Riding around with the wind in my face

Sunday morning dawned, and my wife awoke with a stomach bug. I had intended to go to the Ephrata Ride-in, but had to get my son to Sunday School. We rode the Sabre to Church and had a decent time of it. My son went to his class and I to mine, and it was pretty good, until I started to feel something stirring within my innards, and not in a good way (which would be pretty weird in church anyway). So, after Sunday school, we headed home so I could join my wife in sickbay...so to speak.

On the way home, the kid wanted to run by the ride-in to see the bikes. So, despite my discomfort, we popped through.


I handed the boy my camera and he was able to take a couple clear shots. It was 10:30 by the time we got there, and overcast, and there weren't very many bikes present. I'm not sure whether it was the time, or the weather, or a combination of the two. We passed a fair amount of riders leaving when we were going in, and about the same amount going in as we were leaving.


On the way home, I got lost a bit on the backroads between Ephrata and Manheim. I was a bit worried, but was able to hold myself together. It's one of those times I'm very thankful my Sabre is a smooth ride and that I don't own a Harley Vibro-Glide.

Our Bunny is growing bigger by the day. We found a bit of fencing at Pet-Smart so we let her hop around outside (with supervision). I'll eventually build her a hutch so she can be outside without supervision, but I'm not going to leave her alone in an enclosure she could hop out of or from which a predator could get her.


So life continues unabated. The scooter and the Sabre continue to be reliable transportation, and with gas prices continuing to bop up and down, I'm happy for their judicious fuel economy. Next week is camp week at Church, so I'll be putting back and forth to Woodcrest retreat on the scoot, and gritting my teeth on those bad roads at the campground.

Family addition

Two weeks ago, we added a new furry friend to our ever growing fuzzball population. She is a lionhead rabbit and has a sweet and curious disposition. I've wanted a rabbit for years and our finances allowed for it, so we decided it was time.


My son adores her and Mia (the name he chose for her), seems to take to him pretty well too.

We purchased a green and pink halter for her so we can eventually take her for walks, but she's still so small she slips right out of it. So...we tried it out on the cats.


Jojo was not impressed. He sat on the ground and did a dead man's crawl trying to get out of it. Lizzie's reaction was even funnier.


She held on to the doorjamb and wouldn't let us pick her up until we took it off of her. My hands now bear the wounds of that ordeal. The laughs were worth it.

I don't know how it would work, but I'd love to be able to modify my crate so I can take the bunny for rides on my scooter, but being a gentle animal, I doubt she'd deal very well with the stress of that activity.

True amusement

Friday was a very hot day to spend walking around Hershey Park. With a heat index of 115, the weather was truly brutal. The youth group had planned this outing for several months, so there was no changing the date. Armed with a hydration plan and sunscreen, the boy and I set out on the Sabre to meet the rest of the group at the convergence of routes 72 and 322.

Riding through Lancaster, Lebanon, and Dauphin counties during the early morning was not too bad as the thermometer had not yet hit its apex. We had only a slight issue upon hitting Hershey when I became distracted by the smell of chocolate and stalled the bike. Oops...

Arrival at the park was met with a sweet surprise as I was waved in past the outer lots to a space nice and close to the entrance. Riding a motorbike has its perks.

We joined our youth group at the church's van and headed into the park. At this point, the sweat was already rolling off in buckets. We stopped for water (which we were provided with at no extra charge), and headed to the first roller coaster of the day, the Fahrenheit. It was an interesting nauseating ride, but not as bad as the Wildcat, which I did not enjoy all that much. I like wooden coasters generally, but the wildcat provides a bit more jostling than I prefer.

By the time the night was through, we had been on every coaster in the park (except for the sidewinder which had gotten stuck), and I found myself chuckling at the speed claims for each of the coasters. One of the coaster operators proudly proclaimed a top speed of 56 mph, and I thought, "I can do better than that any time I want, and I don't make myself nauseous in the process!"

On the way home, I topped that speed several times as we happily buzzed past the fields and forests on the way home. With as much as it costs to go to an amusement park, it seems rather silly to spend that money when I can go further and faster than any of the rides at Hershey Park, and see more countryside, while spending a whole lot less in the long run.

There's also the unfortunate side effects of walking around an amusement park and up and down stairs in 100 degree heat. Two days later, I am unable to walk without severe pain in my legs and hip. I don't have as much difficulty after riding for hours.

So, I'll continue to enjoy my back roads and hills in solitude, rather than milling about with sweaty masses of humanity. Others may choose to do otherwise, but I will be content.

Flora on the roadside

Scooting down the road offers great opportunities to see the things on the roadside and beyond. Enclosed vehicles have roof supports (and the attached roof) that impede a good view. Here in Lancaster County, at this time of the year, there are flowers a-plenty on the roadside.

These yellow flowers are what my dad used to call wild mustard. Whether that's what they really are or not, I do not know, but they grow on the roadside not too far from the place where I work.


Then there are cornflowers, which are all over the place. It's interesting to note that most of them are blue (cornflower blue, oddly enough), but every so often, There will be a plant with white or lavender blooms. There is such a wonderful diversity in all species, as designed by the Creator, even in such little things as flowers, and all the way up to humankind.



Morning glories are often found on the roadside in Lancaster County. Here we see a mound of them above a stone culvert.


Riding a scooter provides so much opportunity for relaxation. The flowers are just the tip of the iceberg.

What's the difference

I'm going to hypothesize a bit and possibly do a little intellectual wandering, so pardon my ramblings should they occur.

In the spring of 2008, I was able to convince my wife to let me get a scooter because gas prices were rising rapidly. They weren't quite $3.50 yet, but they were getting there. After gas rose above $3.50 a gallon all remaining 50cc scooters vanished quickly from showrooms and none of the dealers for the mainstream manufacturers were able to replace them until much later in the year, with the exception of a few of the smaller upstarts like Kymco, SYM, and Genuine, though they would get snapped up almost as soon as they rolled off the truck. Chinese scooters were available in abundance and many folks availed themselves of these with varying results.

Gas topped out (around here) at just a bit over four bucks a gallon toward the end of summer that year, and suddenly there were plenty of new 50cc scooters at the Honda and Yamaha dealer, but alas, the Japanese manufacturers were too late to jump on the bandwagon and many of those 2009 scooters still sit, awaiting the backside of a happy scootster.

Why?

Well, here's my theory, or theories really. First off, Gas prices haven't rocketed up as quickly. Certainly, they rose fast enough to cause some concern, but not nearly as fast as they did in 2008. Add to that the current drop in prices to under $3.50, and we can guess that folks may be breathing a little easier.

The second difference is the lack of disposable income for most Americans. We just plain don't have the extra money to spend, so it might take a bit more than gas at $3.50+ to force us to make the move to two wheels. Despite promises of economic recovery from our president and his doting followers, no such recovery has taken place, and unemployment remains high.

So, what will it take to get folks back into buying small motorbikes and scooters? Gas at $4.00 a gallon? $5.00? I guess we will just have to wait and see.