If I had a few hours I might be able to write a reasonable recap of the past few days, but I don't. In brief, it was two days of glorious riding followed by two days in a motel parking lot that is part rolling circus, part gypsy camp and part mechanic shop. With nearly 60 scooters and assorted support vehicles with drivers and family tagging along, there are 80+ people here. I won't even try to describe the array of characters and I've only just begun to get to know them.
Since it's looking highly unlikely that I'll be able to keep up with this blog over the coming week, an even better place to follow this unfolding madcap thing is on the Cannonball thread at the Modern Vespa forum. A number of us are posting photos to the thread so you'll get a nearly-real time look at what's happening.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Gee, that's a long road
I've been spending so much time looking at our route on the micro level that it sort of took my breath away when I got another look at the run in its entirety. I've been tweaking the routes in my GPS - making sure the checkpoints are entered in the right place, finding gas stations at appropriate intervals, and checking that I haven't inadvertently routed myself down the wrong roads - and some of this has required looking at maps at the street level. I kind of forgot for a bit that all of those streets run together and add up to cross the whole damn country. I knew this was a big deal but now it really feels like it.
I also had a bit of a jolt a day or two ago when I was checking our route from Virginia to Georgia via the Blue Ridge Parkway to get to the starting line. I hadn't looked at the total mileage for each of the two days prior to this and what I discovered is that our first day is 410 miles. D'oh! Oh well. That should make every following day seem like a piece of cake, right?
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Getting there
This morning I have to get my gear to the support truck that's hauling things to Savannah for me. I was wide awake at 5:00 and in my garage by 6:00 to go through everything one more time. I feel like I've got a lot of stuff but somehow it fit into a much smaller space than I anticipated. It makes me wonder if I've forgotten something. I suppose that feeling will haunt me for awhile.
On the forums at Scooter Cannonball and Modern Vespa there is a lot of chatter among the riders. I was just reading a post written by one of the veteran riders and was struck by the fact that she sounded just as amped up and giddy as us rookies. It's not that I expected the vets to be blase and ho-hum about the whole thing, but maybe just more matter of fact and not displaying as much emotion. But I don't think there's any way you can plot out and undertake a trip like this without getting excited. It's a big freakin' deal.
The scooter for Bill Dog arrived from LA the other day. When the driver opened the truck this is what I saw inside.
The wooden pallet that holds the scooter securely upright was smashed to splinters and when we got the case off I found the scooter lying on its side, which is generally not a good thing. There was also a pretty big dent on the front of it. The driver suggested that maybe I ought to refuse delivery. I laughed and explained why I had to accept it. As the rider of some oversized crotch rocket he was pretty impressed by the audacity of what we're about to do. It's always nice when you can educate a motorcycle rider about what scooters are capable of.
Once I got the scoot off of the truck it started right up. Whew! And the dent? Well...it turns out that it was there all along but no one had bothered to tell me. If I'd known in advance it would have prevented me from shitting myself when I saw it. Oh well. It's here, it's running and it's beautiful. Bill should be very happy with his new ride.
On the forums at Scooter Cannonball and Modern Vespa there is a lot of chatter among the riders. I was just reading a post written by one of the veteran riders and was struck by the fact that she sounded just as amped up and giddy as us rookies. It's not that I expected the vets to be blase and ho-hum about the whole thing, but maybe just more matter of fact and not displaying as much emotion. But I don't think there's any way you can plot out and undertake a trip like this without getting excited. It's a big freakin' deal.
The scooter for Bill Dog arrived from LA the other day. When the driver opened the truck this is what I saw inside.
The wooden pallet that holds the scooter securely upright was smashed to splinters and when we got the case off I found the scooter lying on its side, which is generally not a good thing. There was also a pretty big dent on the front of it. The driver suggested that maybe I ought to refuse delivery. I laughed and explained why I had to accept it. As the rider of some oversized crotch rocket he was pretty impressed by the audacity of what we're about to do. It's always nice when you can educate a motorcycle rider about what scooters are capable of.
