Meet, ride, Museum, chicken, ride, rain!

Well, that pretty much sums up today. See you guys later.

No, actually, that doesn't nearly describe today. We met up at Lake Ella this morning at ten (more or less) I was the last to arrive and :

Glynn on his Roketa Tahiti 150
Roger on his orange Kymco Exciting 250
Me on my green Piaggio LT150
Tim on his Suzuki Burgman 650
and Troy on his brand new black TNG Verona

After some chat we headed out. Glynn led us around Lake Ella onto Meridian. We turned on Betton and rode across Thomasville Road and turned left on Centerville. We turned onto Fleischman and then hit Miccosukee Road, a very nice, shady, canopy road. It was really nice riding on that road, I didn't want to turn off it, but we did and soon ended up on Mahan at the Tallahassee Antique Car Museum.

I had never been so I was looking forward to it. I was blown away, there are a lot of seriously cool cars here. There are even several Cushman and All State scooters. There are even two Batmobiles and a Bat Boat for good measure. This is a seriously neat museum. While we were all looking at the cars, Roger asked me which car I would pick if I could choose one car to take.

I looked at the VW Bug that was present but since it wasn't a really rare Split Window Bug (49-53) or a rare Oval Window (54-57) I didn't pick it, although it was a really nice '70 Bug. I didn't think I'd be able to single one of these cars out but a few feet down the row, I found the car I'd take, hands down, no questions. A Ford GT. What an awesome car. There were two at the museum, but I liked the yellow one best, but I'd take the red one if I had to. One of them had the original window sticker. For such a powerful car, it gets 13 mpg in the city. Impressive, huh? It also listed a price of only $154,000. Yup, $154,000.

After we left the museum we walked over to the Rose and Thorn where a waitress met us outside. She told us the kitchen wasn't open and when asked why, she said the cook didn't show and the other cook didn't want to come in. Ok, then.

We headed over to Wing Stop and that was a good choice, the food was great. After some lively conversation about such topics as classical music, politics and world affairs, Roger suggested another ride. We all agreed, so Roger led us out onto Mahan Road.

We turned on Pedrick, then took a left on Buck Lake, through Chaires, across 27 and then took a right on Old Saint Augustine Road. This was another really nice narrow canopy road. We rode it all the way back to town where we ended up at All About Scooters.

Roger kept talking up the 250 size scooters and I broke down and sat on a 250 People and a 250 People S. That was a bad bad decision. They felt nice......

This is where I repeat to myself, 'I love my Piaggio, I love my Piaggio, I don't need a 250, I love my Piaggio'.

Roger headed out and a few minutes later, we all decided to head home. Glynn and I shared part of the ride but right at Monroe Street, it started to rain. We got soaked and Glynn had problems seeing so we took shelter at the What-A-Burger on Thomasville Road where we waited out the storm.

After yet more intellectual chat, this time about history and literature, and after I found out where I could meet my wife to pick up a key to the house, we headed down Thomasville Road, He turned off on Metropolitan and I went on to Timberlane where I met my wife.

Todays meet and ride was a lot of fun and I'm sure we can schedule some more rides. Pictures will be posted soon, stay tuned.

Meet, ride, car museum, Irish pub!

Can you think of a better way to spend a few hours on a Saturday?

The plan is to meet at Lake Ella (parking lot off North Monroe) take a ride over to the Car Museum, walk around and gawk at all the cool cars, then eat lunch at the Rose and Thorn Irish Pub near by.

If anyone that hasn't already joined the forum (link to the right) wants to meet up, ride, gawk and eat with us, all you have to do is show up at Lake Ella at 10 am. See you there!

Saw some scooters on the ride home.

I saw one really interesting scooter. I didn't see the whole scooter but the rear had a full sized fender. It was silver and the rider had a top case. Very cool looking scooter. Hopefully I'll see it again and get a better look. It looked sort of like a People but I'm not sure.

It was hot today but not too bad. I rode over to All About Scooters to check on the valve cover gasket I ordered. It will be in in about a week. I then headed to get some gas so I will have plenty for the ride tomorrow (check the forums!) and headed home via Tennessee to Monroe to Tharpe. The Piaggio is very nice, very powerful and drives very well.

Since it was Friday, I decided to head home a bit early in case there is a monsoon this afternoon.

See you guys tomorrow! (Check the forum!)

Rain!

