Modern Vespa

Amirillo Texas… feeling lazy but enthusiastic… it's gonna be a Waffle House late morning start.The goal is Oklahoma City the backroads way..

Lets see some pics from the road trip .. stay safe mate.

Only one pic today… I had to stop a little short of my goal. The wind beat the hell outta me and was dangerously blowing me everywhere

After getting a hotel I took a ride into this little town called Sayre…. It's very disheartening to see the decline of small town america

Yeah. I love seeing small towns on my backroads rides, but increasingly they have an undercurrent of sadness.

Too bad about the wind...but no use wearing yourself out fighting it if you don't have to.

the emptiness is kind of beautiful in an eerie way. good stop for shade in that last pic

Nice of you to share some pics. From a sense of culture, the small towns in almost most states in the U.S. are getting to be the way you are seeing them. Sadly many of them can't survive as their purpose has declined, unlike Europe a lot of small towns in the U.S. got created for economic reasons and as the economy shifts they fade away.

Day 8. I decided to take the day off and explore..,if you look very closely at the hardware sign you can see the word " undertaker The building was originally a funeral home.. it's a thrift store now

Hullum Hardware & Undertakers: Perveyors of fine tools and coffins for all since 1901.

This trip is amazingly fun

Usually when a cop takes my picture I'm in a lot of trouble… Today was a switch

Day 9 …172 miles beat to a pulp and burnt to a crisp…dinner and sleep..

I always get bummed when I go to Scranton PA. My daughter went to college there. Once there was tremendous prosperity from the anthracite business. The architecture is amazing. It is such a struggling city now. The downtown mall is full of empty stores and has a "flea market" type setup upstairs to take up space. One anchor store went out ago and was replaced with a college of some sort. The aquarium is cool but I don't know how it can last. I try to support our local businesses best I can.

Thanks for sharing your excellent adventure!

Tomorrow I want to head out early… I lost Rt66 somewhere because a lot of it is non existent.. but thanks to some nice locals the told me how to get back on it and it goes at least 100 miles of small towns..
The highway is no fun… you can ride it from coast to coast and not see a damn thing.. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.. scooter is running great but needs a bath…

I'm loving this journey. Booch is a bad ass!

I'm loving it too. Thanks

Thank You BOOCH for allowing us to share in your journey! You have inspired my wife and I to do a similar ride some day on our Vespas. Thank you for taking the time and effort to take pictures and post your experiences. We are watching with enthusiasm...

I highly recommend it

It's a great day

You're still in Oklahoma?

207 miles today very nice ride

I'm in Cherokee… I'm not sure if that's Kansas or Oklahoma… I had to stop… it's too hot

Good idea! Heat and bikes don't mix well.

If you're close to Missouri, that would be Cherokee, Kansas. Cherokee, Oklahoma is about 230 miles west.

I'm gonna relax a bit and a local mom and pop food place… the motel I got is 50s era americana
Smells old but it was only 45 bucks…

Speaking from experience after putting myself in harm's way with heat exhaustion riding a scooter in Florida this time of year i was lucky to over it another rider came to my rescue recovered my scooter i got a motel and an ice bath it was one of my dumbest moves i find that now I am more subject to over heating i am only 76 and still a long distance rider but I try to use better common sense. I probably need adult supervision. Please be cautious as overheating comes on fast. Capt.Gary

I'm learning as I go.

I want that bus!!!

Look
The thing is like new… the guy did a really good job on it …1956 GMC… I want it too!!! I'm such a tourist… lol

Along with heat itself is staying well-hydrated. The problem with older folk (that *might* mean you, Gary ), is your awareness of thirst is dulled so you don't even know you're rolling to a crisis.

Problem with riding is is often inconvenient to replenish-even if all you have to do is stop and get your bottle out its too easy to keep going.

I think it's day 10.. I don't no how the cannonballers do it.
I'm beat up and scootarded but headed to Kansas City… I'm still having a great time

Doesn't that take you off the Route 66 corridor? I thought it headed East through Joplin and Springfield toward St. Louis?

Those are pretty cool! I am quoting from memory but remember reading about a guy whose family ran a bus service and is a devoted old bus fan. The old two stroke diesels with manual transmissions were considered the sports cars of busses by drivers back in the day...all aluminum they don't make them like that anymore.

A quick internet search for the link, from what I remember the 4104's were the ones referred to as the sportscars of busses.

https://www.curbsideclassic.com/bus-stop-classic/bus-stop-classics-gm-pd-4104-the-best-bus-ever-built/

With a built twin turbo'ed 12 valve cummins engine with appropriate built automatic trans swapped in a real moist maker hotrod bus!

Yeah I don't know why I did that… after I got through Joplin I headed north

Now a want a bus

I had the same thought after reading up on them. Make great motorhomes! Much better than the bodies of most modern motorhomes and some of the early ones super cool looking I think!

Thanks for the vicarious vacation Booch!

That was a good read. Thanks for posting!

Might have been me, Skids. I grew up in a bus garage. First pic is My Dad (in the middle) taking delivery of a brand new 4104. Second pic is of our fleet in 1953.

Sayre looks like a perfect location for some sort of zombie apocalypse film.