Rain rain go away!

Not a good day today.

It started off good enough. I went to church, played guitar, went to a baptism after church, then decided to take a back route home...that was my first mistake.

The last few days have seen heavy thunderstorms with torrential rains. You've probably guessed where this is going. I had a choice between traveling a more familiar road or taking a twisty back road with which I was unfamiliar. I took the latter, which was my second mistake.

As I crested a hill, I noticed that the road curved suddenly and sharply to the left, and there was a washout across the road from the previous night's storms. I used my brakes as I was able before the bend, but there was nothing I could do that would avoid some kind of crash. It was either go down on the gravel and probably break another bone (or bones) or head for the softer earth beside the road.

The softer earth cushioned my fall and I ended up with only a few small abrasions and some sore muscles, oh, my jeans and shirt got rather muddy too, which matters you know. I like that shirt.

The scooter...well, at this point I think I may be better off just parting it out. The forks are bent so badly that the handlebar is turned off to the left, and who knows if the steering stem is bent. It's really too bad, it was a very nice machine despite the few dents.

Well, tomorrow I will look it over some more, if I don't just stay in bed. I think I'm going to wish I had some oxy.

For pictures, see: http://scootinfool.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-aftermath.html

Hot day in Amish-land (with video)

As I may have mentioned in previous blogs, I took this past week off from work to relax and do some scootering. This also gave me the opportunity to do some job hunting, and take some video. 

Yesterday it was hot, blisteringly hot. Despite this, I took the PCX for a ride around the various Lancaster County tourist hotspots, and boy were they hot...

Anywho, it's amazing how well suited scooters are to buzzing around looking at stuff. I found this to be true in Gettysburg, Lancaster City, and now in Amish country. Having a machine that can take its time helps quite a bit. 

So yesterday, I went through Bird-in-Hand, Intercourse, Paradise, Strasburg (with a stop at the railroad), past Sight and Sound theater, and up through the outlets. 

I hope you enjoy the ride. 

Lancaster City, Pennsylvania's delightful Red Rose

It's small as cities go, but it's still a city and we're all either proud of it or terrified to go there, depending on how much country mouse we have in us. For myself, I'm more of a rural type, but I find Lancaster to be a non-threatening city. Certainly, there are some neighborhoods with a high crime rate, but overall, Lancaster is charming. Lancaster is the "Red Rose City," harkening back to the war of the roses in England centuries ago. Of course then there is York, the White Rose City, on the other side of the Susquehanna River.

I had to be in town anyway since I was taking the opportunity to visit my son while he's on ice...so to speak. Since I had to be in the city anyway, it gave me an excuse to vlog a bit. Added bonus, you get to see parts of the city most tourists never see. In point of fact, there are many tourists who visit Lancaster County who never set foot in the city and I really can't figure out why.

Lancaster has lots of shops, many restaurants, and quite a number of cafes, not to mention the farmers' markets. There are several museums including a small art museum. Lancaster is also home to a number of colleges.

So, if you come to Lancaster county to enjoy some sight-seeing, don't forget the city.

And don't litter...or some weirdo on a scooter might yell at you.

A celebratory trip...

Yesterday, I finally finished all my classes at the YTI - Motorcycle Technology Center. To top it off, I had a 4.0 for the last two terms. As my readers will know, I'd planned to go down the Skyline Drive, but that wasn't to be, so I settled for vlogging about local places. So as a celebratory trip, I went to Gettysburg.

It was a lovely day for a ride. The sun was shining and the heat was not terribly oppressive. I was reminded of trips through the area with my dad. He was a big history buff, particularly American histroy.

Some of my fondest childhood memories involve traveling with my dad. One year we visited all of Abraham Lincoln's childhood homes. That was something indeed. My dad may not have been perfect, but he did spend time with his children and made sure that we were given many good experiences that we would take with us to adulthood.

In any event, here is the video from the Gettysburg trip:

Tomorrow, we'll bop around Lancaster City, Pennsylvania.

It's not nearly as easy as you'd think.

The whole moto-scooto-vlogging thing is not as easy as it looks. Yeah, ok, you're yackin' away and shooting video and it's all good, then you have to pick and choose what you want to include in the final product, then your video editor takes a crap, then you've got enough video but not too much. It's just a bit crazy.

I'm shooting for ten to fifteen minutes on the final product, but that's not always possible. I did get about 40 minutes down to 22 on the last one. Today's video was even better. There is so much from which to pick and choose that it makes the process take quite a while, but so far I've been happy with the outcome.

Despite the complications, it's been fun. I get to meet people, chat with folks, and the reactions I get on camera can be priceless. I've also managed to fine tune the camera setup a bit.

Hopefully along the way I convince a few people that scooters are awesome.