Well, living in North Florida, I knew I'd get soaked while riding. It happened today. I was at the office near I-10 and Thomasville Road and decided to head home slightly ahead of 5 o'clock traffic. I walked into our lobby and noticed it was dark. I stepped outside and headed out quickly. About a mile down Thomasville road the first few drops hit with a nice loud thunk on my helmet. Soon, it was pouring. My upper legs stayed dry for a while but eventually I was pretty soaked. I decided to pull over and hide under the roof of a gas station and the rain let up a little. I decided to try it and headed out.

It wasn't that bad, actually. I took my time and drove as carefully as I could. The only problem is my glasses got wet so it was a bit hard to see. The roads were white with the salt and chemicals and whatever else gets baked onto a road.

But, although it's not something I want to do every day, I was ok driving in the rain.

Oh, one more thing, we have people joining our group almost everyday. This is very cool. If this keeps up, we can show up at Hooters or Famous Daves and outnumber the Harley riders!

But seriously, if you are interested in maybe meeting and riding with other scooter owners, send me an email or simply sign up on the forum to the right, ok?

I was sitting at the stoplight on Monroe Street...

across from McDonalds and had this deep thought:

If a cheeseburger is 69 cents, a double cheeseburger is 99 cents, then why is the triple cheeseburger $1.49?

I wish I had some excuse as to why exactly this thought popped into my head, but it wasn't too hot, I wasn't dehydrated, no cars or trucks near me were blowing tons of smoke nearby...

Saturdays Lunch, Ride and Museum Tour

Tallahassee Scooter's second meet and ride was great. We had a total of five scooters show up and five and a half riders show up. We had my Piaggio LT 150, Glynn's Roketa Tahiti, Roger showed up on his Kymco Bet and Win 150 and of course, John and Kristens Scarabeos. I ran a few minutes late due to a business call and they had all pulled into two parking spaces. I had to park across from them but after checking out the scooters and some friendly chat, we headed inside for some What-A-Burger.

After a good meal, we decided to ride over to the Junior Museum.....ok, it's called the Tallahassee Museum now. Here's the link http://tallahasseemuseum.org/ , if you haven't been, make a trip over, it is pretty cool. Roger couldn't make the trip so he left from What-A-Burger and Glynn made the trip but wisely decided to wait til his wife went to the museum with him so he headed out. The trip over was cool, very neat to look in your rear view mirrors and see three other scooters trailing you. We got a few doubletakes at red lights and some thumbs up from other riders.

After saying goodbye to Glynn, we headed inside. In all the twenty plus years I have been to the Museum, I have never seen the bears do anything other than lie like big, lazy, black, fuzzy blobs at the back of their habitat. This time the smaller bear got up, walked all the way down to a spot maybe fifteen feet away from us and scratch his back on the ramp . He then walked by us and scratched his back on a tree then continued in a circle back to where he had been sleeping. Very cool.

We left the Museum after seeing everything and letting Tal play on the neat playground they have and checked out a nice road into Innovation Park. Like John says on his blog, too bad there was a Police Car parked at the entrance or they would have certainly left me far behind....

All in all, it was a great way to spend a few hours of a hot Saturday. We'll plan something else in a couple of weeks so if anyone is interested in meeting up and riding, feel free to email me, post on the forums to your right or leave a comment.

What-A-Burger, 1 PM, Saturday, June 23!

I guess it's official. Let's all meet tomorrow at the What-A-Burger on Thomasville Road at 1 PM for a good burger and some whatever else.

Everyone is invited, see you there!

Ok, new template.....

Not sure if I like it but when I started this blog, I wasn't aware that I used the same template as another scooter blog, one that is linked here. So, I decided to change.

Wow, so that's what having your entire family really sick is like.

Ok, it all started Sunday and between Sunday and today all five members of my family were really, really, really sick. That's as far in depth as I'm going but let me say, it is really nice to be over it. Nasty bug going around and it's highly contagious they say. I was the last one to get it and it's a horrible feeling knowing your time is coming....

Anyway, I'm better and ought to be back to normal by tomorrow (hopefully), especially since I'm planning on driving to work!

Oh, we are trying to schedule a get together this weekend. Problem is, we don't really have a day, time, location or intinerary set. Asking me to do it is not going to work, my brain is pretty much oatmeal, so I'll go with the flow. So, post some suggestions on our forum and let's get together and talk scooters and stuff!

Anyone interested in meeting for lunch next Saturday?

We could have a bite to eat and talk scooters and whatever else. Anyone interested, leave a comment or make a post on the forum, ok?

Added two new links.

