Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Thinking About Adding A Few More Wheels To The Rig

This week Ed and I went to look at Vespa scooters. Our SmartCar plan is no longer in the works and our friends recently purchased a Vespa for their truck, which is what has made us start thinking about it. In fact, while they're away in Bangkok this month, they're having their truck outfitted with what they're calling a "garage" on the back of their tractor to house the Vespa. They have ramps planned and everything.

We've only ridden scooters two other times in our trucking years, once in
Martha’s Vineyard and once in Key West. We recently considered bicycles (which we might still do), but Ed talked to my brother's friend who is a master with metal, about building us boxes to fit up under each side of our trailer. They took measurements, did drawings and determined that we can carry two scooters on the trailer - one on each side.

I'm not really thrilled about riding a scooter in traffic as it's kind of scary based on my two experiences, but by the end of the two weeks we spent in Key West, I was getting kind of used to zipping around, easily slipping into parking spots, and quickly hopping on and off for photos and sightseeing.

The Vespa is all metal, no plastic, weighs about 335 pounds, and feels very solid. It's much bigger than the scooters we rented in either place, and has a large, comfortable seat. We'd have to get motorcycle licenses to drive them (just to be covered in every state).

This whole scooter thing is just in the thought stage, it's nothing definite yet, but of the three we saw, Ed said he wanted the red one and I've already settled on the bronze beauty.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
1 YEAR AGO:
Cooled By The Ocean
2 YEARS AGO:
Oh, Mother!
3 YEARS AGO:
Eddie Adds Culture To His Day
4 YEARS AGO:
One Armed Bandit
5 YEARS AGO:
614
6 YEARS AGO:
Having A Good Reason

5 comments:

Gil said...

I would love one of them. Better yet, one of those three wheeled truck things that they have in Italy. It would be so neat to ride around my Town in an APE!!!

Italy in 2015 said...

My husband and I rode bikes all over Key West. It was awesome! We didn't do the Vespa cuz... Well let's just say, being in a car with him driving is bad enough. Fond memories of Key West, though. I don't think we would have had near as much fun had we not been pedaling around.

Willow said...

Sounds way fun!!!

gary goulette said...

I carry a full size mountain bike in my truck, I would not be without it. It has added at least 30 percent more enjoyment to the OTR life., if not more. Zip away from the truck for nearby coffee, food, libations, etc. No more being confined to TS food and " culture" . I have pedaled from laredo across the Mexican border, bikes across the golden gate twice. Reno and tuscon were great bike adventures as well. Love, love, love your blog.

The Daily Rant said...

Gil: I loved the apes in Italy! One of those would be very handy - we could throw groceries, etc. in the back. :)

Italy 2015: I think being on a scooter or even a bike is a great way to see a small place like Key West...parking is not an issue and you can get into places cars (or trucks!) can't. When we were there, we parked our truck just on the outskirts of town and used the scooters to get around.

Willow: Even though Key West was OPPRESSIVELY HOT AND HUMID (my ideal temps are anything below 65), I spent the entire two weeks in my bathing suit, sundress, sunglasses and visor and just went with it. At least on the scooter I got a little breeze.

Gary: The same friends who just bought the scooter carry two fold-up bikes in their truck and they love it. I haven't actively ridden a bike since I was a kid but when Ed and I went to look at bicycles recently, I got the same giddy feeling of freedom being on it as I did when I was young. It was fun! Ed is a miracle worker when it comes to parking the truck if we're bobtailing, but there are still situations where the truck is a hassle. Having bikes would be great. If you ever get to bike around Long Beach, do it. We have a friend who lives in the Naples area of Long Beach (right in the Belmont Shore neighborhood) and we walked the canals one night with her - it was beautiful. I always see a lot of people biking around there. And thank you for your blog love - I appreciate your readership and I SUPER appreciate you taking the time to comment! :)