Once I got the scoot off of the truck it started right up. Whew! And the dent? Well...it turns out that it was there all along but no one had bothered to tell me. If I'd known in advance it would have prevented me from shitting myself when I saw it. Oh well. It's here, it's running and it's beautiful. Bill should be very happy with his new ride.
Friday, April 13, 2012
A note to my colleagues
I wrote a note to my co-workers yesterday to let them know a bit about the craziness I'm about to embark upon. Some knew part of it, some knew none. Most of us work from home offices spread from Massachusetts to South Carolina to Montana, so I haven't had the pleasure of tormenting them with my months of Cannonball obsession. I thought I'd repeat here what I wrote to them. For some of you none of this is new; for others it might be...
I recently heard a new definition of adventure that I like: discomfort retold at leisure. I suspect there's going to be a lot of truth to that in this particular adventure.
Most of you already know what I'm about to do, but for those who don't… a week from today I am hopping on my Vespa to take a 3,000 mile ride. I'll be taking part in an event called the Scooter Cannonball Run (details to be found at http://www.scootercannonball.com/). There will be nearly 60 of us riding from Savannah to San Diego over the course of eight days. Once I get to the left coast I'll be spending a couple of days in LA, then flying home while my scooter gets shipped back east.
If you're at all interested in following my progress, there are a couple of ways to do it. First, there's a map online that will provide live tracking information: http://followride.com/rider/7 (I'm rider #7, alias Scutrbrau). I have something called a SPOT tracker that's often used by backcountry skiers and hikers that sends a ping every 10 minutes, which in turn appears on the map. Also, to Pat's great relief and pleasure, it has a help button and an SOS button so I can summon help even if I'm in an area with no cell phone coverage. The help button dispatches roadside assistance. The SOS button brings a search and rescue team. I'm hoping I don't need to test either of those.
You can also follow me via my blog at http://vesparazzi.blogspot.com/ though I can't promise I'll be doing a lot of writing along the way. I've read a number of blogs from past years' events that have a lot of entries up until the starting point and then fall silent. I suspect my evenings will be spent in motel parking lots with the other riders, drinking beer and telling stories, and not hanging out in my room writing. At the very least I hope to put up some photos along the way.
One side note that's kind of interesting, at least to me, is that I'm going to be riding with a guy, Bill, from England (Maidstone, Kent) who is coming here to participate; I'm picking him up at Dulles next week. We've become good friends via a Vespa forum that I frequent. He is being given a scooter to ride by another member of the forum, David, who is a Vespa dealer in LA. David was undergoing cancer treatment last year. Unbeknownst to everyone, Bill stayed in constant contact with David by phone, e-mail, text messages and postcards to offer encouragement and help get him to the finish line. David is repaying that kindness by shipping a scooter to my house for Bill to use for this cross-country jaunt. Even for a cynic like me I find that very heartwarming.
I've been thinking about and planning this for nearly two years. The last time around the run started in Vancouver and ended in Portland, so Pat and I hung out at the finish line to watch some of the riders come in. Somehow or other the sight of those exhausted and bedraggled riders made me begin to obsess over doing it myself. So here I am. I haven't had a proper vacation in quite some time. While the idea of beating the crap out of myself and my bike for a couple of weeks might not sound like a relaxing break, I can assure you that there's nothing else I'd rather be doing with my time.
Oh, one other thing that's completely unrelated but of some interest - our house in Portland has finally sold; closing is on Monday. With that monkey off our back we can really focus on getting settled in to our new place. Once I get back home, that is.
Cheers,
Rick
I recently heard a new definition of adventure that I like: discomfort retold at leisure. I suspect there's going to be a lot of truth to that in this particular adventure.
Most of you already know what I'm about to do, but for those who don't… a week from today I am hopping on my Vespa to take a 3,000 mile ride. I'll be taking part in an event called the Scooter Cannonball Run (details to be found at http://www.scootercannonball.com/). There will be nearly 60 of us riding from Savannah to San Diego over the course of eight days. Once I get to the left coast I'll be spending a couple of days in LA, then flying home while my scooter gets shipped back east.
