a road that looked like this......

We crossed into Louisiana and ran in to a traffic jam. I only got one picture of the jam, but there were two more on the road.

In Tallulah, LA I pulled into the little airport to use the bathroom and cool off. There I met Dexter. He had been in the Navy for eight years, but said he got on the wrong boat and was sea all the time. He enjoyed working at the airport. He thought he had grown up in the ugliest part of America until he started riding in planes of the area. It gave him a whole new outlook on his home area.

Also based at this airport is one of the most expensive corporate jets in the world, a Gulfstream IV. So, why is the executive jet based here in the middle of nowhere? Who pays for this fine piece of machinery? It is here to fly the general from the Army Corp of Engineers and you pay for it. I appreciate the need for transport for personal and it can be a very valuable tool. But I having been a passenger in a corporate jet, you quickly lose touch with the real world. So the question I have is, why to they need a jet that even many fortune 500 companies can not justify owning?

Big Red and me crossed the "big muddy", better known as the Mississippi River and pulled into Vicksburg, MS information station. I decided it was time to check in to a B&B again. I pulled out the smart phone, googled up B&B and picked one a random. The phone rang the The Corners B&B. I was trying to get back into being price sensitive again. That last couple of days in the heat I had just picked the hotel that I got points and a fair, but not great, price. I was going to be hard nose, but Joe the owner quickly disarmed me on the phone and I headed over to his place. His wife Macy met me and checked me into a very large 2 bed room on the garden level.

I cooled off and headed out to be a tourist and have a late lunch/early dinner at Walnut Hill Restaurant. Macy had recommended it and it was exactly what I wanted. It was in an old house and one of the blue plate specials was meat loaf, 3 vegetables, tea, cornbread and peach cobbler all for the princely sum of $9. At the bar were a couple of local ladies that were having a great time. Jeff, the manager, a very nice guy whispered that the blonde was his ex-wife. A few minutes later she came over to talk and whispered that Jeff was her ex-husband. A couple came in from, I believe Shreveport, LA. The wife was standing at the table talking to the local girls and said they were coming back from Nirvana; Highlands, NC. The golf was great, the weather was cool, and then in a low voice, but load enough for me hear at the bar "and you know, no blacks".

(really bad pictures)

jeff and the ladies

I had planned to tour town but when I came out of the restaurant light rain was falling so I headed back to The Corners were it had not rained and did not rain. I was setting in the court yard visiting with Macy and John, the resident handyman, when Macy offered me a frozen Margarita. The Corners shot straight to the top of my list of the worlds greatest B&B. Macy's parents were driving from Dallas to DC and stopped here and stayed in the B&B across the street in 1985. In the morning, while her father was loading the car, her mother walked across the street and found that this house was for sale. By 5:30 they had a contract and were in the B&B business. She and her husband took it over a few years ago. After the drink she gave me a tour of the house and a great short history lesson on Vicksburg. I will need to come here and stay a little longer.

http://www.thecorners.com/

Day 12

2010-08-03T16:08:00.000-07:00

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Big Red and me were on the road by 5 AM to try and beat some of the heat. I love early mornings and watching the world wake up. I have seen lots wildlife like owls, hawks, and I think some falcons. Through Colorado and Utah the mornings were wonderful and since it had rained the night before, every day the smells were great. Douglas fir, sagebrush, fresh hay or mowed grass, and the smell of the forest. There were also the smell of the feed lots. Feed lots are 10's of miles apart, but in Arkansas the chicken house's are maybe a mile apart. And they are very smelly.

We cruised Eurika Springs, AK in the early morning. A very touristy old town, but probably and interesting place to spend a night.

In Huntsville, we stopped at a local restaurant for breakfast. It has the usual "table", but there were two unusual things. One is there was a ladies "table". There were as many 5 there at one time. Second, an older couple came into the restaurant and they both set at the men's "table". I was quite surprised and it did not go unnoticed by the ladies table or the men at the table. Several men made comments to the lady in a good humored manner.

And the ride continued in through the Ozarks. Kansas...you see those green things...they are called trees and they produce shade. The shade is the black area on the pavement. You can grow a bazillions bushels of grain but not a damn tree. What's up with that?

South of Huntsville, AR I came to Humphin Cadillac Ranch. They mainly make chopper motorcycles and hot rods. Today they were only working on the bus. In the 100 degree heat they were not real talkative.

In Subiaco, AR up on the hill, was a chatedrale and a large interesting building. It is the Subiaco Abbey and was established in the late 1800's. It has the abbey, an academy, a farm and guest facility that you can stay in. Quite out of place here in the back woods of Arkansas. http://www.subi.org/Abbey/abbey.htm

The ride began to get hot. We were riding in the open country and temperatures on Big Red were moving above 100 degrees. Why do they measure the temperature in the shade? Especially in Kansas, were there is no shade. I made one last shade stop in the national park and then cruised into Hot Springs were it was to hot to be a tourist.

We need water.

2010-08-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

We are still trying to riase money for the water tower for the school in Canoa, Ecuador. We have completed the tower during the school break, but we had to take the money out of the operating budget. Over 250 people a day visit this blog. A lot of you have given money for this ride or the ride in May and we thank you.
We need a few more of you new people to hit that donate button. $5, $20, or $100. Whatever you can give well be a great help to keep the kids in school.
To read another blog of adventure and particularly about the school click here
http://postcardfromecuador.blogspot.com
Jody Merrelle was only in Canoa one day, but fell in love with school.

this is what we are trying to pay for

day 10 and 11

2010-08-02T17:06:00.000-07:00

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AUGUST 2
This was day one in Kansas.

The plan had been to quit a 2pm because I new it was going to get hot. At 1:45 I was in Mead, KS and there was a hotel there. But no, I decided to squeeze a few more miles out. About 30 minutes into this ride, tempertures on the scooter were 109 and not a shade tree or occupied building in sight. When I came to to US283 I had the choice of going forward not knowing about a hotel for 75 miles or turn left and go into Dodge City where I knew there was a hotel. I turned left. By the time we got to Dodge City the Big Red temp gauge was reading 113.

Earlier I had to stop at a Walmart to get a new camera for just the reason I dislike Walmart. They had driven everybody out of buisness within 60 miles. As you can see the new camera is not up to my normal quality. Hopefully I will figure it out.

All along this trip people have stopped me to talk about the scooter. Often the people even know that it is a Vespa. At Walmart, I young guy searched me out to talk about the Vespa. In Syracuse, Dave came out to the parking lot to talk about the scooter. His great-great-grandfather had come to this town in a covered wagon. Dave had left for 23 years ago for Texas and when his third wife threw him out he came back home.

dave in syracuse

AUGUST 3
The plan for today was get up and start riding in the dark and get out of Kansas at all cost. For some reason I felt that if I got out of Kansas cool breezes would begin blowing. I knew this was not true but I was going with. No U turns and no stop for pictures. Just straight ahead. The camera was not taking good pictures yet and if I stopped I would wind up messing with and all that would happen was it would get hotter. With the old camera I would have had to make some u turns as there were some good pictures passed up.

every town has a grain silo. this was crossroads but also had a large steeple

everyone including the cows were looking for a little shade

113 degrees!!!!

come again....probably not

day 9

2010-08-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

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Big Red and me were making our way out of Montrose, when we got flagged down by two old codgers that wanted to talk scooters at 6:30 in the morning. One was the owner of a 90cc Honda trail bike and was wanting a scooter. I told him a Vespa of course.

glad i stopped early yesterday. every place had one of these

We continued our climb out of Montrose over Cerro Pass, down the other side and up and over the Blue Mesa Pass.

Descending over Blue Mesa we entered a narrow cannon. At the beginning of the canyon was this sign warning motorcyclists. I had not seen one before and was curious how bad this road was. It was very anti-climatic. The turns were nothing to speak of.

We climbed back up to the Blue Mesa and passed the Blue Mesa lake and on into Gunnison and my buddies the Hell's Angels. Interesting, in town no one would pose with Big Red. I could take all the pictures of them on their bikes near Big Red. Out of town they had no problem standing with Big Red. Those Harley guys, whoever they are, are all about image.

Out of Gunnison we followed the Gunnison river valley. It was so nice we took a little side trip into the hills to visit a cow and a horse.

Big Red did great climbing up the Monarch Crest to 11,314 feet. Poor little Scoot would have been begging me to get off and walk at about 9000 feet. On the way up, I stopped to take a picture, and Chris, from Montrose, pulled in. He rides around the area taking pictures and hopes to retire and do it for a living. At the top, we met Dave and Gloria on their rice rockets. They are from Colorado and out just cruising around for a few days.

