Modern Vespa

It was a soggy scooting adventure but we made it!

You are welcome my friend. It was good to see you again.

Always happy to help when I can.

For future reservations just pm me.

There will be a big thank you thread arriving soon.

Bill xxx

Well, Binh had a good night's sleep here in Pensacola. Our group "Scoot Pensacola" has a planned ride over to Daphne, on Mobile Bay this a.m. so Binh is headed that way and he's gonna ride with us through "LA"... Aka, lower Alabama.

Binh is planning on heading up through Mobile via. US Hwy. 98, then he's going to Jackson, MS to catch I-20 and head west.

I am sure he would appreciate a place to stay along the way if anyone has room. PM me and I'll give you his contact info.

We have started a new project for the 2016 Cannonball. It's the Scooterpartsco REM, or Rocket Eating Moped. It's going to be fast, very fast.

Rocket accepts the challenge. It should be fun.

Woo! I'm getting closer to finally going home.
We made it to CA today. Gotta take care of some family business tomorrow then it's off to Vancouver so the scoot can be put to sleep for a little while. Thinking about riding up the PCH, not as quick, but definitely not as depressing as going up the I-5 and seeing all the farms that are currently just dust since there is no water.
I don't think I'm going to make my "home by the end of the month" deadline. I grossly underestimated how long it would take to get back... but at least I got to visit the Very Large Array!

Wait, you're in CA? SF Bay perhaps?

Santa Clarita right now.

Ah, nm. Woulda said hi otherwise

That's one heck of a lot of riding. You can take the 101 North, it's not as pretty as the PCH, but not as ugly as the 5.

I enjoyed my ride up PCH a few years ago and would do it again in a hearbeat.

FWIW, I've got the first few days of the cannonball up on my blog now http://cheryldwise.com still working on the rest but at least its a start.

Isn't that an amazing stretch of road? 20+ miles without a turn.

Sort of like Kansas!

Grrr. Kansas. Grrr.

Sorry MAX6200 but here goes.I took a trip (in my car) cross country to AZ a while back when i was living on the mainland. Went I-70. So i'm in Kansas and there's nothing but flat land and all of a sudden there's a toll booth. I pull up and ask the lady (kid) what''s up with the toll road and she gives me a snarky answer (could it be she saw my NY plates ) and i'm like "you should pay me to drive thru Kansas". She wasn't amused but really,a toll road in the middle of nowhere?

Sorta like the Pontchartrain Causeway....from Abita Brew Pub to NOLA. If there was a turn on that 24 mile stretch, I didn't see it. Although we did have a couple of cool inclines and downhills to break up the methodical rhythmic thump of the concrete roadway. I still hear that thump, thump, thump in my head.

I could find negative things to say about everyone of the places you folks live too.
ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK

I'm sure every one of us can give a list of negative things about where we live. Western Kansas is much like West Texas except that there are more farms in Kansas. Neither is a place I'd care to live with a tendency to winds, feed lots (seem to be more in Kansas than Texas), various types of farms. In both cases much different from the eastern section of the state. Personally I dislike crossing any of the plains areas and I think Kansas is the worst primarily because of the number of feedlots though Iowa had a nasty chemical fertilizer smell the one time I crossed it. Nebraska smelled the best. All have a tendency to winds, yuck on two wheels.

5 as CD said we can certainly all make fun and not like things where we live. We live where we do because we like it. It was just weird that there was a toll road in the middle of nowhere and it wasn't a long one. You should have NY plates on your car and be from NY,down south. Their still fighting the war. Got used to the word Yankee (wasn't used in a nice way either). Here in Hawaii my home away from home i hate traffic. I'd be on another island if i didn't have to have good health care (everybody comes here from the outer islands for specialized treatment). Practically everything in NY is a toll road so that's a norm but a stretch of maybe 7+ miles just didn't seem normal. Used to toll roads.

and this is why living in the USA is so awesome as there are so many different places to live to suit an individuals taste. While one place might not be for you it is for someone else. Hell even I make fun of living in Tn and I live here and love it here.

Riding across Kansas for me was boring as I like more mountains and trees. Same with Ok, alot of Tx, Ne and parts of SD, Az, and NM. Even parts of Co and Ut and Nv are not the best for me. I also don't like city riding while others do.

Well I live in Florida and there is nothing that can be said negative about this great state. Right?




I'll get my coat now.

Hmm - we had a thread recently about what your state was known for - mostly positive things. Maybe we need one for the negative things.

Though, I don't know what the h OAD could be critical of in TN...

Snort

wanna trade your FL for my CA?

hell, I'm still wondering why HI has INTERSTATE HIGHWAYS (H1,H2,H3)...unless there's a bridge to connect to the lower 48 I'm not aware of.

