Category:  rides

Last night's Vespa Club of Seattle membership meeting ended with a beautiful ride in the stunning February sunset.

Oh, wait - isn't it June?

It's membership renewal time and for $20 you, too, can be a member of VCOS. Joining was a good move in this scooter odyssey of mine. It's given me access to the best minds in Seattle scootering. Scooterists love to help one another, especially if it gives them a chance to showcase their skill, talent, knowledge, or tool collection. And now I've been hanging around long enough that I actually have something to offer back.

While my bailiwick is often limited to the realm of digital design and CSS, my two most recent scooters have put me through the paces enough that I've become intimately acquainted with things like Vespa batteries and chrome installation, two-stroke carburetors, Stella exhaust systems, Stella electrical wiring, Stella spark plugs and Stella tires. And I'll take "Towing a Scooter" for 600 please, Alex.

How I ended up at my first Vespa Club meeting last year is a slice of universal synchronicity, if you subscribe to such beliefs.

Happy New Year, kids. Started mine off with a bang. Or a crunch, rather.

Today was the Westenders Lost Ride, and Doc lead twenty of us into the wilds of Washington on his glossy pink Stella, dual flags flying behind him. I was already lost when we passed UW and kept going, so I'm easy to please. I think the idea was to just keep taking random roads until nobody knew where we were. It was a fabulous day for a ride; the mountains were out and heavily frosted -- even Rainier. We went down through the Arboretum and past Lake Washington and the views were gorgeous.

Sunday was the Westenders Scooter Club Quirky Turkey ride which was a total blast. The Westenders, the Vespa Club of Seattle and Sqream congregated at Cafe Racer on Roosevelt and we all headed out around noon.

Our first stop was at Swanson's to see the famed Dasher and Blitzen, who were on holiday resting and fueling up for the long sleigh-pulling season to come. I would like to note that Dasher and Blitzen are female reindeer, both of whom are mothers, in addition to hauling a fat white man and his cargo around all winter.