Descending from the peak was beautiful and about 3,000 feet down. Then the road ran along the side of the Arkansas river.

There were 100's of rafters so I pulled over to get a picture of some of them. A couple from Iowa were there on Harleys. They were not Hell's Angels, but had trailered their bikes out and had been cruising the mountians for a week and loved every minute of it.

Not too long after that, we were done with the mountains and hit the plains. Not an exciting ride. Stopped at the Cannon City airport to take a break and watch some sky divers. The had some nice aircraft mounted out front. About 2, I stopped at the only resturaunt that was open. They made a great burger from local beef.

Our destinaton was Lamar, but when I came into Las Animas I discovered they were having a rodeo. I decided I needed to see it, so we pulled into the Bents Ford Inn, the only hotel in town. At 7 we headed for the fair ground. For 7 bucks I got free music, a hugh bqq plate and drink, a rodeo and a dance afterward. Sadly, tragady struck. THE CAMERA DIED. It had been acting sick for awhile and tonight of all nights it decided to die. This was a western small town adventure and a camera would have been a great way to capture it.

The men were all attired in cowboy boots, blue jeans with big belt buckle, long sleeve shirt, and a white cowboy hat. They were close shaved and had a red complexion from working in the sun. The wives were well dressed, many in jeans. The children were clean and well behaved with the boys wearing jeans, cowboy boots and hat. Extended families from great grandparents on down were there together.

All kinds of action was happening around the arena. Lots of horses being tended to, ridden, and groomed. Probably about 30 horses and as many horse trailers. These were traveling rodeo people. Some had done 2 other rodeo's today!!

The sky was fantastic. To the northwest, the sun was below the horizon with colors of blue, orange, red and pink reflecting off the clouds. To the north around through the south back to the west, the sky was black tar. It was highlighted with lightning and, in two directions, rainbows. To the east, where there was the most lightening, the setting sun was shining bright on one cloud making it a small white area on a black background. It was all stunning and a working camera probably would not have captured it.

After being fed they began the rodeo. They first introduced all the people who had worked to get the rodeo done. Then they introduced all the kids who won something over the 3 days of the event. That included about every kid in the county.

Finally the rodeo began. They introduced the people who put on the rodeo, the people who supply the calves, people who supply the broncos, and the people who officiate and the people who ride in the ring. Then they introduced the to somethings?, both young girls under 10 and they came roaring around the arena 3 feet from the rail wide open on big horses. It was almost like the Kentucky Derby as they announced the linage of each of the girls back to grandparents.

Then came the kid carring the flag. The is the heartland of America and when they say the prayer you bow your head. When they play the Star Spangled Banner you take your hat off and put your hand over your heart. They will let you know if you do it wrong. It is refreshing to see.

Interestingly, when they did the national anthem,. the flag horse took one of the longest pee's I have ever seen. When they did the prayer, he took a mighty dump.

Rodeo's in person go a lot slower than on TV. The first rider was thrown out of the gate. Then they went to calf roping. Of the 5 guys I watched, only one actually tied the calf. After each run they have to chase the calf and round up the horse. This takes time.

When it started to sprinkle, I decided to leave. I would liked to have stayed longer, but it was dark and getting wet.

day 8

2010-07-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

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Big Red and me made our way out of Moab around 6:30. I had wanted to go ride through the arches part of the National Park, but yesterday it rained and this morning I had lost interest.Too many tourists in town. So we headed south on 191 with a destination of somewhere.

it is amazing what a tourist will pay to see

We took a break to visit with the livestock.

This is a serious curve. They started advertising it 2 miles back, 1 mile back, 3/4 mile back, 1/2 mile back and here. It is a serious curve.

We descended into a canyon and crossed into Colorado

Then we climbed back over the La Sal mountains.....

...and we descended into the Paradox Valley.

delores creek

Big Red turned right on CO141 to Naturita, CO. where we pulled into the Sinclair gas/grocery. After fueling, I asked if there was a breakfast place in town. There was a lot of stammering. There was Blondie's but I could tell they did not want to recommend it. I asked if there was something down the road. They all light up and said "oh yes in Norwood there are some great places and they even have a coffee shop!!" I asked how far Norman was and they said about 20 miles. When I said I would go to Norman you could see the relief in their faces.

So, off we headed to Norwood. Along the way we passed some fine yard art.

We found the Happy Belly Deli and I was in heaven. A giant latte and bagel and lox right here in cowboy country. In fact, even cowboys drink lattes. Danny and Christi served me and were kind enough to pose for a picture. Kiley wanted her picture taken too and I was glad to oblige. It was a nice visit and we talked for awhile and then Big Red and I were on the road again.

kiley

Norwood is a great little town and I could have spent more time there, but we pushed on. Descending the Norwood Hill into the canyon, they were doing road work and we had about a 45 minute delay. During the stop, Andy in the truck in front of us and I visited. Nice guy and he was on the way to the airport to fly to Chicago for a surprise visit with his family. He had been a trader on the floor in Chicago and several years ago he burnt out. He had always loved Colorado, so he came out here and drove around. When he drove into Telluride he knew he had found home. Over the years Telluride had grown too big so he moved to Norwood and still loved it here.

andy

I let everyone go ahead of me down the hill. Not that there was a lot of traffic, but the south bound side of the road would be mine for at least 1 hour. Running along the river in the steep canyon was wonderful. Andy told me of one part that had burnt about a month ago, but with all the rain that they have had, the ground is turning green already. This process usually takes years.

the burnt slope is turning green

you cannot imagine how hard this picture was to take

I had not really ridden Big Red "like I stole it" yet. This was a great smooth, clean road with gentle turns and I knew there was no traffic behind me and I had seen only one truck come from the other directions. So, I let Big Red run! Like a good Italian machine, it hugged the road. This went great until we came around the bend and there was Colorado Highway Patrolman Brian Christianson.

Naw, not really. He was just doing road guard duty for a bike race of about 150 bikers. We had an interesting visit. When he found out I would be going through Gunnisen, he said the Hell's Angels were there for the weekend. I thought they had told me they were going to Crested Butte, Montana. How was I supposed to know that there is a Gunnisen-Crested Butte, Colorado. I told him I thought they were all middle class citizens. Law enforcement had a different view as he thought they were still in the drug, shooting, car theft, etc. business. We said our goodbyes and I was on the road again.

In Montrose I took a DQ blizzard break and now I knew that Gunnisen and vicinity hotels would be full I started calling ahead for a hotel. After the 4th "we are full" even 50 miles from Gunnisen, I got the last room at the Quality Inn here in Montrose and called it a day after six and a half hours and only 103 miles. Not a lot of forward motion but after a week on the road I needed an early day and time to do laundry. At the hotel there was a group of moto-cross guys who came out to admire Big Red. Finally we tucked him in between a couple of Harley's and called it a day.

day 7 a spectacular one

2010-07-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

(get an adult beverage and a comfortable seat. this is a long one)

The last few days I have been trying to match the scooter to my mindset of going slow and seeing everything. I have not been comfortable with this and have to constantly think about the throttle. Today I decided to match the mindset to the scooter. Just let it do what the throttle wants to do. It was the answer. With no thought when there was nothing I was doing 65 and when there was something to see or do I looked down and I was doing 35. I think this is going to work for me and Big Red.

I use google maps to plan these trips. Sometimes I let google pick the route and some times I do. From Beaver to Junction UT., google picked UT153. Looked good to me until I looked at Utah scenic byways. It said 153 is only paved for part of the way and the rest is "unpaved dry summer road only". Further investigation I found a write-up from a 4 wheeler who said "it is the worst road I have ever been on". Glad I found that. Would have hated to run out of pavement and have to ride all the way back.

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To get where I wanted to go, I jumped on the interstate, the only way for 18 miles to UT20. This turned into one of the best days riding I have ever had. The traffic was light, the weather perfect and the scenery was spectacular!!!!

US89 was up a great valley with lots of farming. I stopped in Koorshem, Indian for red clover, and met most of the town's senior members. Fellow scooter owner Casslle "CJ" Linguist came out to look at Big Red. His father and 11 brothers had been born in this town. His dad moved to Salt Lake, where CJ was born, and he raised his 7 children. He is now retired and spends time here fishing.

We crossed over the mountain and headed east to Torrey where I stopped for my first "Gucci" coffee of this trip.

