Princess Scooterpie's Challenge

Meet Squirt, my Met's mascot:

I have a little pic of Squirt on the front inside of my scoot and the name "Squirt".

It's too cold to go over to storage and take a photo, so you'll just have to take my word for it!

I named the Met "Squirt" because it is such a wee scooter...but has a BIG heart!

Hurry Up and Wait!

I grew up an Army brat in the '60s and then went into the Navy myself in the '80s. If any of you have lived that lifestyle you know that it is full of acronyms and "sayings".

One of them is "hurry up and wait".

That's because in the military there is a LOT of waiting around. In basic training or boot camp, you are always waiting. Waiting for orders to do whatever is next, waiting in lines at the PX, commissary, or chow hall. Waiting to deploy. Waiting to come home. Waiting for mail to arrive (in the olden days!). Waiting in line for something all the time.

And so it became a pretty good lesson for life after the military too. Especially if you go on to work in government jobs! LOL

Waiting can be a bitch. Waiting can be a blessing. Waiting can also be a teacher.

Waiting for the impatient person is a trial by fire.

If you have to wait too long and too much it can be maddening.

Think back to times you waited, and waited, and waited. Good times, bad times. Times of adjustment, times of transition, times of loss. Waiting is part of them all.

Now I have been waiting for 4 years for a decent job. A real job. A job with reliable wages, security, a future. Lay-offs, unemployment, contract work, no work, all woven in among this waiting for a job where I can feel again like I am a part of the world around me.

In this respect I've gotten really good (somewhat) at waiting.

Now I am waiting to hear back on a job that I interviewed for almost a month ago. The phone could ring at any moment and the waiting would be over! My whole life would change in just an instant!

As a kid, remember waiting for the tooth fairy, Easter bunny, or Santa Claus? Now that waiting was fun and exciting and was a good childhood preparation for adult life, wasn't it?

Even long past really believing in these things I still got caught up in the "waiting high" that preceded their "arrival"! No, Mom, I did not REALLY still believe in Santa at age 10!

Someone once said that baseball is a game that is "all about waiting". If you think about it, it's true. Waiting for the pitch, the strike out, the base run, the home run. If you're actually in the ball park you're waiting for the pop or hotdog or beer vendor to wander your way.

Damn, I love baseball! I must admit I love the waiting part, the anticipation of what little thing could change the whole outcome. It's addictive!

Waiting teaches patience, but it also teaches the lesson of open mindedness to the outcome. It might not be what you expected, but it might lead to more than what you could have ever imagined.

Waiting permeates our life, but it does not have to stiffle our life in a negative way.

It can open us up to new possibilities, teach us the virtue of patience, and guide us to see that things usually work out ok if we choose to see the positive side of outcomes that we might never have expected.

Right now I am waiting for spring with every fiber of my being.

It will come, it will be glorious, it will bring joy and deep peace to my soul as it always does.

But I have to do the waiting to get to the good stuff, doncha know?

Waiting is a necessary part of life and a launching point for creative change.

In the waiting comes the transformaton to new life.

*Update: I got the job!

What It Comes Down To

Today is an awesome day for a scooter ride in my world: 50+ degrees and sunny! The Met awaits.

But first, I will lay out my ultimate plan for "more power" in 2013.

What it comes down to in my quest for "more power" is pretty simple: I'll take what I can get, it will be used, and it will be affordable.

Oh, yeah, and I am NOT getting rid of my Met! I will own two machines of some type.

One for local run around stuff (the Met) and the other for longer forays into the countryside (the mystery scoot).

It is probably going to be a used unit with low miles bought locally and ridden home. That means it will likely come from an individual, not a dealer. Not unless I get very lucky on that part.

I am on a budget, so I am going to start saving up my cash for this purchase. I am in no hurry. I'd like it by mid-summer at the latest, but we will see.

Here are the "contenders" thus far:

Yamaha Vino 125

Yamaha Zuma 125

Kymco People 150

Kymco Agility 125

Genuine Buddy 125

Genuine Black Jack

Genuine Psycho

And even this one: Honda Elite 110

Maybe this one if the price is right: Honda PCX 125

Definitely this one if the price is right and one can be found:

Honda Big Ruckus

And finally, a very long shot just because it is a classic and it fits:

Honda Helix

I think if the money is right, the scooter is in good to excellent condition, and it is a local seller, any one of these might fulfill my criteria for more power in a comfortable size.

The Big Ruck is the only 250cc that I have handled on a ride and I felt comfortable on it. They are hard to find and usually way over-priced, but I could get lucky.

The Helix is available used all the time and usually the prices are manageable. I think it is one of the ugliest scooters (Yamaha Morphous being the ugliest!) I have ever seen, but I've read that the comfort level for long day rides is unmatched. If I saw one within my budget I'd have to try it out to see for myself.

Meanwhile, I ride my Met on the side and back roads and fate will bring along my second scooter when the time is right!

Unless I win the lottery or Publisher's Clearning House comes to my door!

If that happens then I'd test ride every one of these and pick my first choice, new or used.

Going with my gut right now it would be the Genuine Buddy 125 or the Yamaha Zuma 125.

Right now a new, black Zuma 125 is sitting in a dealership 5 miles from me.

Hmmmm....

I am done obcessing on scooter models on this blog for now.

Meanwhile, I will wait and see where this goes

Hope you can get a little scoot or ride in today, whatever you are riding!

Be safe, be happy, ride on!

I'm An Old Lady and I'll Do What I Like!

Years ago I was working in a dialysis center where 95% of my clients were over age 75.

One of my fondest memories of that experience was seeing my 85 year old client, Gladys, who lived in an assisted living community, come into the unit 3 times a week.

She was fiercely independent, outspoken, and full of life at her advanced age on this planet.

She had a hired companion, Deana, who often accompanied her to dialysis and who also helped her around her apartment with cleaning, cooking, and took her out with her on social occasions to do shopping, restaurants, and concerts.

Her daughter lived in the city and sometimes she would bring her in to her treatment sessions and then sit with me in the office and lament about how feisty and stubborn she found her mom to be.

Then I'd hear about how that whole deal went down that week when Gladys would come in the next time and tell me how her daughter and Deana wanted her to do this and that or wear such and such or eat certain things, etc. On and on and on.

She would roll her eyes and say to me, "I just tell them, 'I'm an old lady and I'll do what I like!'."

Eventually this line became like a punch line to any story she would tell me and it actually became an inside joke during any conversation we would have together. We'd start chuckling and soon enough any story gained a humorous perspective.

I've often thought of her over the years. Her feistiness, her strength, her refusal to compormise her life choices. Even down to her final choice to remove herself from dialysis as her quality of life declined.

I learned many things from clients over the years of doing the work that I did, but Glady's lesson for life has stood out among the many.

"I'm an old lady and I'll do what I like!"

At my age, which is no longer "middle age" (unless I am going to live to age 116!), I find myself constantly aware of sifting through my priorities and trying to keep them aligned in a life-giving way.

Time is getting shorter with aging and it is moving along more swiftly than in my earlier youth.

I don't want to waste any of it doing things that I don't want to do or neglecting to do things that matter most to me.

One of these things is riding a scooter. The wonderous gift that came into my life 6 years ago. Something good that came from living out in the country for all that time.

The simple pleasure of riding a scooter.

I AM an old lady and I'll do what I like...and boy do I love riding a scooter!

Thank you Gladys, wherever you are!

Big Wheels

Kymco People S200

I got nothing to do but sit around and dream about scooters and scootin' and my blog subject matter reflects this fact here lately. It's just too darn cold outside!

Oh, I get in a very tiny ride now and then when I go over to the storage unit and crank up Squirt and MAYBE ride her 150 yards up and back the line in the frigid cold.

Just enough to whet my whistle, just enough to makes me nuts to ride again!

But alas, winter holds her grip and so I retreat into my head again and dream of scooters and scootin' the back roads in the spring.

Mostly my mind wanders to ponderings of a bigger scooter choice for my ride.

Nothing new there.

Since my move to the burbs I have become painfully aware that 50cc (actually 49) put me in a dangerous situation on most of the roads around here.

This is an unhappy acknowledgement, but true none the less.

Most roads are a minimum of 45mph and I can only barely get up to 43mph and then that is optimistic.

I've got no room to maneuver in tricky situations. None.

I am the proverbial "sitting duck".

Not only that, I need more power to get me back out into my beloved rural back roads without it taking all day long.

This is a must for mental survival.

Then there's crosstown expeditions like maybe a scooter club get together. I've got to have more power to get me over the posted speed limit roads and keep up with the crowd once I get there.

Now there's two ultimate solutions to all this: 1) I get a bigger scooter or 2) I add a scooter rack carrier to my SUV and haul my 50cc to the country and ride out from there.

Forget scooter rallys, forget riding around on any local roads where I could get killed anyway. Just sit home most of the time. Right.

I don't like #2, so #1 must be the solution.

Let's talk "bigger scooter". I don't like maxi scoots for their weight, looks, or handling. I need a 150-200cc range ride. Or something faster than 49cc. 50+ mph would be the most versatile option.

More power=more maneuverability and ease of handling. It must be easy to store in the winter. It must have a bigger profile for visibility, but not the weight of a bigger machine.

I've got to feel safe on it, it's got to "fit" me for handling at stops and in motion, and I've got to find it fun to ride.

I think smaller scoots are more fun to ride and I feel safer on one anyway.

Downside? I don't like small wheels if I can get bigger ones. Bigger ones are more stable, less prone to a rough ride on rural back roads, and less squirrely to handle.

Big wheels help to avoid feeling like the ride is that of a roller skate at 55+ mph.

However, big wheels are usuall fitted for taller riders. Hmmm.

Well, let's explore some Big Wheels anyway! Let's look at some of the Big Wheels of the scooter world. The 16 inch Bad Boys.

I've read over and over again that these wheels provide the stable ride of a motorcycle and that is a good thing since I've decided once and for all that I do not want a motorcycle again.

Oh, I know, first thing in your mind is "but a scoot with 16 inch wheels is going to be TOO TALL for a 5'4" woman with a 29 inch inseam".

It IS a possibility, like I already pointed out. But not all of them are as tall as some. Besides, once I am sitting on it rolling down the road will I notice that at all?

No, I don't think so, but I could be wrong! At a stop if I can slide and tippy toe to balance the scoot, then I ought to be ok. At least in theory.

So I've been reading and researching about 3 scoots in particular: Kymco People 150, Kymco People S200, and SYM HD200.

All are fine looking and highly esteemed models with most of the features I would be looking for on an "all around" scooter. By that I mean a nimble about towner or a day ride tourer.

Not the heft of a maxi-scoot, comfortable but easy to handle.

Great for town explorations yet superb for hitting the back roads along the river.

All three have local dealer support in this area. All three have been sold in this area and so the likelihood of finding a used one is pretty high.

Of the 3, the only one I did test ride in 2009 was the People 150 and I do remember it fitting me in terms of sitting at a stop. That is about all that I can recall about how it handled. I need a "do over".

So my short term goal is to find one of each and try it out for a test ride, or at least sit on it to see how, or if, it fits my stature and ergonomics.

All 3 get great reviews for power, smoothness of ride, versatility, reliability, and gas mileage.

All 3 would make great grocery-getters or countryside back road ramblers.

Any one out there riding these Big Wheels, please feel free to expound on your experience here in the comment section.

Meanwhile, enjoyable winter scootin' dreams (or safe riding) to you all!

Kymco People 150

SYM HD 200

Reviews for all three scooters can be found on www.justgottascoot.com

(BTW, some other manufacturers who offer 16 inch wheeled scoots are Aprilia, Piaggio, Roketa, CF Moto, and Honda. Also, Honda offers the 14 inch wheel PCX models. Then you've got the SYM Symba with 17 inch wheels. A special ride for special riders!)