over Lake Baldwin, Orlando, FL

Scooting home last week, I was behind a SUV with a doggy hanging its head out the window.

All I could think was “please don’t let me get hit in the face with dog slobber.”

This morning was MIX 105.1’s Scooter Rally. It was great fun! In case their web page goes away, here’s the poster they had online:

It was a $15 donation to Arnold Palmer Hospital, and while we didn’t really have $30 to donate, what with me being unemployed for month seven now, we decided to do it anyway. It sounded like it would be great fun; and it was! Also, we’re happy to donate to good causes. So, around 9a this morning, sherlock and I set out for Winter Park Village. Sherlock said he had mentioned it to his co-worker, G-man, so we were pleased to see G-man was there, too!

That’s G-man in the red shirt/black pants with the green Nemesis scooter parked beside sherlock’s silver Ruckus and my red Metropolitan.

It was really neat to see so many scooters in one place:

And everyone was walking around, admiring each other’s rides.

Here’s our three scooters, along with DJ Scott McKenzie’s blue scooter and DJ Dana Taylor’s red scooter:

Me, sherlock, G-man

I counted 30 scooters in the parking lot:

Most of the cameras I saw were Nikons, so it was nice to see they had good representation, too!

Scott McKenzie grabbed a mic to welcome everyone to the first annual Scooter Rally:

Everyone beelined either for the restroom or their bike:

There was a cacophony as the thirty scooters revved their engines:

That’s Scott McKenzie helping scooter-virgin Dana Taylor start her bike.
Dana seemed nervous, in an excited sort of way:

And… we were off!

Obviously, sherlock took this picture as I would never purposely take a picture of my butt:

I wish I could have seen the long line of scooters from the perspective of people we passed, as I’m sure we made quite an impression, what with our wimpy horns honking randomly and all!

(G-man on the green scooter with the Apple sticker)

We stopped in a cul-du-sac in the general area of Windsong for everyone to catch up:

The route took us all around Winter Park, including Rollins College:

And up Park Avenue, on our way back to Winter Park Village:

Scott McKenzie seemed to enjoy leading his gang of scooter riders!

Back at WPV, Crispers provided us all with lunch. It was really a great time! I rode with a big, stupid grin on my face the entire way. I’m so glad we did this. What fun to be in a group of scooter riders with wimpy horns blaring! I’m glad G-man joined us. That was certainly $30 well spent. I will keep my eyes and ears open for more scooter gang rides in the future, because this was so much fun.

UPDATED to add someone’s video:

Holy Toldeo!  I have not posted anything here since August.  Wow.  In my defense, the site was down for a while.

Since I lost my job in September, I have not been on my scooter much at all. I can’t take it to job interviews, as that is not the image I want for my first impression. And, if I don’t have an interview, the only time I leave the house is to run errands. Those errands usually involve buying stuff, and that requires the Element.

Today is the first time I have been on my scooter in like a month. Holy cow! I had forgotten how much fun it is to ride, and what a stress reliever it is! I was just going to go a mile and a half to the grocery store. But, I decided the grocery store that’s five miles away was a better option. And why not take the long way home? Sure, it only amounted to a ten or twelve mile ride, but it was great fun!

Last week, we rode our scooters all five work days.

We are now three for three this week. The rain has been early enough in the afternoon to not affect our rides home.

Meanwhile, Bossman rode one of his other motorcycles today. He has several.

Last year, Bossman J went to Bermuda. He returned with a froggy souvenir for me, since I collect frogs.

It’s doubly appropriate now, eh?

My older brother, Agent00J, writes for the popular car enthusiast website Autospies. He wrote two separate pieces over the weekend in which he mentioned me and my Met. The first is here, the second is here.

First off, I have very little interest in cars, and from what I have read in the articles and comments on Autospies, I am way out of my league. In fact, I was soundly ridiculed for being a Honda kind of a girl (I comment as SisterOf00J). So be it. Not all of us need to pad our egos with fine German automobiles.

I am not sure if Agent00J is mocking me or not.

My sister in Florida is a good example of action. Currently driving a Honda Element, she along with her husband carpool to work and combine necessary stops as part of the trip home from work to avoid having to take additional trips. Even though the Element they drive is a fairly efficient vehicle, the high price of fuel compelled them to buy scooters. Since purchasing the scooters, the Element spends a lot more time in the driveway as 3-4 days per week they now commute via scooters.

Please note, the reason we purchased the scooters, as I mentioned down in the comments on that article, was because I crashed the car and we did not have rental reimbursement on our insurance policy. Not because of gas prices.

Continuing…

First off, in making the drastic change from car to scooter, was this a knee jerk reaction to a short term dilemma, or is it really a long term solution to a problem we only got a small taste of? In the case of my sister, the 2 scooters cost a little over $4,000 plus tax and interest (I assume she is making payments as opposed to having paid cash) on the scooters, at what point does break even occur justifying the additional expense of the scooters.

00J forgot to factor in an important issue, and something that is often ranked highly on the Autospies site: the Joy of Driving factor. I love riding my little scooter. Oh, sure, it cannot hold a candle to when I raced my brother’s Porsche 911 around the winding Tennessee roads, but for the sheer joy and kick of adrenaline, I have to say the scooter provides an excellent fix.

We paid cash for one scooter and financed the second. The finance fee is ridiculous, and we’re planning to re-fi or pay it off ASAP.

As for the gas comparison, I think I’ve touched on that before on here. My Element, at roughly $4 per gallon for gas, takes $50ish to fill. I have to fill her every five days if I take her to work.

Each scooter takes just over a gallon of fuel. My Met provides me with roughly 85 mpg. My round trip commute to work is 26 miles. So I fill up my Met twice a week. That means instead of $50 for five days in the Element, I’m only spending $8.

Hubby’s Ruckus adds an additional $8. So we’re at $16 for the week for gas.

At the end of your typical four-week month, that would be $250ish for the Element versus $64 for the two scooters. My payment on the scooters is roughly $120. So, 250-120-64 = $66 I’m ahead every month just because I took my scooter to work instead of my Element. That’s $792 per year, and that’s half of a mortgage payment, or several small weekend mini-vacations.

I think that’s worth it.

And that doesn’t even factor in how much better my mood is on days I scoot. I love love love riding my scooter. Sure, the bumps, crazy drivers who try to kill me, and afternoon rain can be a downer, but overall, I love my scooter. I am very proud when I ride my Met. Seriously, I sit taller and just grin the entire ride (bugs in the teeth be damned!).

I think Joy is a bigger benefit than the money saved on gas.

To the woman in the purple PT Cruiser that lives in the Bryn Mawr subdivision: You, ma’am, are a jackass.

Yay! I finally finished copying all my posts and comments from blogger over to here. Now, if I can just get PPP to update my settings, I can resume the rare paid post on this blog. I’ve done a whole ONE so far (that is supposed to pay out today, btw, but since I’ve been setting up this new URL, I’m thinking I’ll not get paid for it, as customer love is anything but loving).

Now, all I have to do is tweak this template until it looks like something decent. I like this color scheme, but it definitely needs tweaking.

After Tuesday’s disconcerting ride, I was disinclined to ride on Wednesday. It was fortunate, then, that it was pouring rain in the morning. Hubby was off, but he drove me to work. Then, yesterday, the lying weatherman said it would be nasty, so we took the Element. That of course meant it was a gorgeous day.

Today, 40% chance of rain. I knew if I put off riding my scooter, I’d have a hard time getting back on it. So, we rode.

And I apparently took my Stupid pills this morning, as I made a couple stupid navigational decisions. But, I’m back on my scooter, after a scary ride the other night.