Some roads in Utah need a little maintenance but the scenery is still spectacular.

Then we entered the Coral Reef National park. Ranger Chris was setting in the shade trying to keep drivers honest coming around the corner.

You guys thought I was kidding about the Hell's Angels yesterday. Here is photographic evidence. Richie and Karen have ridden 3000 miles coming from the east coast and headed to Montana for the Hell's Angels meet. They are nice folks and I really enjoyed our visit. He is a bails bondman, so I now have a get out of jail for $ card.

This is the ride through the Park and up to Green River and over to Moab. The pictures do not give justice to how wonderful and beautiful this ride is.

day 5 and 6

2010-07-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

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July 27
Big Red and me rolled into Reno's Freedom Motorsports at 9am. Red needed a new rear tire and this is a great place to do it. The Yull brothers, Mark and Brad, have a great reputation and so we chose them to do the job.

brad and mark

jason balances the wheel

they gave big red a much enjoyed bath

My old friend Donald Wilson met us there. He flies for a slot machine maker now, but we have similar back grounds flying outside the U.S. and for the same airline. A great breakfast was had and we caught up on old times. Unfortunately, he is still working and was off to Vegas for lunch.

They finished about noon and we headed out of town over the Geiger pass to Virginia City and beyond. We passed through several small towns and the medium sized town of Fallon, home of the Navy's Top Gun program. Then it was open country.

We passed the tennis shoe tree.

The Hells Angels passed us. Seriously. Wish I could have gotten a picture of the guy with "handicap" tag.

Stopped at an old stage coach station. It was open a few years and water was brought in for the horses and people from a mile away.

And the pony express even lasted a shorter time.

Temperatures had been as high as 104 on Big Red's temperature gauge and I could feel the heat of the road through my boots. So, when we rolled into Austin we decided to call it a day. Glad we did as I got the last room available in town There are three small motels and since it is the only town within 75 miles all the tower, pipeline and road crews were taking the rooms.

July 28

I did not think I would sleep well in the 1927 original swayback bed, but I slept right through the night. Awoke at 5 bright eyed and ready to go. By 5:30 Big Red and I were climbing the hill out of Austin. I had hoped to get some great sun rise pictures but it was mostly cloudy.

This is the first person I talked to today. I had passed his broken 18 wheeler about a half mile back. He was walking carrying a drive shaft on his shoulder. Not a puny car type but a heavy truck type. I suspect he is not in the country legally as he was very hesitant to answer my questions and only spoke spanish. I asked where he was coming from and he said back down the road where he had the part repaired. I hit the road again and about 3 miles later down the hill I came to the only repair facility, so I assume that is where he came from. Legal or illegal he is a hell of a worker. I don't know anybody that would have been that determined.

These are true travelers. They were in the middle of nowhere, which is pretty much anywhere out here, camping with a bike garage.

They say Highway 50, the Lincoln Highway, is "the loneliest road in America". They have never been to west Texas for sure. I expected no traffic and though it was only occasionally, it was more than I saw on a lot of roads on the first cross country. I was worried about not being able to get assistance here if something went wrong, but I would have to wait probably only 5-10 minutes for some one to come by if I did. That said there were some interesting signs indicating there was nothing around. One, that did not make a picture, was for a golf course and said to turn right and travel for 2 hrs. The next one was directions to a park. 67 miles of dirt road to get there. I passed.

Outside of Ely, we came to a large tire graveyard.

I rolled into Ely about 9 and time for breakfast. The first non-casino serving breakfast was the Silver State cafe serving the "best CF steak". I had nothing to compare it to since I have not had one in many many years, but I ordered it anyway. After eating, Dan came up in the parking lot to talk about Big Red. He operates heavy equipment at the huge copper mine outside of town. He was intrigued with my adventure.

At the gas station, Terri came over and we had a long discussion while her truck took on about $60 of diesel. She was quite impressed with my 70+ mileage.

Outside of Ely I came upon two signs. The Shoshone reservation leaving sign was about 200 yards from the entering sign.

I saw a truck and trailer setting out on the open range all by itself, so I did a U and went back to investigate as I had not seen anyone out on the range. There I found Jerry Eldridge from S. Dakota. His dad and 5 brothers had moved to this valley as teenagers from England and Jerry had grown up here. He was recently retired and was completing all those things he had always wanted to do. He had just checked one off. Up on the side of the mountain was a cave he had wanted to investigate since he was a child. He said there are thousands of bats in the cave and lots of quartz. He, like myself, is not big on having his picture taken, so I took a picture of his rig.

Since Jerry would not let me take his picture I let the sea urchins get a picture with Big Red.

In Baker, I stopped and talked to Kevin for a while. He was on his 31st day riding across country. He does about 100 miles a day and is very eger to get to California. Not because that is the end of the trip, but he because he wants to get back to normal people. I told him that after having a drink in the bar in Austin last night, I agreed with him. He is a teacher in Philly and we lamented the situation our school systems are in all over the country.

Strange door on gas pump.

The rest of the day to Beaver, UT. These are different road stretches.

the only tree

The end of the day.

day 4

2010-07-26T16:19:00.000-07:00

Since I only had 44 miles to go to Reno today a got started a little late for me around 9 am. I decided to wander the way I really like to and find interesting people. I turned 44 miles into 104 wonderful miles.

The temperature stayed in the 70's most of the day and the sky's blue. At Trukee, I weighed getting on the interstate or via the two lane roads via Lake Tahoe. Interstates, even if your much slower than the traffic, can be a lot safer than crowded two lanes, I chose the two lane route and made it safely.

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In Loyalton I met Richard and his son Larry. They were splitting wood for himself, his mother, and another son. That is a big pile of wood. Having the logs delivered is cheaper he said than going into the woods to find wood to bring home. He figures he has 4 months to split all this wood. That is a big job.

I really like signs like this......

.....next to signs like this.

I did found some wild flowers and interesting pictures.

On down the road I went in to visit with theTrukee hotshot crew. Their area had a few small fires last night started by lighting. That was good for them as they really make their money when they go fight the fires. Setting around on standby does not pay all that well.

"Grizzly" ( I have no idea why they call him that) has been fighting fires since 1988 and not one of those was in his beard.

Danny and Jeff were wet with sweat and working on sharpening saws and refuelling after last night.

My neighbor had wanted me to do the Donner pass on the last trip. Well, Vicki, here it is and I lived to tell about it.

Going up and over the two passes before and after Lake Tahoe, Big Red did well. One area of the climb was steep and we were back to about 45 mph, but I imagine with Scoot it would have been about 20 mph.

The view of Tahoe was great. After the Mount Rose summit it was a pretty steep decent with 20 mph bends in the road. Most people were in a bigger hurry than that and I got out of their way. That is, until we came around a turn and the traffic was stopped because a 18 wheeler had turned over in one of those 20 mph turns. He just missed going over the side. After that, everyone slowed down

So far I have been good at keeping my speed down, usually below the speed limit if traffic permitted, so as to continue the Scoot mentality of slower is better. I have to admit that I did cheat just once.

I rolled into Reno about 12:30 and stopped at Joe's Diner. Oddly, it closes at 1 pm, but they let me stay as long as I wished. Lauri, the cook, tried to take a picture but his hands shook so much he could not do it, so Danielle called Taylor the bus boy to do the job. They were all a lot of fun, but Danielle was just a "cheerleader for life" as the others say.

a little shaky

I skipped the casinos and chose the Quality Inn. Only fair quality but they let you park your bike on the patio for security reasons.

day 1-3

2010-07-25T20:07:00.001-07:00

I flew from Tampa to Oakland on the first leg of the scooter journey. I would rather take a whippin' than go to the airport and it was re-enforced on this trip. It all started with the new full body scanners. When they say "remove everything", they mean everything. A kleenex got me a full body scan. At least they were jovial about it. From there it only got worse. My flight took off at 7:30 am and I landed in Oakland at 7:30 pm. 15 hours en-route. Flying for free ain't what it used to be. The rental car experience was no better. I thought we really screwed the tourist in Florida but California makes us look cheap. I originally booked a car from Budget off the airport for $173 for a week. The same car at the airport was $458. I no longer needed 7 days and the 2 days cost me $183! at the airport.

I spent the night with a old friend I had not seen in years, Baby Bundles and her husband Kyoji. We had a great time and they are great people. Despite being in an urban area there was all kinds of wild animals roaming through.