Make sure to check them out, ok?

Rode to work today!

Well, I decided that today was the day for my first ride to work.

I had to take two of the three kids to the Junior Museum (No, I won't call it the Tallahassee Museum, thank you very much) so I dropped them off and headed back home to get the scooter.

I had taken a long drive yesterday and the steering felt a little off. Not really bad, but just a little off. I figured it might be the tire pressure so on the way home, stopped and bought a digital tire pressure gauge. Sure enough, the pressure was low so I stopped off and aired the tires up.

I then took off on Tharpe Street and the scooter handled a bit better. I turned onto Old Bainbridge and headed to downtown. There's something about riding the scooter that is just cool. It's impossible to describe but I pulled into the parking lot with a huge grin on my face, hidden by the face shield. I wasn't able to park next to the two huge Harley's in the lot though, no room.

Oh, at my first stoplight, a Mom pulled next to me and from the back seat, a small girl, maybe three, pulled up from her seat to take a look at my scooter. I think she liked it by the big smile she had on her face. I waved and beeped my horn and the lights then turned green so I took off.

I can't wait for lunch to go ride some more.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Internet scooters?

One of the interesting things about the scooter industry is the ease at which you can buy a scooter from an internet site or from ebay. While this opens up way too many issues to discuss here, I wanted to go over some of my experiences with trying to decide where to buy and what scooter to buy.

The phrase, 'You get what you pay for' is pretty true in just about anything, scooters included. However, many people are buying scooters for very low prices and having very good luck with them. You can also find people that spent top dollar for a Vespa or other high end scooter and are having problems with them. If you have a bit of mechanical aptitude and don't mind doing some work on them, the cheap scooters can be a good deal.

When I decided to look for a scooter, my biggest concern was price. I've always felt that buying something slightly above the middle of the pack was best for reliability and price. For example, computers. Noone needs a top of the line computer that costs four thousand dollars. A computer in the one thousand dollar range does everything the more expensive model can do and the differences in performance will be minimal.

So, the thousand dollar scooters were looking appealing to me. If I could find one that was solid, with a solid company behind it, I was prepared to go ahead and buy it. So, I started looking into online scooter companies. And quickly got completely overwhelmed at all the choices. Especially since all of the choices looked exactly the same but with wildly varying prices.

On the scootdawg forums (link to the left), I got a reply to one of my posts to check out Vince at Moto-Fino Scooters ( http://www.ecobikeusa.com/ ) so I sent him an email asking some questions and also sent an email to another company that had insanely low prices but high ebay feedback.

Vince called me back the next day. We talked for at least 20 minutes. He didn't make insane promises, he simply said his bikes were pretty good and he stood behind them. There was a question about how much shipping would be to my home and he called back the next day with that info. To be honest, I was really trying to decide whether to buy from him or spend 35% more at my local shop. There were pros and cons to both decisions.

Luckily for me, the Piaggio was in the paper that afternoon so my decision was made.

I guess what little advice I can give is that if going the internet route is your decision, make sure you speak to someone and ask as many questions you can.

Oh, by the way, it was on May 28th when I emailed Vince and that other company. Remember Vince called me the next day, answered all my questions, didn't hard sell his scooters and called the next day trying to save me a few dollars with shipping. The other company finally emailed a response on June 8th, answered one of the five questions I asked and in my opinion, gave me a bogus answer at that.

Today's Ride (Geocaching!)

Got a bit of time today for a quick ride and decided to go geocaching. There was a new geocache nearby, so I rode over. I'm getting used to being on the road with cars close to me so that's good.

I pulled into the parking area for the 'cache and a van pulled up. I quickly noticed the driver was holding a GPS receiver, so it was a geocacher! We talked a bit and went and found the cache. The cool thing about geocaching is the locations it takes you to. This spot was a mile or so away from my home, encircled by a shopping center, apartment complex and a gas station but the area was so secluded and peaceful. The cache led you to an area where there was a lichgate ( http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lichgate ) and there was also an oak tree as large as any I have ever seen. It was immense. I've driven by that spot for over 30 years and never knew it was there. Geocaching is a lot of fun.

Anyway, back to riding. I left the cache and stopped at the nearby gas station for a fill up. I put $3 in the tank. I didn't fill it up because I didn't want to spill gas out of the opening. So I have 3/4 of a tank. More than enough.

As I pulled back onto Tharpe Street, a truck passed me, complete with several geocaching stickers. I know these guys! I kept up with them (and on Tharpe Street, that's saying something!) and at the next light, pulled up next to them.