If you're at all interested in following my progress, there are a couple of ways to do it. First, there's a map online that will provide live tracking information: http://followride.com/rider/7 (I'm rider #7, alias Scutrbrau). I have something called a SPOT tracker that's often used by backcountry skiers and hikers that sends a ping every 10 minutes, which in turn appears on the map. Also, to Pat's great relief and pleasure, it has a help button and an SOS button so I can summon help even if I'm in an area with no cell phone coverage. The help button dispatches roadside assistance. The SOS button brings a search and rescue team. I'm hoping I don't need to test either of those.
You can also follow me via my blog at http://vesparazzi.blogspot.com/ though I can't promise I'll be doing a lot of writing along the way. I've read a number of blogs from past years' events that have a lot of entries up until the starting point and then fall silent. I suspect my evenings will be spent in motel parking lots with the other riders, drinking beer and telling stories, and not hanging out in my room writing. At the very least I hope to put up some photos along the way.
One side note that's kind of interesting, at least to me, is that I'm going to be riding with a guy, Bill, from England (Maidstone, Kent) who is coming here to participate; I'm picking him up at Dulles next week. We've become good friends via a Vespa forum that I frequent. He is being given a scooter to ride by another member of the forum, David, who is a Vespa dealer in LA. David was undergoing cancer treatment last year. Unbeknownst to everyone, Bill stayed in constant contact with David by phone, e-mail, text messages and postcards to offer encouragement and help get him to the finish line. David is repaying that kindness by shipping a scooter to my house for Bill to use for this cross-country jaunt. Even for a cynic like me I find that very heartwarming.
I've been thinking about and planning this for nearly two years. The last time around the run started in Vancouver and ended in Portland, so Pat and I hung out at the finish line to watch some of the riders come in. Somehow or other the sight of those exhausted and bedraggled riders made me begin to obsess over doing it myself. So here I am. I haven't had a proper vacation in quite some time. While the idea of beating the crap out of myself and my bike for a couple of weeks might not sound like a relaxing break, I can assure you that there's nothing else I'd rather be doing with my time.
Oh, one other thing that's completely unrelated but of some interest - our house in Portland has finally sold; closing is on Monday. With that monkey off our back we can really focus on getting settled in to our new place. Once I get back home, that is.
Cheers,
Rick
Thursday, April 12, 2012
It's certainly starting to feel real now
At this time a week from now I'll just be setting out on the first leg of my trip. Holy shit.
I've gotten most of my gear and stuff squared away. I'm carrying enough spare parts to cover anything basic that goes wrong along the way. If there's anything catastrophic that happens, well...game over. The bike goes on a support truck and I ride shotgun the rest of the way. But that won't happen, so I've just got ten days of long rides ahead of me.
For anyone reading who frequents Modern Vespa you'll know some of the cast of characters I'm about to encounter. Bill Dog is flying into Dulles from the UK next Tuesday, where I will collect him and bring him to my place. We'll have a day to finish prepping our rides and ourselves before we leave on Thursday. We'll travel west from Richmond to meet up with Jim and Kristin (JimC and Ivana Tinkle) and spend the next two days riding down the Blue Ridge Parkway and southeast to Savannah. We'll have one full day to enjoy the city and meet up with all of the other crazy bastards doing this thing. At some point during that day I also hope to ride down to the shore and dip my front wheel in the Atlantic.
And then...eat, drink, sleep (I hope), and leave just after dawn the following day. Let the games begin.
I've gotten most of my gear and stuff squared away. I'm carrying enough spare parts to cover anything basic that goes wrong along the way. If there's anything catastrophic that happens, well...game over. The bike goes on a support truck and I ride shotgun the rest of the way. But that won't happen, so I've just got ten days of long rides ahead of me.