I left“Menopause Meadows”, as Bundles calls the over 55 community she lives in, and headed for Redding, home of the new scooter. William was waiting with the Vespa and 2 of his other 2-wheeled machines. The Vespa was everything I expected and more. William had it cleaner than if I had gotten it new from the dealer. It has about 10 coats of wax. I had only talked to William once on the phone and, as I expected, he is a great guy. He and his girlfriend put me up for the evening, wined and dined me and gave me a tour of the area. If I had not left he would have given me so much stuff I would have had to add another luggage rack. Thank you William for a great visit and I hope to see you soon and thank you for selecting me to own the scooter.

Big Red and me rolled out of Redding about 9:30 on US44 headed into the hills. Yesterday I had seen 111 degrees on the test ride but climbing to over 8,000 feet should keep it cooler. At the entrance to the Lessen National Park, I met 3 Swiss students who are traveling America and wanted a couple pictures on the sign with Big Red. It was a beautiful ride over the mountain with very little traffic. At the peak of over 8,000 feet, Scoot and I would have been clawing our way over. Big Red never missed a beat. Rain showers were around but never fell on us, but the fresh smell they brought was great. This is a volcanic mountain and there are steam holes. Unfortunately, I got no pictures of them. On the back side of the mountain temperatures climbed again to 100 degrees.

I called it a day in Portola, Ca. as I felt it was time for a celebration drink for owning another scooter.

2010-07-21T02:58:00.000-07:00

On my first spring journey several years ago on Scoot, a Vespa LX150, I was riding a long stretch in the back woods of Georgia. Boring is not quite the right word, maybe less than interesting, but in reality everything is interesting if you want it to be. Anyway, I began thinking when I get home I may just trade up to a Vespa 250 which has a larger motor. As I traveled on down the highway, I decided I really should not do that. I was afraid I might lose the most important part of these travels and that is the fact that with the small engine I have no choice but to go slow. It creates the mindset that is the basis for all the joy I get out of these adventures. When I have to go slow making a U-turn to see something or talk with someone,it won't make that much difference at the end of the day time wise. With a larger motor, if I am bored, I just twist the throttle a little more and zoom on down the road possibly missing the most interesting place on the whole trip.

On my 6558 mile odyssey across America this spring, that slow part got put to the test. 20 mph for a couple of hours going over 10,000 foot passes with 40 mph winds was interesting...the first 5 times. On the way home, someplace in Arkansas I think, I decided to look for a nice red Vespa 250. I decided I had to lose 100# or get the 250 for riding really long distances- and I am not going to lose the weight. Too lazy. I have told myself that I am mature enough as a rider now that I can keep my hand from just twisting the throttle and blowing by the world. Well, with 250cc, I don't think I will blow by real fast, but faster than with Scoot. Having gone slow for the last 3 years and about 11,000 miles of road trips, I know what is there if you go slow and I don't want to miss that.

So, I started a search for Vespa 250. There were several nice ones on the market, but the best price on the best scooter is in Redding, Ca. I am off on Friday to close the deal and begin yet another ride across America. I should start updates on the blog this weekend, so stay tuned.

2010-07-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

Coming next week....something new.

Here is a hint.

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Epilogue

2010-06-04T03:57:00.000-07:00

1 month, 1 week, and 1 day, 6539 miles, 2 rear tires, 94 gas station stops, amazingly only 3 rain days and 2 of those less than 1 hour, one snow day, too many cold days, is what it took to ride a Vespa across America and back. Was it worth it? Absolutely !!! Any regrets? No. The return leg, after getting sick, became a scooter ride and not as much an adventure, but I loved every minute of it.

Some people said that the trip to California seemed awful fast. Well, look at it this way. It takes you 3 days to cross the country in your car and what do you see? It took me 21 days and I was literally in the scene the whole way. It was all around me. At what I estimate to be an average speed of about 40mph, you see a lot. Going over a 10,000 foot mountain at 20 mph for 1 hour or so, you even see more. Crossing the flat lands with 40 mph headwinds, you see a lot. No, I did not go to all the tourist places along the way. Most of them I have seen and my trips are not to see those, but the people and land around them. To keep from getting long winded, many, many people and places were not in the blog. Breakfast with Mennonites, conversations in cafes, chat's at the gas stations. If there was not a picture, I did not write about and a lot of these encounters I felt that camera would change the event. Maybe I should write about and I have in the past, but at the end of the day, it was to much to put in a blog for me. Those are memories to be shared in the future.

What is the story here? The story is that this is a vast, beautiful and wonderful country. Just as important is that is full of wonderful caring people. Not one person was anything other than helpful and friendly. (Ok, there was the cop, but he was not ugly, just not cooperative.) This is what I have found not only in the U.S., but every where I have traveled in the world. So, I encourage you to set out to see something new. Get out of your comfort zone, you will probably be surprised how good it feels and what new experiences you may have.

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The James Dean Byrd Foundation

www.jamesdeanbyrdfoundation.org

The fund raiser for the foundation was an after thought for this cross country trip. I never knew it would be so successful. To date we have raised $6,425!!! Almost all from small internet donations. THANK YOU!

For you to give to such a worthy cause is heart warming. I try not use the heart tugging scenes you see on TV to raise funding, but we have many of them. Here are a few.

One mother was interviewed and asked what she likes about the Escuela Bilingue los Algarrobos. Her answer was that she can neither read or write, but everyday after school her 1st grade daughter comes home and child teaches her everything that she learned in school that day. She to is learning to read and write.
Another family was interviewed and the child said what she liked best about school is that she good food, as there was none or very little at home.

Besides educating the children, the school has outreach programs to the families. They cover a broad spectrum from child nutrition, to medical issues, to child abuse.

I invite you all to come down and visit the school. Canoa is a nice little town. There are no Hilton's or even Motel 6's, but there are clean, safe accommodations and a wonderful beach. Ecuador is a compact country and you can go from the Amazon to the beach in one day, offering you a lot of new opportunities to see a different world.

TAKING IT HOME

2010-06-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

I knew today would be just a scooter ride as Scoot and I have ridden this road many times and after 5 weeks on the road we did not want to work to find something new.

US19 is pretty for the first 150 miles and then it turns into a 50 mile ugly strip mall. For some bizarre reason I decided I would ride it all the way home today. I do not even like riding it in my car. After about 20 minutes the strip mall part, I came to my senses and moved east a few miles to East Lake Blvd, a nice calm road. This took me almost al the way home.

The wife and neighbors had put up a welcome home sign. It was great to be back.

2010-06-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

Scoot and me slipped out of Selma, Alabama around 7 pm. We went through town and over the Alabama River bridge. Never even knew Alabama had a Alabama river. We joined US80 to Montgomery. This is the road that the civil rights marchers walked in the '60's. It interesting that in this small town in the middle of nowhere a few people started a movement that would changed the whole nations culture.

We turned of on AL97 to get some back road time. It was a nice ride through rolling hills with forest and cattle farms. At Luvrne I sat and contemplated what route to take. I really did not want to make my way back over to US231, the main route, as that would end the adventure and begin just a scooter ride home. After serious contemplation, I decided I had no other choice. With a 50% chance of rain and the back road route I would put me to far to the west. So, we made our way over to Troy and joined 231.

Traffic to Dothan was moderate, but after that the rest of the highways, all four lanes, were almost empty.

When we crossed into Georgia we did not see the welcome time until it was to late. It was a small sign in the middle of a bridge. I saw no need to return to get a picture. Scoot did stop at the Florida sign to be sure everyone would know that we were back in the homeland.

Getting through Tallahassee took about as long as it did to cross Texas. Must be a lot of politician deciding how to time the lights. You have to stop for every single one, and there were lots.

About 5 miles out of Perry, our destination for today, we had a flat tire. Fortunately it was right in front of a repair facility for a logging company. I pushed Scoot over and borrowed their air and concert pad. It me took about 10 minutes to repair and we were back on the road.

We rolled on into Perry and went to Deals Oyster house for dinner and called it a day.

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2010-05-31T19:34:00.000-07:00

We were out of Dumas at the crack of dawn and back on our private highway.

We crossed the Mississippi in to Mississippi on a old rickety bridge and were met by a sign, mesquites and a casino. Luckily they are building a nice new bridge with stimulus money. Don't know about the Casino.

We rode through downtown Greenville and I think we were better off in Dumas. Not an exciting place.

Back on our private highway, we diverted into a few towns, to find them basically abandoned. The main thing on the highway is that great southern plant, kudzu. It went on for miles and miles. A friend of mine took some to Ecuador to keep the jungle growth down in his palm plantation. It worked and he just had to keep the base of the trees cleared.