Ron, of TeamHarrison geocaching fame was driving and I got his attention. I'm sure he had no idea why some idiot wearing a jacket and full face helmet on a scooter was trying to get his attention but he soon realized who I was and we spoke for a bit until the light turned green. He turned off and I kept straight. I ended up on Thomasville Road and rode south to the What-A-Burger, where I went in for a diet coke.

It was hot and the drink hit the spot. Riding in this heat was interesting. In motion, it was fine, the double mesh of the jacket is good for air flow, so it isn't that bad and at styop lights you aren't stopped long enough to really get too hot. What was strange was the actual waves of heat on my legs as I drove. It wasn't painful or anything, it just felt as if a blanket of heat was rolling over my legs. It got pretty hot today, I wonder if it will get worse here...

Today's lunch and ride.

John over at Combat Scoot had called and invited me to lunch today. He even suggested a Mexican Restaurant, so I blocked off a large portion of Saturday for that. We were going to meet at El Jalisco, on North Monroe.

The easiest way for me to get there was straight down Tharpe Street onto Monroe, so that's the way I went. This was my first long ride in my new armored jacket and it was fine, not nearly as hot as you'd think.

I got there with no trouble and enjoyed the ride on Tharpe, so I'm getting used to riding the scooter on roads with traffic. I sat outside on the covered patio and a few minutes later, two very nice looking scooters pulled up. The whole Combat Scooter family showed up.

Lunch was great and besides scooters, we had quite a bit on common; we had all lived in Alaska for some time, we both had three year old sons and we all liked good music. After a nice long lunch and nice conversation, they decided to head home and I decided to ride a bit.

I didn't want to drive around my neighborhood so I tried to think of a destination that would make a nice ride. AHA! I'll head over to All About Scooters and ummmmmm....... buy something......yeah, some scooter cleaner! Yeah, that's why I need to ride over there! So, I headed out the back way and rode down MLK Boulevard all the way across Tennessee, then took a left and crossed over Monroe, heading to Park Avenue. That took me across Magnolia and after a turn onto Victory Garden, right to the shop. It was a nice ride and the jacket really is nice, nothing too bad yet. Hopefully, higher temps won't make that much of a difference.

After a nice visit with the owners, I bought some cleaner and headed back home. Instead of backtracking, I took a right on Calhoun and then took Tennessee to Monroe and drove down Monroe (quite calmly, if I do say so myself) to Tharpe, then home.

I'm very happy with the Piaggio, one of these days I'll find out what speed I'm cruising at but it hits 80 KMH easily. Hopefully I'll be able to take a drive tomorrow with the camera, forgot it today.

Today's Scooter Stuff...

Well, I stopped by All About Scooters, the local Tallahassee Scooter shop, and picked up an armored jacket. I felt dorky buying it but it is the smart thing to do, even if it makes feel like Evel Kenevel. But the fact is, if I do go down, I want to be as safe as possible. I have a family to think about, so armored jacket and full face helmet it is. It is kind of cool, though....

I'm meeting some local Scooterists tomorrow for lunch, so I wanted to get a bit more practice in this evening. I decided to take a trip close to the Tallahassee Mall and get on Tharpe Street (a four lane raceway...err, street) on the way back.

I rolled the Paiggio out of the garage and let it warm up a bit and headed out. This scooter is nice, plenty of power and very comfortable so far. I took the back roads heading out and on the way back, I pulled out onto Tharpe and went. I didn't have nearly as much of the panic (OH MY GOD THERE ARE CARS WHIZZING BY MY HEAD!!!) that I had on my first ride home from the shop a week ago. I wouldn't say I was completely calm, but I was ok. I even took the huge hill near the turn to my neighborhood, which is at the top of the hill. It had been a little intimidating, especially since this is where Tharpe goes from four lane to two lane. So, with me? Busy street, four lane into two lanes, big monstrous hill and the turn off into my neighborhood at the top....

I made it fine. No big deal at all. It seems as if I am worrying a bit too much, which is ok. I certainly don't want to be like some of the drivers you see out there.

Anyway, check back tomorrow for some good pictures of some local Scooters and thier owners. Also, click on the Tallahassee Scooter Forum and sign up and say 'Hi!'.

Wow, where did that humidity come from?

I did manage to get a quick twenty minute ride in this evening. Even though it was after six, it was sticky, but not too bad. My cornering is getting noticeably better, smoother and quicker.