Actually I would. Love California.

not to mention hot, humid and prone to those twisty winding things....oh, yea tornadoes!

you DO KNOW how bad our three ring circus of a government IS don't you? they're raising gas taxes for a "high speed train" no one will ride from madera to bakersfeild (trust me, there is nothing out there) AND rebuilt the bay bridge with shoddy materials and standards and instead of calliing the builder on it...THEY CHANGED THE STANDARDS

Yeah but the weather is great most of the state I have seen is really beautiful. Plus my son lives in LA.

Did somebody say Rail? Hawaii's Stonehenge. People here love their cars so it's not going to do what they think it will.

Riding through KS sucks. But there are twisties if you know where you are going. The toll booths are mostly automated nowadays. So Judy you were lucky you got a real person, albeit a clueless one. Kansans go out of their way to avoid the tollways so I know how you feel Judy. On the bright side though, because they are so deserted riding them WOT during sunset with the dusty haze rising from the ground is absolutely etherial. The lack of traffic makes you think like you own the road: All by yourself without any distractions but the scenery. Amazing! Now back to the CB as per MVBot any attempts to hijack this thread will be met with the utmost punishment. ***bites nails***

Well Houston sometimes gets nasty twisty winding things but we call them hurricanes.

Yes. I was hoping now that most everyone was home, we'd start seeing more pics/vids posted here but I wonder if maybe people's non-MV side-blogs have been utilized instead? I think I read some stuff from CDWise, Feb 31st, etc.

Without starting a new thread, it would be nice to have all the resources listed in one spot. If I had the time, I'd go back through this entire thread & post all the links to the CBer's off-site blogs...but hopefully someone beats me to it.

Speaking of 'most everyone'...has anyone seen or heard from Yano? Last I knew she was headed through Northern Crapifornia...I mean California...towards Vancouver, Washington if my terrible memory serves me correctly.

Yano was last heard from on Sunday heading north in California.

My blog is at http://cheryldwise.com
Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7kg1C9912L-_Ozw7ObC6SQ

Frank Tabor's cannonball videos http://s431.photobucket.com/user/klrbandit/library/Cannonball%20Run%202014?sort=3&page=1

Other Rider's blogs:

MrMoi2000 - http://www.bodgespotting.com/2014SCBR/
Ericalm - http://www.scooterfile.com/category/scooter-adventures/scooter-cannonball/
Wleuthold - http://billleuthold.blogspot.com/
Feb31st - http://cbr2014.tumblr.com/
ChucklesTX - http://htowncannonballer.blogspot.com/
Lostboater - http://scootercannonball2014.blogspot.com/

There maybe others but these are the only ones I know about right now.

You are certainly on top of things today Miss CDW! Thank you! I don't think a genie could have granted a wish faster than that.

Anyone else knowing of any links to add, please feel free. I'm using the links to help get a few friends interested in the wonderful world of Vespa. I'll have to downplay the whole 'packs of wild bears' part though.

I'm updating various things today and have some short bits of time to fill in plus I'll be putting those in my blog's wrap up post so needed to put them together anyway.

As for the packs of wild bears, don't take wrong turns on dirt roads in rural and/or mountain areas and they won't be an issue.

I am alive.
We left socal on monday I think. Yeah, Monday.
Short trip up I-5 then cut over to Napa, couldn't find Picit's, slept in Santa Rosa. Rode up the 101 through the redwoods, beautiful day and great scenery. Stopped in Eureka. Got first Hawaiian food in over a month at a place called the Banana Hut. FINALLY! Sticky white rice! Mac salad! Found a cool moto cafe, there were closed for the day. Left Eureka, stopped at Cafe for AM coffee (nice latte, tasty baked oatmeal), rained all day, got to Coos Bay cold and wet, showered, had excellent pad thai, now back at the room drinking the Mexican coke I bought in Houston and never had a chance to drink.
*phew*
I should be in Vancouver tomorrow. Will make some space in my Aunt's garage and prep Ol' Whitey for his nap. (Btw, any advice on that?)
THEN! I get to go home... finally. Maybe I should start looking for a ticket while I still have some money.
I will probably put up pictures on my blog when I get home. I did not come prepared to edit photos on the road, especially after having to buy a new laptop. I have a bunch of random footage, but I don't know how to edit videos so those may never be seen by anyone.
Still have to get my CB post mortem post sorted. That may have to happen when I get home as well.
I miss hanging out with everyone. Miss watching people wrenching every night. I'm just so happy and lucky to have been able to do this. I don't know if I'll ever be able to do it again, but I sure hope I can.

Oh, the bears!

I'm not sure Cannonball is the best way to introduce friends to the wonderful world of Vespa. For one thing, the Vespas all needed a lot of maintenance and work. And I know many happy Vespa owners and riders who wouldn't consider CBR "fun."

But if some of these pics don't make people want to get out and ride, I don't know what will:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/82788703@N00/sets/72157644878147037/

Fantastic photos!

There are many threads on it, this one looks decent, VESPA PREP for WINTER