Yesterday I had helped a older lady at a gas station in Hot Springs check her transmission fluid. She was all dressed up and wanted to tip me, which I refused. She had just came from the cemetery visiting her veteran husband;s grave. She was quite upset that no one really honored our veterans anymore. As I rode on I thought about what she said. I had seen no indication that anyone was honoring the veterans. Until I rolled into Columbus, Ms.

The downtown was closed up but the main street was decorated with hundreds of American flags. I looked for a place to eat lunch and the only one open downtown was Harvey's so I whipped Scoot in. It was a more modern restaurant than the others that were closed. Beautiful Mary took my order and then asked if I was veteran. When she said yes, she said my meal was on the house, and though I had just ordered a salad I could change it to anything from prime rib to sandwich's and it would be free. I stayed with my order of the salad. The owner of the restaurant, the Hertz family, have honored veterans for many years by treating them to a free lunch. I wish I could call the lady that I had talked to yesterday and tell, "yes, some people do still care". Harvey's restaurant Thank You !!!

I had plotted several routes for today, but bridges pretty much dictated the route. In Alabama, I looked at several alternatives, but off the main roads hotels were almost non-existent. I also know that in this part of the state, there is little or nothing on the side roads. Four lane highways are not conducive to making u-turns or pulling off to visit. Just being on a four lane changes my mind set to a faster pace. I had already missed several opportunities this morning because of this highway. So, I decided to just go for a record mileage day and headed for Selma, Alabama. We joined AL219 at Centerville and headed out in the country. This was a nice ride with almost nothing on the road. The only thing was Paul's vegetable truck at the end of his driveway. I stopped and chatted and bought some home made soap and pickles.

We rolled into Selma about 4PM. A dark cloud was over head with a few rain drops falling when we pulled into the hotel. 367 miles. We could have done more miles as it never did rain, but there were not hotels at a reasonable distance and 367 was more than enough for me.
ps: the editor is still off for the holiday so please forgive my errors and omissions.

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2010-05-30T17:28:00.000-07:00

First thing we did this morning was to check Scoot's tire pressure with our brand new tire gauge from Tulsa Scooters. Both tires needed a little air so we rolled next door to the gas station and added some.

We roared away continuing our trip eastward on US64. We came upon a turtle in the road and rescued him, hoping that would bring good karma for the rest of the day.

We crossed into Arkansas at Fort Smith behind 2 large farm tractors that blocked the whole bridge. Finding our way through Fort Smith was not much of a challenge even if there were no signs. We headed south out of town on AR71. We moved into a farming area with rice, corn, soybeans, cotton and grain everywhere.

In the big city of Waldron we pulled in for a cup of coffee at the Rock Cafe. It has been there since 1936 and so has everything in it and the resident coffee drinker at the outside table.

We passed the "Hugs and Biscuits" and had a to make a u-turn to check this one out. I am afraid the only thing you would hug if you bought a biscuit here would be the toilet bowl.

We have been pushing the fuel limit the last couple of tanks and took fuel were we could get it when the low level light came on. We pulled into "Needmore Grocery and Station" and paid a very high price for 87 octane, their only type. Guess the high price is because they are saving up for a new fuel filter.

We turn west on US270 to Hot Springs, Arkansas. I thought this road would be much busier than 71, but until we got close to Hot Springs, there was very little traffic. We came across a cross country bike race with a crossing guard and that was about it as we climbed and turned through the national forest. When we got closer to Fort Smith the on coming traffic became bumper to bumper with lots of vehicles pulling boats. Glad I will not be on this road this afternoon when they come back after being in the sun and beer all day.

Hot Springs was not what I expected. It was much busier with tourist. All the old bath houses downtown are now big tourist attractions. My good friend Bob Lubliner, who you met on the west bound leg, used to come here with his father in the 30's and vacation in the big hotel. He had many a great story about the old mafia guys and politicians from Chicago.The story I remember best is Bob's dad introduced him to a mafia guy who's name I do not recall. Bob's dad said if you ever get into financial trouble give this guy a call. In the late '50's the theater busy was doing very badly and Bob had exhausted all financial sources. He called this guy, who he had not seen since that day, and told him he was strapped for cash. The gentleman exchanged pleasantries and asked him how much he needed. That afternoon a check for $10,000 appeared at Bob's office. As Bob used to say, "and that was not just peanuts back then". There was nothing else ever said and Bob repaid the loan over time.

Vicki has tried several business adventures we have seen today in Arkansas, but she does not seem to be a great business person. She makes one hell of a Princess though!

Despite many interesting places to eat in Hot Springs, I was not ready yet and headed out of town. An hour or so later, I was thinking I might have to make my second visit on this trip to a fast food place when the "The Place" appeared and saved me. It was just the right down home food I needed on a holiday Sunday.

We pressed on hoping trying to make it to Greenville, Ms., one of the many home of the blues, but threatening skies and tired butt ended the Dumas, AK.

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2010-05-29T18:32:00.000-07:00

I had slept well and was up and ready by dawn. We loaded up and had a couple of cups of hotel coffee. After we had the "conversations" we were off for Tulsa. The "conversations" are daily and usually several times a day. It usually starts with the desk clerk "That your scooter?", "Yes mam", "I need one of those to ride to work, bet it gets great gas mileage", "Yes mam"
In the parking lot "That your scooter?""Yes sir", "Where you going?""Back to Florida""You rode that all the way from Florida""Yes sir, I rode it from Florida to California and I am headed home""You road that to California...Mable, Mable come here!! He road that all the way to California from Florida, can you believe that." Etc, Etc. It is always fun to see the expressions on their faces.

I had almost booked a truck last night to take Scoot and me home, but could not hit the "done" button. I am glad I did not as once we were on the road I knew we had to ride home. And, it was warm.

We headed out of Blackwell on OK11 and turned on OK 177. The scenery changed for a little while with trees and scattered houses, but pretty soon went back to open rolling plains with almost no houses in sight. It was a beautiful day and we were glad to be back on the road again. Scoot was in great shape, (except one problem we will discuss later) and he was roaring along at 50 to 55 mph with no problem.

Around 9:30 we rolled into Barnsdale, OK on OK 60. Downtown was closed off for a big holiday celebration called Big Heart day. I parked Scoot and walked around for awhile. All kinds of things where planned, parades, contestants and old cars. I had seen a lot of turtles crossing the road and I could not figure out why. Now I know. They were trying to get to town for the "turtle races". There were boxes and buckets of turtles everywhere. I hung around waiting for the races as they were first up. But as happens in many small town events, time is not important. After waiting for 30 minutes and hearing them announce "turtle races in one minute" with no action about 10 times, I decided to head on down the road.

I rolled into Tulsa on OK11 and went to find the H&P Drilling Company world headquarters. They have employed my good friend Gary Parkin in Ecuador for over 20 years. I wanted to find Mr. H or Mr. P and tell them what a great employee he was. Oddly enough, they were not there on a holiday weekend. I must say, that for a large oil field company, their headquarters building was quite bland. The building is not even named after them.

Having accomplished this task, I was after for the "Gucci Coffee" and the "crackberry" said it was just down the street and off we went. I was surprised to find a fine street market starting right at the Cuba Coffee House. Got a coffee and strolled the street. Several nice conversations, especially with the owner of the most interesting tattoos I have seen in a while. He was a Harley guy, of course, and the owner of a wiener dog. We talked about getting blown around on the road and I took a few pictures. Sadly only the tattoos turned out.

Now the rest of the Scoot story. I had heard a rattling noise the last day we were on the road. I looked and moved parts, but discovered nothing. Today, on my preflight, I found an exhaust bolt missing and that was what was rattling. Easy fix, just get another bolt. So, off I went, on down the same street as H&P and Cuba Coffee to Tulsa Scooters. They looked at and but did not have a bolt to fit, but sent me to Lowes where I acquired the bolt but it did not fit and I went back to Tulsa Scooters.