I also added a new forum that you can access from the link(s) to the left. I'm also adding more links, so make sure to check them out if you haven't already got them bookmarked.

No riding today....

Ok, we haven't had any measurable rain in months and now it's rained three days in a row? And it was pouring by 8am this morning? Strange weather, to be sure.

I was busy all day with work and appointments and kids and the Tallahassee Museum so no riding today. But that's ok, really. It is. I'll just go check on the scooter in the garage in a minute.

I'm still trying to figure out when and how I started looking at scooters. I'm also trying to figure out what drove me to stop by and test drive one. I've always liked 'cool' vehicles; I was a VW man for many years in college. My best car I ever owned was a 73 Super Beetle that I bought for $400. It wasn't the prettiest thing, but the interior was in good shape, it didn't have much rust at all and it ran forever. I drove it for three years for Domino's Pizza, rain or shine, day or night, summer or winter and it did fine. I also had a couple of vans, a '67 and a '70 Camper that had the ultra rare tent that hooked onto the opening when you opened the sliding door. But that's a story for another time....

I think it all comes down to the fact that I like neat cars and vehicles. I'm not neccesarily into muscle cars or big loud motorcycles, but I can appreciate them. So, when I somehow started looking at scooters, it wasn't anything new.

At first I was thinking about getting one so I could go http://geocaching.com geocaching and not feel bad about taking the van alone solely to go hunt tupperware. Then I got to thinking about how around 80% of the time, I'm driving the van by myself. Sure, the MPV gets decent mileage, but still... Then gas went over three dollars a gallon..... Then, I found the excellent deal on the Piaggio....

And the rest is history. So far.

So what do I want to do with the scooter? Well, I want to get comfortable enough that I don't feel nervous about driving it anywhere in town, or on small trips. It's not big enough for I-10, though, but that's ok. I didn't want a maxi-scooter.

I want to eventually use the scooter for most of my driving, if possible. Of course, lots of times I am going to get the kids, or have the kids with me, so it will be van time, and that's ok.

Of course, I can make all the sensible reasoning for why I bought a scooter but if I'm honest with myself, it's simply because they are so fun to ride. I'm glad I bought a full face helmet for riding. That way noone can see me grinning like a complete fool puttering down the street.

My first ride (YIKES! and WOW!)

The scooter had been at All About Scooters since I bought it. I had it serviced and I had wanted to get a bit more riding under my belt before I drove it across town. I freely admit I was a bit nervous about going out on Tallahassee streets at 40 MPH without a car around me, with other cars driving five feet away from me.

So, Saturday finally arrives and it's raining. Not torrential rain, but still, it's raining. But after we run a few errands, we head over to the shop and both of the kids fall asleep before we get there. I show Jen the scooter and she looks at others and likes the retro style scooters they have. I like that style as well, but when I'd test them, they were too short for me, turning the handlebars would smash my knees.

Roy, the owner tells me I can leave the scooter there but they are closed Sunday and Monday. I wanna ride!!! So, he tells me it will be ok, Jen tells me it will be ok, I tell myself it will be ok, so I decide to do it. I buy the helmet, and head out the door.

I finaally crank up and head out the back way. No way am I going out on Apalachee Parkway today. I make it to Park Avenue and sit at the light. Traffic is light so it ought to be ok... HOLY CRAP LIGHT IS GREEN GO GO!!!

Well, that's what it felt like. This was my first four lane road on my scooter. But I did fine, the scooter did fine, got up to 48 MPH easily and that's as fast as I needed to go. I went through another light and was heading up to the Magnolia intersection and realized I was in the turn lane. So, I pulled into a bank parking lot and made a U -turn (on a hill at that) and waited for the traffic to go by and then got into the correct lane.

I kept going on Park and turned onto Calhoun (I think) and passed over Tennessee (not a chance today!) and end up crossing over Thomasville Road and stopping at the light on Monroe.

By now I had decided things were going to be ok, that every car on the road isn't solely out there to smash into me at high rates of speed. In other words, I had calmed down a small bit.

So, I decided to drive down Monroe and turn onto Tharpe. And it was fine, the scooter has lots of power and drives very well. I made it home with a huge grin on my face.

A little later I rode down to the gas station and 'filled up'. Put just over $3 in the tank.......

Yeah, I can live with this......

My Piaggio LT 150

This is my new Piaggio!



Yes, the rear view mirrors don't match.



No, that isn't a Piaggio design :)

Welcome.

Stay tuned....