Anyone want to go on a road trip?

See, I was looking at a local Helix, and although it was beat and the frame was bent, it was the most comfortable seat I had ridden on. So, deciding I really needed a Helix, I looked on Ebay to see what was there. Take a look at this:

MY NEW SCOOTER!!!

*Ahem*

Ok, so I think I got a great deal (how much are those parts worth alone?!?!) but the scooter is in North Georgia. So, how cool would it be to go get the darn thing and make a road trip out of it? I might even go and stay over night and pick it up the next morning. Ok, that's a lie, I'll pick it up the minute I pull into town.

But seriously, anyone want to see North Georgia? :)

Hey, we are meeting at the Sonic on North Monroe tomorrow....

at 10am. We then are going to ride out to take a look at a scooter that might make it into my garage later that day. So, if anyone's interested, ride over to the Sonic near Lake Ella by 10am. Especially if you are a mechanic and can tell what's up with a scooter simply by listening to it for 15 seconds. If you have this ability, I'll buy you breakfast.

Pictures from our ride to St. Marks last Sunday...

Glynn and I met Sunday morning at the McDonald's at Tharpe and Monroe. After a bite to eat, I spotted a scooter across the street at Albertson's, so we headed over to take a look.

As we rolled up, an older gentleman walked up. The scooter was a Roketa Cayman, 150cc, and he had 1200 trouble free miles on it. It looked pretty cool and the guy was funny. I told him about our group but he wasn't too interested. Then he reconsidered : 'Well, if a lot of those college girls join, I'll come by....'

With this guys Roketa doing well, and Glynn's Roketa doing fine (more on that later) I'm really starting to wonder if the big name scooters are worth the price difference.

We took off down South Monroe, headed for the St. Mark's lighthouse. Along the way, we had to stop for a picture with the big Gorilla, did't we?



We kept riding and had a nice trip, except for the idiot in the Kia Rio that decided to attach himself and the car to Glynn's tailpipes. The Rio somehow managed to top 50 mph and passed us when we slowed to let him go by.

We made it to the St. Mark's Park with no troubles and stopped at the rest area for a minute. The park is really nice, but the gnats were incredibly annoying.




Glynn's Roketa Tahiti 150cc.





My Piaggio LT150 150cc.

We wandered around the Lighthouse area for a bit but the gnats were terrible and it was getting late so we headed back. Besides, riding our scooters was the point, right? On the way back, I was thinking that I hadn't really seen any wildlife today when I saw this:



Closer to home, Glyyn pulled over to take a picture of this:

A few things I have learned on a scooter and other random thoughts...

1. Honda Civics and Acura Integras might as well equal bad drivers. Every time I see someone driving stupidly around me while I'm on the scooter, it is one of these cars.

2. Some people will drive insane speeds to keep from being out run by a scooter.I was at a stop light on Tharpe Street, where the road goes from two lanes to one and next to me in the lane that had to merge, was some guy in a brand new Cadillac STS. When the light turned green, he absolutely floored it so he could get around me...and it took a few seconds before he could. It would have been funny if it wasn't so sad.

3. Woodville Highway, The speed limit signs there (45 mph and 55mph) are really just a suggestion. Glynn and I were passed by people that had to be doing 70 mph. Sheesh, slow down, people!

4. Isn't it strange what you get used to? To me, having spent most of my life in Florida, except for six months in Alaska, alligators don't bother me, if I'm a reasonable, watchable distance away. But people from other parts of the country get really freaked out when they see one.

5. The grass IS greener..... I love my Piaggio...but wouldn't it be cool to be able to cruise at 60mph? 65mph? It would, indeed.....

Thinking about my last post...

About something cool to do here in town or the general area, I came up with two basic ideas of events that might be pretty cool. Take a look and give me some feedback:

1. What about a well planned out drive from Tallahassee, across the Georgia border, then across the Alabama border, then home? We could try for a torture ride or we could camp somewhere along the way and finish the trp the next day.

2. How about a 12 or 24 hour Capital Circle run? No real point to this, I guess, other than it just being cool to do. Hmm, maybe we could make a party out of it, get some sponsors....OHHHH maybe some exposure for our group?

Sound good? Insane? Got any other thoughts of cool rides?

Ok, read this....

24 Hour Marathon Scooter Drive

Then we need to figure out something to do here in Tallahassee that is as cool as that!

Ideas?

Wow! It's HOT!!!

And HUMID!!! Ok, this isn't a big suprise to anyone that has lived here longer than 2 days, but it bears saying.

I wanted to see how comfortable I'd be riding the Scooter in this nasty hot and sticky weather so I decided to drive over to the shop and drop my scooter off so they could replace the valve cover gaskets and have my wife pick me up when she got off work. So, it was a little after four when I left.

Except for the wait at Monroe, it wasn't bad at all, really. Sure, it was warm but not so bad I'd rather be in the van with ac and radio.

All About Scooters was a big swamped with work and since the scooter isn't leaking much oil at all, just a drop or two every few days, I didn't leave the scooter. I returned home but about halfway home, I noticed my oil light come on. It stayed on for about two seconds, then went off. I was at a stop sign when it came on. I hadn't driven WOT at all but was riding at a decent speed. The rest of the way, the light stayed off but it is worrisome. Anyone have any idea why the light came on for a couple of seconds? There was plenty of oil in the scooter.

All advice welcome!

Scooter Storage!!!!

I have storage on my scooter now! I bought what is essentially a small duffel bag with a vinyl bottom and two metal clips on bungy cords for securing the bag to the scooter rack.

Well, I had to make a rack. I didn't want to special order a rack or pay whatever it would cost. So I decided to take a look at the local Lowes and see if I could find something that would work. Shelby, my 11 year old stepdaughter and I stopped by today and found a wire shelf that they cut to the right size. So when I got home, it was pretty simple to use some zip ties to tie it down and some felt strips to (hopefully) protect the scooter's finish.

Once it was attached, the case sat right on top and clipped right on. I stuffed the scooter cover inside (main reason I wanted storage, now I can ride to work and leave the scoot outside) and took a ride around the neighborhood.

Isn't it amazing how a short little ride on your scooter can really just smooth everything out? Today wasn't really a bad day, but I was getting a little cranky, since I got very little sleep last night (one year old beautfiul, sweet, loving, insomniac daughter free to good home) but the ten minutes I spent riding around pretty much erased my looming crankiness.

Also, anyone have any idea why Blogger no longer allows me to post Headlines with my posts? Weird. Ok, I went to the help function and found the answer on another blog. It seems you have to center your mouse slightly above the title window. Wow, wonder what caused that?

My First Youtube

Two new links.

I added two new links, one of them is from a local rider, so make sure to check out 'Me and My Bug'. The other link is a good blog, too. Very good posts about safety and other scooter related issues.

Picture of the scooters on the July 4th 80 mile trip.

A nice collection of scooters, left to right: Glynn's 150cc Roketa, Tim's 650cc Suzuki Burgman, Troy's brand new 150ccTNG Verona and my 150cc Piaggio LT150.

Just look, this is funny....

Stolen from Scootdawg.com.

Drove the van to work today...

I have to pick up the two youngest this afternoon and with a 70% chance of thunderstorms, I decided to take the van.

I hated the trip to work today. Sure, the AC and radio was nice but after four days of riding to work in a row last week, I'm already spoiled. I think I need to pick up a top case and a rain suit before I really dedicate myself to riding to work everyday.

Bah, I'm not even really looking forward to going home...might as well just stay here all night and work....