Let me say here, that this is another one of the great finds and example of how everyone has tried to help me on this trip. They rolled Scoot right in the shop and discovered that the threads where stripped on both bolts due to unknown reasons. So, they pulled the exhaust, tapped the holes and reinstalled everything, for the embarrassing price of $15. But, it did not end there. The owner, Dave Wycoff, was there and we sat and talked for awhile. He was in the same location as me in Vietnam. When I told them I had spent a month there last year he was very interested as he had, like me, always wanted to go back. Other scooter people came and went and we all chatted. They sold a brand new Buddy while I was there. I got ready to go and he insisted I have lunch with him and the rest of his staff. We sat around a table in the showroom and ate pizza. When I got ready to go, they started laying on the gifts...tshirts, tire gauges, decal's and more. What another great group of people. Sadly, Dave does not ride as much as he used to. He and his wife were on separate scooters, stopped at an intersection, when a kid came up from behind, crossed about 3 lanes illegally and hit them both. They never saw the guy. He was hurt pretty bad, but his wife walked away almost "unscathed". I don't consider a concussion and a broke foot "unscathed". Every one there, Chad who fixed Scoot, Ray who helped, and Jonathon the salesman/pizza delivery guy are great people. Thank you all!!

Navigating out of Tulsa was easy. Go on down the same street a few blocks and turn right and just keep going and it turns into US64. That was the easy part. The hard part was there is a gaggle of lights and they are all timed that you must stop for everyone of them no matter what speed you drive at. Eventually, we where out in the country again. It was totally different than the west side of Tulsa. The west was rolling plains and on this side was rolling wooded hills and farms. We crossed the Arkansas river, the Arkansas Navigational waterway and the Illinois River.

I pulled into Sallisaw about 5 PM. I probably could have made it to Ft Smith, Arkansas, but I had rode far enough the cold monkey still on my back. The lady at the front desk was very nice. She gave me a room and then Chad walked in. He already had a room, but his buddy was coming so the desk clerk took my key and gave it to him and gave me his key. In the parking lot Chad gave me a greatly appreciated cold beer for the deal. He is actually from near where this trip started in California, but travels all over the U.S. installing telephone equipment. He had just came from St. Louis and was looking at a little ranch here to buy.
ps: the editor is off for the holidays. please forgive my errors

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sss

2010-05-28T16:07:00.000-07:00

I stayed in bed, sleeping on and off, until about noon. This was a strong indication that I was not in the best of shape as I never sleep past 6 AM. The drugs and rest did well and about 1 PM I walked to the Plainsman Cafe in hopes of getting a good home cooked meal. It was not to be. Buffet time at lunch at the Plainsman Cafe. $6.99, including drink, for all you could consume.The salad was ok, the vegetables marginal, the chicken dry, the ribs good, and my favorite of the day......fish sticks, were...well....fish sticks. Interesting that on some of the long stretches fish sticks had actually floated by in my mind. I had not had or seen them since my youth when my mother tried to feed 5 boys on my dads military salary, back when the military was not paid well at all. It was good that I was ill as I had very little and only finished the salad.

The rest of the day was spent recouping and planing the next few days. The hotel did all the laundry you could stick in a comercial washer for $5. A heck of deal and I went for it.

2010-05-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

We left the "Bates" motel and continued east. I still was not feeling better, but I wanted to get in a long day today. The first 50 miles was so straight and flat, there was not even one no passing zone. The road continued long and straight and was either flat or a few rolling hills with almost no occupied houses and no one to stop and visit. I did have some long conversations with people a Guyman and a couple of gas stops. The day just droned on until we came to the top of a hill out side of Buffalo. Dawn and his side kicks stopped everyone, well me, a car, a Harley and a truck in the half hour I visited with them. A tractor trailer had turned over down the hill and they were sending everybody back or on 15 mile detour which had 8 miles of dirt road. I asked them if I could go down and ask the patrolman if I could push Scoot around on on the shoulder. They totally rejected that idea. The detour was down the hill, so we rolled on by, ignored the bypass, asked to Highway Patrol if we could slide around and he said sure and bring those two pickup trucks with you. I have always had a problem with people telling me "no" to a sensible solution.

In Buffalo, we got gas an met Kelly Smith. Kelly is a pipeline welder from Georgia and was riding around the midwest until a new pipeline job starts next month. Then rolled in the Harely that took the by pass. They were from Tennessee, a husband and wife. The detour was not to bad until a truck passed them and they ate his dust for six miles.

I saw the Harely couple again in Alva eating at a gas station as there seemed to be no restaurants open this late. I pushed on down the road to a BBQ joint that had a parking lot full of flashy motorcycles. They left as I came in. There was one left when I finished and it belonged to a couple from Wichita who were just out on this beautiful day riding around.

US64 took a turn to the right and it had no hotels at the distance I wanted to stop today, so I continued straight ahead on OK11 to Blackwell. By the time I got there and checked into a very comfortable Comfort Inn my strep throat was killing me. I called my Dr., Saint, Stan and he called in a prescription to the Hutton Drug store in town. Blackwell is another town that Walmart killed, but Mr. Hutton was hanging in there.

I am going to take a lay day here and see if the medicine works. If not I might have to load Scoot and a truck an make the next 1220 miles on 4 wheels.

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2010-05-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

Taos is an interesting town and I would have liked to go back out to Earthhouses to get a closer look, but we pushed on east, over our last mountain range. It was beautiful riding through the Taos Canyon up to over 9,000 feet again and down into the plateau. It was a beautiful ride I failed to capture in any pictures. We ran across the high plain to Eagle Nest were we started our last climb up the mountains. I stopped at the top to take a picture of what we had crossed behind us. Scoot had done a great job, even though his little 150cc heart was not meant to drag my fat butt and luggage over 10,000 feet passes. He struggled at times, but never gave up.

We roared down the other side. In Cimarron we made a left onto NM21 to avoid 6 miles of interstate highway. It was a beautiful ride, with tree lined stretches much like Europe. We passed the Philmont Boy Scout Camp, one of the nicest ones I had ever seen and a very large facility.

In Springer we stopped for lunch in front of a little shop that said "cafe". After I took all my gear and walked in I found out it "was" a cafe, but now is antique shop. Across the street was a cafe in an old hotel. Breakfast was good, but more interesting was the black white pictures and short bio's of local cowboys. Some old and some young.
Back on the highway, we were following hwy US56/412 as US64 took a big kink to the north, but we would rejoin it later. This is flat land with nothing on it. Just mile after mile of parries. We stopped in Clayton, NM, the last town before Oklahoma, and thought of a hotel, but it was early and the town was not very exciting. I have been fighting a cold or something the last couple of days and was a little run down, but I figured if I had a bite of lunch and sat for awhile, I would feel well enough to press on to the next town. I found lunch in the oddest place, the back of Mary's Flower Shop. No sign about a restaurant you just have know. You walk through the shop and in the back are a few tables and they serve the greatest food. There is a door straight into the shop but it is disguised both on the outside and the inside. The green chili did the job and we were back on the road. Outside of Clayton, there was evidence of the tornado had come through the day before and broke off about a mile of power line, rolled a lot of irrigation machinery and damaged one barn. Got a lot of thumbs up from the electrical repairman.

We stopped for the night in Boise City, OK. There are two 1950's hotels owned by the same people. From the outside it looks like the Bates motel, but the rooms cleaned and the bed comfortable. By night fall, the parking lot was full.

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2010-05-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

Today I moved slowly because last night's low was 28 degrees and I was waiting for it to warm up. At 7 I went next door for a "Gucci" coffee and breakfast. Steve, the chef, came out and said he had to look at Scoot. We went outside and I learned he and his wife Jenny, had scooters and wanted to do a long journey and seeing me made him realize it was possible. She is a local radio personality and immediately called and set a radio interview with me that morning.

I met Jenny at the studio of KZRM 96.1 in Chama for her 9 AM "Magical Mystery Tour" show. I knew it would be fun just from the name of the show. She introduced me to Steve and others who came into the studio. The interview was about 10 minutes and a lot of fun. This is another one of those little jewels of a town and people that I just happen to stumble across on the scooter trips.

We said goodbye and away I went. One advantage of leaving later is that it had warmed up for me to follow US-64 across the mountain to Taos, NM. I had planned a route around the mountain because of the low temperatures. We clawed our way up to the over 10,000 foot peak. Scoot was not designed to drag my fat butt and gear on these inclines and altitudes but we made it and zoomed down the other side.There was still plenty of snow and spring had not come to the trees up at the top yet.

On the way up I found a cow caught in a fence. I stopped at the nearest house and told the owner, but it was not his cow and he did not care. There really was nothing else I could do so we continued on. I am sure that homeowner is not from around here, as everyone else I met up until him, were very caring people.

On the way down we stopped in and met John, a relative of Smoky Bear. He is not looking forward to the upcoming holiday weekend as it brings all kind of situations from fire to "relationship" problems.

When we reached the plateau we came across Cassandra in the middle of nowhere. She had walked to town to the Post Office and was on her way home. What is not seen in the picture is that she was walking on an artificial leg.

