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:

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.

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.

My ride home tonight was truly unpleasant. About four miles into the ride, it started to rain. I anticipated this, given the black sky and the weather forecast before I left work. But, since it was starting to rain, and I was going to be riding parallel to the black for many miles, I thought it might be prudent to alter my route so that I would be near various shopping plazas. That way, if the sky opened up, I could stop somewhere other than some stranger’s house and seek shelter. I wanted to turn onto Colonial Drive (Hwy 50) from Mills (Hwy 17-92), but the car in front of me did not comprehend the green or yellow turn signals. So, when it was safe to do so, I got back out of the turn lane and continued along Mills. I took the side street that the post office is on, figuring if nothing else, I could stop at the Narnes & Boble on Bumby, as the rain was stinging as it smacked me.

The road I selected is a brick road with speed humps and three stop signs. Obviously I could not get going very fast, not to mention it’s a residential street, so I wouldn’t go much above 30mph anyway. After the second stop sign, as I puttered along, most likely around 25mph, I suddenly realized I was going to die, and there was not a whole hell of a lot I could do about it. A pimp mobile suddenly rapidly backed out of a driveway without looking and at a ridiculously fast speed. There was absolutely no way I was going to avoid hitting this car. No way. I hurt my wrist, I braked so furiously. While braking, I also turned to the left, hoping against hope that I could somehow swing behind the pimp mobile without either hitting his side, or being backed into if I managed to eek past as he continued to be oblivious to my presence.

And then, he noticed me and slammed on his brakes, enabling me to just squeeze behind him.

Folks, I was terrified. There was absolutely no way I would have missed him had he not stopped. No way. The road was wet, my brakes were wet, and there was not enough road for me to stop or for me to navigate past him.

Scared.

Three additional vehicles tried to take me out on the remainder of my ride home. Three people who felt the need to cut off the scooter. In the rain.

A miserable, scary ride.

I came home and latched onto my husband. And had a martini.

We love riding our scooters. Love it! I love that we’re now riding them almost exclusively to work every day. (Not today, since we have to go somewhere after work.) I love the gas savings, and I love the joy riding my scooter brings.

Hubby and I have talked about doing a road trip on our scooters. The problem is, we’d like to ride places that are difficult to get to on a scooter. Obviously we cannot ride on a highway, so we need to plan a trip with the Element and the scooters. Once we get to our destination in the Element, we can ride about on our scooters. But, this is so not practical:

Companies like Auto Transportation Worldwide will transport cars just about anywhere. I wonder if they would transport our scooters? We have talked about finding a company, like the auto train or something, to get us and our scooters to our destination and back. Clearly we need to look into it, because we’re itching to see the world on two wheels.

After I pulled out of my neighborhood this morning, as my scooter gained speed, a moron (who was waaay far back when I turned in front of her) decided she needed to suddenly gain speed. She was pissed I pulled in front of her (she was two and a half blocks or more away when I pulled out) and had to pass me. Double solid yellow lines. She just missed the oncoming car.

Seconds later, the next moron behind me did the exact same thing.

They beat me to the red light by like FIVE SECONDS!

Morons.

People like that scare the crap out of me when I’m on two wheels.

The entrance to Universal Studios Orlando on Saturday. It was our first time scooting to the park. The route took us along two busy roads that each have very small sections of 55mph. My scooter does a blazing 40. And, there was a massive head wind on the ride there, so I had a hard time coaxing her above 35.

Scary ride.

We had to attend mass yesterday morning before work. It was the anniversary of my FIL’s death, and we attend mass every year with my MIL. She switched churches. The new church is off a considerably busier road. It’s near Semoran and Colonial. These are roads I avoid in my car.

I took the picture because I hope never to be at this intersection on my scooter ever again. But looking at the picture, I’m amused at the “Latin Hooters” restaurant I captured! The things you don’t notice in a car!

These two are taken at the intersection of Semoran and Lake Underhill.

This doesn’t really capture how super busy this intersection is.

This is at Colonial and Semoran. An intersection we loathe and never, ever go to in a car. It was disconcerting on two wheels.

But, we survived. And chalk it up to experience. And blog fodder!

We rode home past Lake Underhill last night.

It’s not the best picture, but I can only take pictures while stopped. It’s hard not to enjoy riding a scooter when you pass lakes like this all the time.

Anyway, you have to enjoy not being on the 408 highway that goes over this lake (visible in the background).

One of the roads I travel to get to and from work has three different names, and really, three different zones. I’ve discovered my apprehension about the road varies with each zone.

When I think of the road as Mills, I rather enjoy the ride. Oh, sure, there’s that really rough bricked section, but overall, Mills is a nice 35mph road. And a good portion of Mills is residential. The traffic is not aggressive or scary at all.

Then, Mills becomes 17-92 in my mind. The name change for me (the majority of Mills is 17-92, regardless of the road’s name) takes place between Virginia and Princeton, or maybe even between Nebraska and Princeton. The speed limit remains 35mph, but traffic becomes more congested, drivers grow more impatient, and drivers are more aggressive. I start to feel a little less at ease when Mills becomes 17-92 in my mind.

When the street signs change from Mills to Orlando, things get really tense for me. It’s still 17-92, but the change to Orlando Avenue is quite something. The name change happens at Orange Avenue. Suddenly, the 35mph is impossible to maintain because there is so much traffic. People get super aggressive. They ride the median for far too long, nearly taking out other vehicles and the occasional pedestrian. All my muscles tense up, and I feel very vulnerable on my scooter. Fairbanks and 17-92 is a traffic nightmare and continues up to and beyond Lee Road.

I was amused when I realized I called the road by different names based on where I was located on the road. It’s always 17-92, but sometimes it’s Mills. I like Mills; it’s a relatively nice road to travel on two wheels.