Bugged Eyed Goggles, And A Shiny New Vino

My last post was purely focused on my thoughts in relation to how a friend perceives my encouragement to either move forward on restoring his scooter, or looking at option "B", which would be to purchase a new scooter from a dealership. My question was answered the very next day.

The shop that houses the '63 Allstate now has an '06 Yamaha Vino to share space with. And as I had predicted, this was all done within the time frame of a lunch hour.

I could tell by Jeff's jacked up mood that he was excited about the prospect of going to the dealership on Monday. He had done his homework, and was prepared to look at both the Honda Metropolitan, and the Vino when he went to lunch. As Port Angeles Power Equipment is very close to our new store's location, I swung into their lot on a trip out to our store, and sure enough, Jeff's truck was parked there during his lunch break. As I walked onto their sales floor, I saw Jeff in the far corner trying on helmets. I spoke to him when I got up close, and he spun around with the happiest look on his face that I've ever seen. He said, "I got it!, I got the Vino, it's awsome"! I'll tell you what people, this was one happy moment, with one very happy guy. He felt that the Vino was a better deal, and that the silver color worked just right compared to the bright two-tone Metro's. And this little scoot does look nice dressed in silver.

After settling on a helmet, he asked about getting the "goofiest goggles that you've got", and low and behold, Carolyn came through with an aviator style goggle that would fit over Jeff's eyeglasses. They looked so stinkin' wild on him, that I ordered a pair for myself. At this point, I had to get back to work, and Jeff was going into their business office to finalize paperwork. As I was leaving, I had a moment with their head salesman, Bill, and he told me that he had taken care of my friend. Bill and I go way back, and he knew that this sale was special, and I thanked him for that.

Long story short, Jeff has been riding to work in both rain and shine, and it looks great seeing two scooters parked out front. We've picked up some walk-in interest with folks asking about who owns the "mopeds". We even had a guy stop by last night wanting to go for a ride. So after work, the three of us rode out to Ediz Hook to hang for a bit by the water and yak about scooters. Nick, the new rider, told of a group of ladies that have formed a local scooter group that we should contact. Seems that local interest is more far reaching than I had imagined.

The best part about all of this to ME, is that after all the discussions, all the planning, and all of Jeff's efforts, that he finally gets to do what we all live and write about. He gets to suit up and ride his very own scooter wherever he pleases, and whenever he wants. His time is NOW, and by the look of the grin on his mug, especially with those goggles, he's pretty doggone pleased.

To add to this story, I had finally gotten my Chinese 125cc scooter, "Kung Pow" back on the road this weekend after being stored since the big wind damage incident this past winter. I had been riding it to work this week, and the thought came to me that my other Geezer pal "Dreamcrusher" might be interested in something newer than his '80 something Honda Aero 80 that he is getting ready to tear down and rebuild. After running the plan to sell the scooter to "Crusher" by my wife first, I proposed the idea of selling it to him, and was met with a hand shake, and "You got yourself a deal"! Three scooters in the parking lot.

It's not exactly Elvis giving away Cadillac's, but I know that it will be ridden a great deal, and it felt right to make him a great deal.

So my stable is a little smaller, but the ridership has grown. This isn't just a story with a happy ending, but more like a story that's starting with a happy beginning.

Have fun,
Bill