Ten Years Scootin'

10 Years Scootin’

In the spring of 2007 I lived way out in the country in a little house on a ridge.

Everyone, including my 78 year old neighbor lady, rode ATVs up and down the gravel road.

She would come up the road to our house and sit with me out on the porch in the evenings and we would drink coffee and talk about planting gardens and watch the birds at the feeder and sometimes see the stars come out at night.

One evening I asked her how she came to ride an ATV around the ridge. Her reply began a new direction in my life,

“I ride to get out and see things I normally wouldn’t see. It is how I clear the cobwebs out of my head! There’s nothing like it!”

I knew right then and there that I wanted that experience too. It was why I used to ride my bicycle in the city, why I walked in the woods, why I took long drives along the river.

During this time I was working a temporary job at a town an hour away. On the way to that town was a very small “mom and pop” Honda power sports dealer in a little, itty, bitty village that was more a strip in the road than anything else. I’d pass through the area on the way to and from work and there were motorcycles and ATVs in the front window.

One day I stopped to look at the ATVs. This was 2007, a time when Honda was phasing out their then broader scooter line. I looked at the ATVs, but was drawn over to the scooters. At this point in time I was totally ignorant, so had a lot of questions.

I won’t bore you with them here, but suffice it to say I got right down to this: on an ATV I could ride up and down my rural road and in the woods, but on a scooter I could ride OFF that road and into town and beyond.

I wanted to ride on the trails and dirt roads with my neighbor. I did not want a big machine that took up a lot of room and was hard for me to handle.

At that time on the dealership floor in 2007 there was a Big Ruckus, a Helix, a Metropolitan, an Elite 80, and a little Ruckus. A little Camo Ruckus with a gunmetal gray frame and big ol’ fat tires.

That was it-that was the one that got it all started.

From there I’ve owned a Honda Elite 80, Honda Elite 110, Honda Metropolitan, Yamaha C3, Genuine Buddy Psycho. 2 Rucki, 2 Mets, 2 Elite 110s.

If I could I would own one of each again and then add some more to the collection.

Ten years later I still ride to get out in nature, to slow down and relax, and to explore my surroundings in a way that only a biker knows.

I still love scooters, and the little ones are the most dear to my heart.

10 years! Who would have thought? Here's hoping for another 10…