Coming into Taos, there were several interesting sites; adobe house, earthship houses that were really, really different and a group of students paying their respects to a friend at the location he was killed on the highway. Too bad the camera battery was dead.

Taos is an artist town and mostly in the Adobe style. I decided to quit early and checked into the Taos Inn that was founded 1935.

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2010-05-24T16:52:00.000-07:00

I had slept well at the Hampton Inn in Kayenta, NM and when I looked out the window there was no blowing sand, but I could tell from the trees that there was still a pretty good wind blowing. I got ready slowly waiting for the temperature to raise a few degrees. When I went for a walk around the building, the wind was much stronger than I thought and little white things began floating by. IT WAS SNOWING!

I went back to the room to make up a plan. I had two choices: 1) slog my way in 20 mph winds up to Monument Valley, a beautiful place, but something I had seen before, and it would take about 3 hours or 2) head eastbound and use the 20 mph wind to push me along. I chose the later and headed east on AZ 160. I wanted away from the snow and a tailwind is always better. I really wanted to take Scoot to the Valley, but it was not to be. Here are pictures of snow in the mountains and a some of the monuments in Monument Valley.

As I rode along all morning on the left side of the road was snow and overcast. On the right, crystal blue skies.

In Teec Nos Pos US-64 begins. If I stayed on this road it would take me to my Mom and Dad's house in North Carolina and on down to the Atlantic Coast.

About 30 minutes out of Farmington, NM the overcast caught me and it got real cold. I pulled into AJ's Diner and parked out front. When I walked in you would have thought I had lived there all my life. Almost everyone spoke and the waitresses came over and we immediately started talking about my ride and they knew I was cold and bought coffee. I lingered for a long time warming up and feeling right at home. Everyone that came in Barbie, my waitress, and the other waitress, told them I had ridden across country. Barbie came out to say good bye and Scoot and I headed out of town.

For the next hundred miles or so, again there was nothing but beautiful vistas. The skies had also cleared and though it was cold, it was a lot better than when the clouds had caught up to me. There was very little traffic in my direction but in the opposite direction there was a constant flow of large trucks and dozens of white pickup trucks. This is gas and oil country and I think most of them were related to this business. I later learned the traffic was because of a wreck that had closed the road for 4 hours.

We entered the Apache reservation and eventually rolled into Dolce. It has nothing but a few small casinos and the headquarters for the Apache reservation. It is in the middle of nowhere but a very lovely location. I just cannot figure out where the people come from to gamble.

I stopped at the continental divide at over 7,000 feet. This area is in the high plains with lots of green in the valleys.

I pulled into the visitors center in Chama to inquire about accommodations. The girl there told me that there were several in town, but if I went across the street to the hotel I could walk to the restaurant. I decided that was a good idea, but first I would ride into the town to see if anything was there. I was pleasantly surprised to find a small down town area with old restored buildings. The main attraction is a restored small gauge railroad that runs up to Colorado and back over a 6 hour period. The place felt good so I checked into the Chama Inn for the evening.

ss

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2010-05-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

We waited around until after 8 AM for it to warm up. Had breakfast coffee with an Australian couple who had come over for 2 weeks for a wedding. Their economy is doing great as unemployment is under 5% again and mortgage rates are on the way up.

Paid our $12 to Toll Troll and headed out east on AZ 64. First overlook we met some long distance riders, too. Mark is from Myrtle Beach, SC and riding a Harley.. His riding partner is much prettier than mine. Her name is Ann from Sweden, though I believe she lives in SC, also. She is riding Scoot's big cousin, a Ducoti, a fine Italian machine. Cruised on down the rim and took lots of pictures, but I will spare you the pain and just throw in a couple.

Riding in the park was fine as the high trees blocked the wind. Leaving the Park the large flag was standing straight out. It is at half mast because a Park Service employee died on the job in Utah. The trees started to disappear and the wind picked up. The good news is that it was mostly a quartering cross or a tail wind. The bad part about going down hill is you have to go up hill. The wind helped a lot today. On US-89, a major north-south route, traffic was pretty busy, but thanks to the wind I could keep the speed up.

We turned on to US160 and headed for Kayenta, Az. and Monument Valley. In Tuba City we saw some old Jag's and I pulled in. This is a picture of Mark and his 1953 Jag. We could not get a better picture as the winds were trying to push Scoot over.

Back on the road it was another wild ride. Winds blowing 25 to 30 and gusting to 50. Visibility was down to 1/4 mile with blowing sand. There were some interesting pictures to be taken, but were missed as Scoot could not stand up on his own in the wind.

The plan had been to check into the hotel in Kayenta and then ride out to Monument Valley for the afternoon. After hours of sand blowing up my nose and holding on in the strong winds, the plan changed. New plan: stay upright until we get to the hotel and then go find some cold beer. Well, we did the first part, but we were informed that the reservation is dry. Well, it will be suitcase gin in the room. I found a corner to hide Scoot out of the winds and retired to my room.

2010-05-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

Scoot and me bolted out of Boulder City at the crack of dawn. We passed the last Casino and descended down to the Boulder Dam and began the climb up the Arizona side. One of the reasons for the early departure is that US93, on the south side of the dam, has 16 miles of mostly very narrow road with lots of construction and it is all uphill. I wanted to get through that area before any traffic built up because there a only a couple of places to pull off for faster traffic.

We cleared the area with no traffic and hit the four lane. We were running into 20 knots of head winds and as always, this slowed. us down. We pulled into Rosie's at 6:30 for breakfast. The place was pretty busy for this early in the morning. Most were locals and many were buying Powerball tickets. One guy got $80 worth. He should have invested $79 in beer and then he would just have just lost a dollar. The breakfast was excellent and large. I did not eat all of it. I asked AJ, the waitress, if I could take her picture and she agreed if I would send her a print. That is the what she charges everyone. Last year she got a picture that was taken by a Japanese tourist 15 years ago. This is a small friendly place and there was lots of discussion about my sanity of riding a Vespa across country. The old guys said it was great. Some of the young ones did not think it was a good idea.

Down the road at Yankee pizza I came across this sign. The "restriction" is that no trucks or buses are allowed to cross the dam and are diverted to another route for security reasons. I found it interesting that Rosie's was rocking and this place is blaming some one else and looking for a hand out. That attitude may be why they are losing business.

We rolled into Kingman and came across the local breakfast meeting of the old car club. There was about 8 great cars, but I liked the bus. The body is a 1946, but it sets on a Ford F150 chassis. This was it's second outing. Nick, the owner, has been building it so that his daughter, who is in a wheel chair, can go to antique car shows in style. In Kingman we got on Route 66 and headed east.

We stopped in the Kingman airport. This is where airplanes come to rest or be buried. There were many more than the pictures show.

Back on Route 66 we came across some Harleys on the side of the road and saw a bunch of guys in green vests. It was the Desert Rough Riders motorcycle club and they had adopted this part of the highway. They had picked up a lot of trash. We talked a few minutes and then they went back to work.

Of course we had to stop in Truxton to visit Chuck and Charlie. This place was very busy today with locals and tourist getting gas. Two German girls stopped to buy cigarettes. Chuck does not sell cigarettes but the girls were thrilled that he would let them smoke in his store out of the wind. He told about a lady that stopped in one time and asked if he sold cigarettes. He said "no, we just sell moonshine, marijuana, and unlicensed firearms." She slid back her jacket and showed her badge from the Arizona Tobacco and Firearms commission. She did not see the humor in it. Chuck sprayed some cleaner on Scoot to clean up a film of oil from the maintenance shop that had gathered dirt. Charlie made me a care package of souvenirs. He had other stuff but realized I did not have much room. We said goodbye again and I am sure that the business will still be here when I pass this way again, with Charlie following in his Pop's foot steps.

Again I say, great people.

I cruised on down Route 66 passing going businesses and some that were long closed. When I had the tail wind we were rippin'.

I got on I-40 about 10 miles before I wanted, but it was not a bad ride, even with the trucks passing by. I got to pass one on a long climb up a hill, but shortly he blew by me again.

I pulled in to Ash Fork for lunch. A customer noticed my t-shirt and asked that I show it to his wife. Thus I met Hugh and Reba. They have a small farm out in the country at the end of a 9 mile dirt road. They had had a 1963 Vespa that had all it's parts but did not run. They had acquired or actually rescued it from a neighbor. He had finally given it to some one that made a table out of it. We had a long conversation about all the interesting things in the area that are not on any map or tourist route. There are old Indian ruins, a cave dug by Chinese railroad workers and lots of other things including a flying saucer. They invited me back any time for a tour of the area.

