Episode 20 - Amerivespa 2007

SHOWNOTES: Sorry to have missed putting out a show last week. I usually have everything ready to go by Sunday evening, but last week I was still in Seattle. As I sat in the airport, I couldn't help but think about the day, which included a rally ride from downtown Seattle to Vashon Island, a beautiful ferry ride and an outdoor barbeque. Look for picture galleries of Amerivespa events as posted on 2strokebuzz. You may remember that my trip to the west coast was planned around taking care of my mother, while my sister was out of the country. Unfortunately, shortly after my sister left, my mother became ill and was in the hospital for over a week. I wasn't even sure that I would be able to get over to Amerivespa. She did recover and while I was in Port Angeles, continued to improve. So I left Saturday morning, headed for Big PeopleScooters to pickup a Vespa and rode to the south Lake Union site with great excitement. Once there, I realize that I had missed two great days of activities and drama, although there was more of the drama to come. Becky McCabe greeted me at the registration table. The gymkhana showed just how skilled a rider some were or how many times you could try to avoid making a fool of yourself. The evening banquet started with a fashion show, interesting and fun with some hooting and hollering. At the banquet that evening, Ben from Honky Tonk Dragon introduced himself and we snapped a picture with Orin of Scootin old Skool. Take a look at it on the website. The awards were dominated by the large Canadian contingent and apparently provided the gun powder for some kind of controversy later in the evening. You can see more of the details over at the Scooter Scoop as reported by Lawrence Hsu. Then Sunday morning, a clear blue sky, downtown Seattle, no traffic, and parking lot full of vintage and new Vespas, Lambrettas, Buddies, Kymcos and many other scooters. This was the beginning of the Vashon Island ride, starting with the smell of 2 stroke smoke, the exciting sound of 300+ scooters blasting off for a ride out around Alki Beach, over through West Seattle, down to the ferry dock. For anyone trying to understand why the people of Seattle put up with ten straight months of drizzle and rain, just one sunny day on Vashon Island or the San Juan Islands will convince you that everyone else in the world would give their right arm to live here and having grown up here I would say that at that moment, you would be right. Not really knowing anyone at the barbeque and being disabled by shyness meant that I spent most of my time taking pictures, watching an unending string of interested people and occasionally squeaking out a hello. In the middle of all this two young women sat down with me in the shade and struck-up a conversation. I want to thank Mary and Amy for letting me record their comments about being scooter newbie. They remind me of the excitement of a first scooter, of a first rally, of many other first scooting experiences that make this a vibrant community. Amerivespa has remaindered me that scooting at its best is inclusive, invites everyone to participate and celebrates our shared love of the culture, freedom and riding.