Huh?

Although a picture is worth a thousand words, this picture is probably worth somewhat less than ten or twelve. It reminds me of the photo in the Seinfeld episode where Jerry is caught tampering with a broken stereo that Kramer was going to insure and send in to get his money back as a "write off" from being damaged in shipping. Maybe this picture is worth a few words after all.

What we have here is J.B. spending some quality time with his buggered up Allstate motor. The good news is that J.B.'s "money ship" came in with the fact that he sold his RV this week and now has the "dough to throw" toward getting the scooter in running shape. This is great because the lack of fundage was our unhoppable hurdle in this project.

The plot twist comes in the phone calls that Jeff made to certain Vespa shops that he was looking at to get the motor work done. As it turns out, Scooterworks in Chicago looks to be the direction that he'll take. They offered to upgrade the motor with new electrics and basically do more for the money than can be done in our area for a comparable price. So rather than pack up and roll to the Emerald City, we'll build a packing crate and ship the Allstate to the Windy City.

I still intend to find my way to Big People Scooters so they can give Ol' Blue the once-over and bring me up to speed on things that I need to know. Maybe we can combine the trip with a stop at Ducati of Seattle for a speed fix of the good kind.

On another note, the motorbikes have been out in force the past few days. While I toiled at work yesterday, I watched as a group of about 30 sportbikes went by with everyone in full riding gear. It makes me wish that a bike like these was within my budget. But not for awhile I guess. The HD's and lookalike cruisers thundered by in small groups or by themselves. Everyone assuming the "Look" associated with being a leathered-up biker. Lots of loud throttle twisting at the stop light that had me laughing at these weekenders. But there were a lot of them throughout the day nonetheless. And one dude on a scooter.

Although it was a nice day to be out, I won't fool myself into thinking that winter is over and that the springlike weather is here to stay. I know better than that, even though we have flowers pushing through the ground at home. I'd noticed the new snow on the foothills above town this morning, and it would only take a drop of a few degrees to put the white stuff back on my front lawn, and remind us all that it is still winter.

But overall, the combination of having warmer temperatures, and more hours of daylight to enjoy, the daily commute is more enjoyable. Having my Geezer pal Jeff sharing the Ride To Work experience soon will be even better.

But first, we need to build a box, and ship the old girl away to Scooterworks in Chicago to have them put her back on the road, better and stronger than ever.

Have fun,

Bill