Ten more miles of I-10 to Williams and I was done with the interstate. Running through Williams I found a large group of motorcycles. I later learned they had turned out for a funeral for a local soldier killed in Afghanistan. The soldier had bought a new bike, but never got a chance to ride it.

We ran up AZ64 to the Grand Canyon and paid way too much for a hotel room at the Red Feather. But it is the old story, location, location. I had tried the Holiday Inn Express in hopes of waking up smarter tomorrow but it was full.

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2010-05-21T21:39:00.000-07:00

I can not say enough good about Pat Clark Motorsports. They are the Las Vegas Vespa dealer and many more bikes including Triumph and Docati and others. They all went out of their way to make me feel at home and/or to get me back on the road as quickly as possible. When we had trouble getting the right parts in, they took what was needed off a floor Vespa. Mike worked through his lunch hour even though I was only going 18 miles today. So, Troy, Bill, Mike, Fabian, Eric, Jack, Gustavo and all, THANK YOU! If you need a bike call them. I will deliver it. Pat Clark Motorsports

I went to do laundry while they working on Scoot and saw this sign in the parking lot. I liked it. Interestingly, there was a 1-800 you got a lawyer billboard above it.

In Pat Clark's workshop they had a Desmosede. This is a $72,000 motorcycle made in Italy and only 1,500 were made. The factory flew Mike to Italy for a one-week course just so he could work on it. The owner had had it up to 186 mph. It was in their shop because the owner had backed into it with his Ferrari. Some people just have all the bad luck. Scoot was trying to talk trash to it, but it only speaks Italian.

We finished up around 2:30, and those who know me, know that I whine at any bill. You will be glad to know that I was glad to pay this bill because it was worth every damn penny of it. Any time I get service like this from genuinely caring and nice people, I am glad to pay.

I rode the 18 miles to Boulder City with the blowing winds again. Everyone say Boulder City is a great place, not all corporate like Vegas and they were right. The Boulder Dam Hotel is a historic old hotel that has been restored. Sandy, the red headed receptionist, is a pistol and was really great to spar with. It took some convincing to get her to pose with Scoot and she demanded review rights of the picture.

I asked about a place to get a good salad and she pulled out Milo's Wine bar menu of things that I had not seen since I left home. Not a burger or grilled cheese anywhere.
I was not disappointed as the first thing they told me when I got there was it is P.I.G.night. PIG= 'Professional, Intellectual, Gentlemen". All P.I.G.s receive half off on all drinks and that included all wines. I ordered two and a Chianti Platter of meat, cheeses, olives, tomatoes, etc. Even I could not finish it. Bob, the manager came and sat with me for awhile. Nice guy. He and Milo had been partners in a small Casino operation in Vegas and sold out 3 years ago. Perfect timing. He gave me a tour of the place including the B&B that they run upstairs.
It was a successful day and were ready to get back on the road.

2010-05-20T19:34:00.000-07:00

We were up at the crack of dawn. Scoot had spent the night visiting with his cousins, but was ready to go. Leaving town around 5:30 for a short distance there was heavy traffic. The military must go to work early here.

We cruised along until we came to an intersection. I stopped and got out the map to study it a minute. I had not seen another car for 40 minutes and all of sudden here comes a truck. What are the chances? He stopped to see if I was ok and I asked him about the two routes to death valley. He did not recommend the other way as the last time he did he said "I lost". So we saddled up and followed him up to CA-190.

We entered the park and then did a refueling. Behind us was the mountain we crossed last time but avoided this time by coming via CA-178. The grades on the western slope are 9% and we would have slow going at that. Ahead of was the Towne Pass at 5,000 feet that we had to cross again.

Scoot had been acting a little strange and was losing power up the hill, so we pulled over and cleaned the air filter again. This seemed to help some.

In Stovepipe Wells we fueled and while we did, we met and talked with several people. One was a tribal elder and she said there were only about 20 members of her tribe here in the valley. One was a Park Service employee and he had been in Death Valley for 22 years. There wer also several European visitors, some on Harley's, and by the time I thought of the camera they were all gone but this nice couple from Holland.

We headed on down the highway until we ran into Emily and Melody. Emily works with troubled youth at a 24 hour a day boarding school. She thought holding the STOP sign was a great change for a while, but she was eventually going back to the boarding school.

Off we rolled and came to Furnace Wells. The sign says -190 feet. This place has been here forever and the Hollywood people used to come here with their girlfriends. It even has a golf course here in the desert.
It is home of the "20 mule team Borax" commercial. The 20 mules pulled 24 tons of borax at 2 miles an hour for 10 days to the rail head. Only the older readers will probably remember these commercials.

We climbed up the mountain and down the other side to Death Valley Junction were there is a stop sign. As we pulled away from the stop sign, Scoot started to shake. I stopped and tried it again with the same results, so we limped the 100 yards or so to the Amargosa Hotel/Cafe/Opera House in Death Valley Junction. I did a little examination and decided it was something to do with the internal belt system that drives the rear wheel. So.....limp into Vegas at 127 miles; work on it here in 100 degree heat; or call the tow truck. I opted for the tow truck.

I went inside the hotel and met the 83 year old owner that had been here, in the middle of nowhere, for over 40 years. She had come here on vacation from New York City, where she was an artist and dancer, and decided this was the place to be. I was allowed to sit at the "staff table" in the cafe with Lynette, Ruthie, and Theresa. There was a lot of laughter and good times in this small town. Like every place, these people are genuinely nice. If you pass this way, don't miss it, which you can easily do.

not much chance of 25mph
Progressive Insurance said it might be 4 hours to get out here in the boonies but Rick was there from Pahrump within the hour. We loaded up and headed for Vegas. So, what is a $10 tow insurance policy worth here in the desert.......$800! I think I got my money's worth.

It took Rick and I about 1.5 hours to get to Pat Clark Motorsports. They immediately jumped on Scoot to find the problem. Good thing I did not decide to work on it in the desert as I did not have the parts. The little rollers had had a melt down and chewed up the housing. It was too late in the day to get parts from Vespa, so we called a dealer I had done business with in San Diego and they are overnighting the parts. These guys at Pat Clark Motorsports, Bill, Troy, Irish Mike and Fabian are great. They even offered to take parts off a new Vespa to get me back on the road. That was nice, but I was not going anywhere today anyway.

you rode what from where?!

They recommended the Boulder Station Casino which is way off the strip and not far from Pat Clark Motorsports. It is a nice place but one of those places that can stick it to you. The room is quoted at $48, but after the add-ons, is $68. This is the norm here.

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2010-05-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

This morning the fog lifted and the sun came out. I decided, what the heck, lets make a run for it and head for Florida. So, I loaded Scoot, chased off the cat, and headed east.

We were going to have to retrace our route to Vegas, but we could pick a few different roads to get there.

We started on CA-41 and it was a nice ride with not much traffic. Then turned right to get back on CA-58 and the connecting road took us through wine country.

CA-58 we did in the rain and cold coming out. Today it was sunny and great. We rode down the road.

Climbed a hill.

Rode down the road and the hills were covered with wildflowers.

Stopped to talk to Chuck. He is with USGS and they are measuring the fault shift with the GPS tracking. He comes out here once a year, and several other locations, sets up his machine and sits for 6 hours.

Then we rode down the road.

Then we climbed up another pass and descended down the other side into the California farming country.

We passed some cows and after finishing this part we passed the sign that said "no services for the next 70 miles."

The main crop in the farming area seems to power lines.

After stopping to eat at Gonzalo's food stand we drove through Bakersfield. Bakersfield is no better looking in the sun than it was in the rain and cold.

I was little concerned about climbing up the twisty 2 lane road along the Kern River gorge. But Scoot did a great job and the traffic was light. (pictures riding the gorge did not turn out except this one)

We rode down the road and then climbed the Walker Pass again. This time we took a picture of the plaque that you cannot read at the top. And then we rode off the back side again.

We rolled into China Lake in time for happy hour. Thought there would be a cheap hotel, but the excessive military spending here keeps them all full and the prices up.

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2010-05-18T20:17:00.000-07:00

I just finished riding 3442 miles from St. Petersburg, Fl to Morro Bay, California. My original intent was to make it a round trip, but unfortunately that will not happen due to scheduling conflicts. So, for the next several days, I will be wandering around California on my Vespa LX150