For anyone reading who frequents Modern Vespa you'll know some of the cast of characters I'm about to encounter. Bill Dog is flying into Dulles from the UK next Tuesday, where I will collect him and bring him to my place. We'll have a day to finish prepping our rides and ourselves before we leave on Thursday. We'll travel west from Richmond to meet up with Jim and Kristin (JimC and Ivana Tinkle) and spend the next two days riding down the Blue Ridge Parkway and southeast to Savannah. We'll have one full day to enjoy the city and meet up with all of the other crazy bastards doing this thing. At some point during that day I also hope to ride down to the shore and dip my front wheel in the Atlantic.
And then...eat, drink, sleep (I hope), and leave just after dawn the following day. Let the games begin.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Counting down
The six weeks since I last posted have felt more like six months. We closed on our new place, packed our stuff, moved in two phases over the course of a couple of weeks, and now we're getting settled in. Compacted into one, short sentence it doesn't really sound like much but it's been a bitch. And I learned something important along the way: DO NOT buy a house and move just weeks before you're supposed to leave on an epic, 3,000-mile scooter trip.
In less than two weeks I'm going to hit the road for Savannah and on the 22nd we set out from there for San Diego. I've been following the preparations of my fellow riders online with some interest and more than a little dread. As they've all been doing maintenance and modifications to their scooters, I've been dealing with things that have kept me from even thinking about my scooter, let alone tinkering with it. I feel like I'm running a bit behind and that's not where I was hoping to be at this point on the calendar.
Thank goodness I started my Cannonball obsession months ago. What seemed premature back in the fall now seems prescient and wise. I started writing lists of gear and parts and things to do back when I had the time and luxury of thinking things through. I ordered parts and marked up maps and entered routes into my GPS long enough ago that it seemed foolish to be giving it so much thought then. But if I hadn't done all of that I believe I'd be in such a state of panic now that I'd consider scrapping the whole thing and waiting for 2014 to ride. This morning I was able to finally begin to use those lists to bring some order to my scooter chaos.
I began by clearing a large spot in the middle of the garage floor and laying out a tarp. I've been unpacking the boxes that I'd been careful to mark and set aside during the move, placing things in several different piles. There are the things that I need to carry with me on my scooter and those that I will put on a support vehicle. I'm only part way into it and already the mounds are growing large enough that I'm a little concerned. By the time I've got it all spread out it's going to look like enough stuff for a small army. How and what I winnow out will be an interesting exercise.
Time to stop blabbering and get back to it. I'll try to get some photos as I go to begin documenting the madness.
In less than two weeks I'm going to hit the road for Savannah and on the 22nd we set out from there for San Diego. I've been following the preparations of my fellow riders online with some interest and more than a little dread. As they've all been doing maintenance and modifications to their scooters, I've been dealing with things that have kept me from even thinking about my scooter, let alone tinkering with it. I feel like I'm running a bit behind and that's not where I was hoping to be at this point on the calendar.
Thank goodness I started my Cannonball obsession months ago. What seemed premature back in the fall now seems prescient and wise. I started writing lists of gear and parts and things to do back when I had the time and luxury of thinking things through. I ordered parts and marked up maps and entered routes into my GPS long enough ago that it seemed foolish to be giving it so much thought then. But if I hadn't done all of that I believe I'd be in such a state of panic now that I'd consider scrapping the whole thing and waiting for 2014 to ride. This morning I was able to finally begin to use those lists to bring some order to my scooter chaos.
I began by clearing a large spot in the middle of the garage floor and laying out a tarp. I've been unpacking the boxes that I'd been careful to mark and set aside during the move, placing things in several different piles. There are the things that I need to carry with me on my scooter and those that I will put on a support vehicle. I'm only part way into it and already the mounds are growing large enough that I'm a little concerned. By the time I've got it all spread out it's going to look like enough stuff for a small army. How and what I winnow out will be an interesting exercise.
Time to stop blabbering and get back to it. I'll try to get some photos as I go to begin documenting the madness.
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