Modern Vespa

Weekend pics.


Cheddar Gorge by huskyteer, on Flickr


Adventure awaits by huskyteer, on Flickr

I flew in to New Orleans last night on a flight containing 3 Bishops. I kid you not.
After we got on the ground my Bishop said " I really enjoyed our conversation".
Well, that's a first.
It seems that there are 300 of them in town over the next few days.
What do you think of Mods v Vicars ?
There was a spectacular lightening storm going on as we landed but I resisted the temptation to say something obvious about travelling with God.
I'm going to spend the day looking at history and art....... n shit.

Birreh !

I don't believe you will find such entertainment.....it is after all America

Hey.. We have plenty "n shit" here.

i see from the Hotel Modern's website that their rooms feature 'hand selected books'. as opposed to what? is there another way of selecting books that I don't know about? do hotels usually buy them by the palletload from vendors of lightly used casual reading material?

Could use a paw ?

Breakfast !

Birreh !

I recently stayed in an um-memorable hotel whose in-room information booklet shamelessly mentioned that 'artisanal chocolates' and 'hand-selected fruits' were placed in the room as part of the evening 'turn down' service.

The chocolates were the standard offering of an internationally known cut-rate confection conglomerate, and the fruit bowl was stocked with unripe mangoes, over-ripe grapes, and bananas that were so far gone that they would have been perfect for mashing into bread or muffins.

I think many hotels find it is easier (and cheaper) to fabricate a false sense of individual attention than to actually be attentive to guest's unique needs and preferences.

I'd rather they hold the pretentious chocolates and fruit, and simply remember details such as:

my requirement of a non-smoking room
my need of an in-room fridge
my favorite cocktail
my preferred newspaper
how I like my morning coffee

The few hotels which retain most/all of these get my repeat business.

I'll be in NOLA tomorrow. Leaving at noon and going to try for Pensacola (375 miles) tonight leaving me an easy 200 tomorrow. Will be chauffeuring Birreh over to the cannonball meet and greet at Transportation Revolution on Julia St if I get in by noon. The only snag could be the numerous thunderstorms predicted tonight on my route. Should be ok once I get west of the line.

amazingly, one of the nicest hotel stays i've had recently was a premier inn in huddersfield. it was a large, bright room in a converted stable building, right next to a canal. the room had two huge floor to ceiling windows and a giant, very comfy bed. it was unpretentious and quiet and the hotel staff were lovely.

I'd love to see Bill riding cupcake with you. Do get photos.

With the kilt might be a bit awkward.

I've just bought this year's MV Secret Santa present...

There will be no pillion kilt action happening. I do have standards you know.

Will try to get a picture though.

Not a big deal.

I had no problem riding in a kilt until I ran over it with my back tire.

Me, Stan and Graham arrived in Mantova at 5pm today (Weds) for Vespa World Days. New pics in the report Vespa World Day 2014 - Our very own Italian Job

Instant flashing.

Look, I did it for the money OK ?

Actually I did do it for the money. Oh, and Trepps to blame.

Bill x

I wasn't referring to the kilt...

We'd all have a price.

Neither was I. Oh wait.. Wut?

I can't tell you how much the amount was but getting roasted by the sun in Texas by 103 degrees was worth it.

There's some footage of it on You tube somewhere.

Can anyone remember who sent me the Rollergirl knee pads ?

Bill xxx

The Mocker if I'm not mistaken.

Well done Rick.

If I had a memory I'd be lethal.

pm for you.

Bill x

Just west of Tallahassee. 200 down. 175 to go!

Stan tells me that one of our photos riding up the grand st bernard pass yesterday has been reposted to the official vespa instagram site and has clocked 473 likes. Wow, social media huh?!

Good luck to all the cannon ballers! We think we've covered about 1050 miles since home, with a 9am to 9pm days ride yesterday. Most of todays riding in 38 degrees.

C'mon Sticky, you can do it.

That's not even half an Ironbutt.

I've checked out the Hilton and it's huge !!!

See you mid morning tomorrow.

Bill xxx

I've just proved a GTS front shock will fit on an LX. K's LX front shock absorber had suddenly lost all its oil, so the rebound CLUNK was hard and loud. As I'm flying to the UK tomorrow for six weeks this had to be sorted soonest...

Luckily Rockridge had a 'previously loved' front shock on the 'dusty shelf' - which they thought came from an S 150 - so would be good for the LX.

Get the old one off and... the 'new' one was about 3cm longer, identical to our GTS ones. No time to get any other replacement, so on it went anyway. I was expecting all sorts of horrors with hoses getting stretched and tight rake angles, but it slotted together. No spare room or slack though!

Haven't test-ridden it yet (that's another story about a Grip-Lock'd rear brake and a lunch-time swap of bikes...) but a static 'jumpy up and down' test seemed very promising.

Then changed K's GTS rear brake pads (again!!!) and bottled the last batch of beer.

Time for tea...

nice relaxing morning then jim?

... Not quite. K test rode the LX - all fine and dandy, but noticed all the running lights were out.

Turns out all the lamps were blown.

"When did you last see them working?" I ask.

"No idea..."

So they've probably been blown for ages. All a bit of a phaff, with glovebox off etc.

Found my passport though, and just about to check-in on line. I've a VIP lounge card to use (if necessary) - I may reserve that for another trip.

Ooo this beer is goooood!

Quite chuffed with myself for my progress today. Did I use that correctly? Will be in NOLA early I think.

Chuffed is good.

Bill x

Nice!! Have a lovely trip - looks like the weather is with you.

I think as we're into summer n shades the photo of our vespas in the snow line has got noticed. 1700 likes now. The Vespa Official instagram site has 40000 members. Still hot hot hot here, even by local standards. Our b&b owners apologised for it!

Apologising for the weather, are they British?

Saw your photo on Instagram (very good), pity your White Flash isn't on there Paul

80 degrees on NOLA right now, oh and 3 hours sleep.

Bollocks.

Bill x

Two good pictures Alice - they seem to have been overlooked.

3 hours sleep? Were you watching Jerry Springer episodes?

Swear to god, every night on Cannonball I would wake up to hear Fox News on the television. It was his default station.

Fox News???? Uh oh ...