Saturday, October 24, 2009

Ups and downs

Well...It's been a busy, and difficult couple weeks.

My wife has been in the hospital with a serious illness.

My son and I went north to Massachusetts so my family could help me through a bout of depression due to my wife's illness, this time in my wife's car since it was too cold to travel all that far with him on the back of the Sabre. We had a fairly good weekend, and it was nice to see my mom and family again.

We returned home, and I worked three days in a row, alternatively riding the Sabre or driving my wife's car.

I finally rode the scoot again last night after replacing the windshield. I did decide to go with another Slipstreamer Scoot 30. The price was right, and it would have cost about $30.00 more to buy a Kymco specific shield.


With the new windshied, I finally felt comfortable riding the scoot again. Today, I rode the scoot to Friendship Community's annual banquet. I parked it in front of Yoder's Restaurant so the scoot would be out of the wind. Nobody seemed to mind my parking it on the sidewalk next to a soda machine, and I checked with an employee just to make sure it was ok, and they thought nothing of it.


The banquet was nice enough, though the speech was a bit long. The keynote speaker was Anne Beiler, founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzel company. The speech was good enough I suppose, but I'm not a big fan of speeches anyway.

After the banquet, I followed the house van back to the group home (I'd taken the scooter since the van was full), and it started to rain. Unfortunately, I had not had the foresight to wear my rain gear, so my jacket got a bit damp. It wasn't too bad, but when I was ready to go home, it began to pour. I think I shall start making it a practice to keep my rain gear with me every time it's even a little cloudy. I must say that I was very thankful to have a new windshield. It kept me from getting completely soaked before I got home.

Windshields certainly make a difference. Acceleration and handling are greatly improved. Now all I need is a new basket for the back of the scoot and I'll be set.

4 comments:

Lee said...

Sorry to hear about your wife. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
On the scooter falling over:
See, there are benefits to having smaller tires!
Honda Helix forever!

Scootin' Fool said...

Thank you for your kind words.

As for the Helix, if it is not susceptible to falling over in the wind, it is more likely due to either it's small stature or heavier frame or a combination of the two.

My first scooter had small tires and it was just as susceptible to falling over in the wind. It sat a little higher than the helix and was a little lighter than the People 150.

My Honda Sabre is probably well over 500 lbs, and is completely unphased by the wind, even when under its cover; however, if I put a cover on the People 150 and park it in the wind, it acts like a sail.

So, again, I don't think it has anything to do with tire size. :)

cpa3485 said...

I too hope your wife is doing better. My thoughts are with you.
Have also been thinking about a windshield for my scooter. There apparently is an after market one that fits. After feeling lots of wind on my recent trip I am seriously considering it.

Unknown said...

Paul:

also sorry to hear about your wife. Hope it is something she is able to recover from.

bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin