Neon Carnival Scoot

Friday night was perfect for a night ride on the C3. I started out by doing a loop around the mall and as I rounded the corner I saw a rush of colored neon lights ablaze!

Music, bells clanging, and the smells of popcorn, hot dogs, cotton candy, and funnel cakes drifted on the night air!

What a cute little carnival! It was a bright, clean, happy, little oasis of color in the darkness of the spring night.

I learned that this is a traveling carnival owned by a family out of Cincinnati, the Greins, and that they travel throughout Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky 6 months out of the year.

http://www.funtimecarnival.com/about.htm

There was a "hiring" sign in the window of the funnel cake shop and it said, "Must be 18 to travel".

Where do I sign up? Must be an interesting life being on the road with a carnival!

The food menu was pretty complete with carnival fare of corn dogs, polish sausage, elephant ears, funnel cakes, snow cones, hot pretzels, you name it!

There were kiddie rides like the twirling bears...

The dancing alligators...

There were games too! Pop the balloon, go fish, horse racing, and ball toss...

I won a prize by popping two small balloons: Meet "Banana Mon"!

This ride was called the "Cyclone"...

Here's a rockin' good time...

A little Ferris wheel...

A pretty little carousel. The operator told me that this carousel was from 1929 and the horses were each hand-painted in 1959. He has been with the family carnival for several years and loves it!

I parked under this spinning wheel of neon...

Behind me was the slippy slide...

Just a heck of a fun time on a warm spring night! I went twice. Once with my partner to stalk out funnel cakes and then on the scoot to take some night photos.

I guess there is a reason the C3 is called a "Giggle" in Europe!

It sure brings a smile to my face every time I ride it! :=)

I spent 3 days over Memorial Day weekend just tooting around on the C3, doing spontaneous rides morning, noon, and night.

I had a blast and have re-discovered "scooter love" because of this little Hoot of a scooter!

Salute

I am a veteran of the United States Navy. I don't talk about it, announce it, tell it around. But earning a commission as an officer in the service was one of my proudest life accomplishments. I am proud to have served my country in this way and to be among those who earned the right to wear the blue and gold.

To those who serve, to those who served, and to those who lost their lives in service, and gave the ultimate sacrifice, I salute you.

For this Memorial Day I am reviving one of my favorite posts from a few years back, recalling the poem, "In Flanders Fields".

May this holiday weekend be filled with fun and relaxation, as well as time to reflect on those who have gone on before us while protecting our way of life.

You may have seen them out in front of a storefront or on a street corner: veterans selling little red paper poppy flowers.

They are asking for a donation to veteran's organizations and in exchange, you receive this little red poppy in remembrance of the veterans who gave their lives for their country.

But many people do not realize the significance of the little red poppy flower and why it is tied into Memorial Day.

It comes from this poem, "In Flanders Fields", by Lt. Colonel John McCrae, MD, (1872-1918) serving in the Canadian Army.

He was serving as an Army field doctor during World War I and was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of a friend and fellow soldier, Alexis Helmer.

Hastily scribbled on a scrap of paper, it was thrown away by him and later retrieved by another soldier, who eventually promoted it's publication in the London newspapers of the day:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Quiet Sunday Ride

And a nice day for a little ride out into the county.

Though it was a bit chilly, I wandered the back roads with no particular notion of where I was going to end up.

Just riding on a quiet Sunday afternoon.

Stopping by a lakeside for a much needed lemonade break.

A leafy green lane with a bubbling creek alongside.

I've been trying to photograph these two for awhile.

A wind machine stood alone in this field near some solar panels.

This swan never moved the whole time I was there. I think it was a decoy.

Thirty miles later I arrived back home, chilled to the bone, but having enjoyed a simple scooter ride.

Happy Mother's Day!

We set out on a 4 day marathon of flower delivery for Mother's Day!

Eighty flower deliveries in 72 hours! Boy are we pooped!

But we had a great time and we hope you had a Happy Mother's Day!

Blog Challenge: Take a Slow Ride

And that is why I ride.

It is why I started riding in 2007 and it is what will keep me riding until I can ride no more.

A slower pace of life. The life I found living out in the country for 7 years. The joys of riding that I experienced riding my first Ruckus.

The little things.

Seeing a family of racoons watching me from a tree on the side of the road.

Watching a flock of bluebirds rise up from a bush along the lane.

Greeting cows who gaze at me and my scooter as we pass by their pasture.

Tracking a flock of geese as they glide overhead.

Parking on a bridge and listening to the bubbling sound made by the water rushing below.

Smelling honeysuckle vines, woodsmoke, and outdoor grills wafting on the summer breeze.

On my Ruckus I visited the organic farm and picked tomatoes, hauling home bags of them in the basket.

I shopped the Amish market and lugged home bags of dog food and bird seed on the floorboard.

I visited neighbors on my narrow ridge road and sat out on their porches and drank coffee and talked about nothing in particular.

I cruised the moonlit path to my neighbor's house and fed and let her dogs out while she was on vacation.

I even herded Holstein cows that had gotten out of their pasture and helped round them to the barn!

During all of these experiences I was not going over 43 mph.

Not once!

During all of these experiences I found a oneness with my surroundings, a deep sense of belonging, a quiet peace, a profound joy.

THAT stuff is what got me hooked on riding a scooter!

Finding that slower pace of life that had become lost in a cage which was always in a hurry.

I knew even when I named my blog "49cc scooter life" that in some intuitive way there was something very special to this slower pace of life experienced on a scooter.

But then I got side-tracked by the notion that somehow I'd be better off going faster and going further than I had been on a scooter up to that point.

I should have remembered what I'd learned living among the Amish for 7 years-that staying close to home and going slowly and mindfully was a richer experience than going faster and becoming distant and losing perspective.

Blog challenge: try a really slow ride on your scooter or motorcycle or bicycle and notice the little things, the little joys around you that you might miss if you were zooming by in a hurry.

THEN, share a photo and tell us about your experience of slow riding and the little sights and experiences you enjoyed at a slow, leisurely pace.

Scooter Quiz #5

See if you know the answer to the quiz question and post your response. I will post the answer in a few days.

"This was a tiny folding scooter sold by Honda 1981-1983.

It was introduced as a "Trunk Bike" to fit inside subcompact cars like the Honda Today and the then new Honda City. The City's baggage compartment was actually developed around this scooter.

The handlebars, seat, and foot-pegs folded into the scooter's rectangular plastic body to present a clean, box-shaped package of 1185 mm L × 240 mm W x 540 mm H.

Honda's initial monthly sales projection for the domestic market was 8,000 City cars and 10,000 of these scooters. The City surpassed its targets, but in all only 53,369 scooters were sold by the end of production in 1983 (no more than 3,000 per month).

This scooter was marketed in conjunction with the City in television ads featuring British ska/2-tone band Madness." (liberally edited from Wikepedia)

Can you identify this scooter?

ANSWER: The Honda Motocompo!