Modern Vespa

**UPDATED September 1, 2009 - I consolidated all my daily feeds into a blog. More pictures will be added in the near future and some closing thoughts on the trip. Please find it here:

http://vespacrosscountry.blogspot.com

Day 1 - Vermont to New York State

So July 1 marked the first day of my tour accross the country. After finalizing equipment, and packing/repacking (about 10 times), and doing final checks on the PX and GTS, left Vermont on a chilly, rainy day and headed west over the Green Mountains toward Rutland. Weather was pretty horrible - for those of you who don't follow the weather in New England, the past couple weeks have been incredibly wet. I wasn't able to pickup rain gear before leaving, so Day 1 was wet! Overall, PX and GTS ran great. Newly installed windshields were key, and kept alot of the rain off of us. One negative - the S83 tires for the PX suck in wet weather. There were two times when my tire actually lost some traction while braking (and not braking hard). I thought I'd be fine with the S83s, but I'm opting to switch them out to Zippys as soon as possible.

Anyways, ended day 1 in a downpour in the Cooperstown, NY area. Tried drying my stuff overnight in the hotel - jacket and pants did fine, but shoes and gloves were still damp on takeoff the next morning. Oh well - just part of the "joy" of riding in New England.

Launch pictures to come shortly.

Total miles - Day 1 (Rain and more rain): 180 miles

Final checks for PX and adding 12v power adapter


PX with new paint job ready to Rock (minus topcase)


Tall Windshield Installed

Cool, keep the pic's coming. Looks like you are having a load of fun, get some wet weather gear when you can.

Day 2 - Palatine Bridge, NY to Buffalo, NY

Was pretty miserable. Rained practically the entire ride, and at times, torrential downpour. Had to turn around a couple times because of flooding - one town had over a foot of water in the main road! And yes, I still didn't have rain gear! Decided I needed to get some ASAP, so found nearest dealer for Frogg Toggs on the way - Bass Fishing in Auburn, and decided to make a pit stop. Left with a bizarre blueish/purple Frogg Togg suit which kept me "dry" the rest of the trip (though my suit was already wet!).

Took a couple back roads that were spectacular, even with the inclement weather. Farm after farm, after open field, etc. I can't imagine how pretty this area must be when the weather is better. One negative - dogs. These back country roads have dogs that run after cars (and motorcycles/scooters). Had to turn on the afterburners a couple times.

PX ran great, but tires still suck. Can't wait to get these things off.

Total miles - Day 2 (RAIN): 250 miles

Near Auburn, NY




Coffee Break to Stay Warm!


Frogg Togg suit. Feel like cross between a marshmallow man and blue man group - but it worked great!

Day 3 - Buffalo, NY to Cleveland, OH

Started day 3 with a stop at Tim Horton's - never been to one of these (nor heard of one). I guess they are quite popular amongst Canadians. I would liken it to mix between Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds. Pretty good - but what fast food isn't?

Was glad to wake up and see dry pavement. It didn't rain much - couple short light showers, but nothing like day 1 or 2. I called the guys at Pride of Cleveland Scooters the day before to see if they could squeeze me in for a tire change and new speedo cable (died near Buffalo). Original [img]appointment was 1 PM, but a late start and some scenic detours helped me arrive at POC's doors at near 6 PM! Was worried they would be closed, but Phil was more than gracious and got the scooter into the shop immediately and started work on it. An hour or so later, scooter emerged with brand new Zippy 1s. Heard great things about the Zippy tires, so I'm much relieved and looking forward to burning the road ahead. However, POC didn't have a PX cable so I'm still without a speedo. I guess GPS will have to do for now. Big thanks to Phil and crew for staying late and helping us out.

Was lucky enough to enjoy a gorgeous evening in Cleveland. Went down to Lake Erie and watched the sun set. I've never seen any of the great lakes so I was pretty impressed. Lake? More like an ocean!

Total miles - Day 3: 200 miles

Ohio/Penn State Line


PX Post Tire Change (Zippy 1s)







POC Scooters














Lake Erie

this is absolute a great thread! Please keep the daily reports coming and especially 'em pics

Nice start Wangta! You've made some great progress already, shouldn't take you too too long. Keep the updates rolling!

Outstanding! I am thoroughly enjoying the daily reports. Gets my vote for the best new mini series.

Ride safe.

If you are going through Indianapolis, let me know if you want a place to stay.

I am so glad to see more Vespa-goers reporting on long trips! I love this! I hope you are enjoying everything! Can't wait to read the next post. Ride safe.

Looks like a great trip so far. Who's riding the second scooter?

A&A

This sounds like a great trip. I'm bookmarking this thread.

I was planning a trip from Pittsburgh to Lake Erie and then onwards to New England this summer. Alas, my leg operation has put all that on hold for now, but keep posting those maps! You're helping me with routing ideas! 8)

While I'm off the scoot I'm getting my scooter touring fixes by following the reports of my fellow travelers. Keep 'em coming.

You are my hero. These are my favorite threads. It makes me wish I was out there riding with you guys. Who is the other rider and are they on MV?

Wangta ... loving the daily posts of your trip! You're doing what many of us dream of doing. Looks like a blast! Can't wait to see more.

His lady is, I believe.

P.S. - Wangta, try to keep track of the gas mileage you are getting on both scoots, might be cool to see how prolonged at-speed riding works out for both models!

awesome thread!

looks beautiful and like a grand adventure. i'm jealous!

What a great adventure! Enjoy your trip to the fullest and keep the fantastic pictures coming. Art

Great thread!

This is an awesome trip report! Thanks for your postings. You are sure travelling light! What is in your top case? Just a change of clothes and toothbrush?

Very interesting. Can't wait to read more!

Laura

please keep the tread going! or at very least start a blogger.com post for your travels!

this is insane!!!!

but amazing.....i love it!

Nice job my brotha. Hopefully when you hit Los Angeles you will come straight to one of our shops. We will have a little welcome wagon if you give me a heads up.

Best,
David

How do you like the Zippy's?

Day 4 - Cleveland, OH - Lansing, IL

Woke up to a nice sunny morning, which was a nice surprise. Given the past couple days of rain and overcast skies, I figured more of the same. Got off to an early start and headed out of the Cleveland area around 8:30 AM. I really enjoyed seeing/visiting Cleveland. It is a very clean city (I used to live in NYC!), and the people there are quite friendly. Houses and buildings are very pretty and well put together - overall, I was very impressed. I am not that familiar with Cleveland - is it a relatively "rich" city?

Anyways, spent most of the day riding along route 6 and 20. Two observations. First, the land here is pretty darn flat. No more mountains, and the roads are very flat and very straight. Nice because you don't have to very speed (yes, you can zip right along) that much to maneuver curves, but can be a bit tiring. Second, the towns are far apart! This differs drastically from the east coast/new england area, where towns are relatively close together and frequent. And not every "town" has a gas station - almost had to use the reserve gas canisters on two occasions! Lesson here - fill up when you have less than a quarter tank left.

Much of Ohio and Indiana consisted of corn and wheat fields. I've never seen such huge crop fields before - some of them went on farther than the eye could see. Imagine 2 mile long fields of corn (in every direction). Crazy. It was pretty spectacular and I really enjoyed the ride.

I really cranked on the PX today and held her steady at 55-60 MPH (GPS verified), which means that I was pretty much at full blast all day. PX ran without issues, with the exception of a slight shifting cable adjustment mid-day (I love the fourth hand tool - made it quite easy). 60 MPH is pretty much the top speed I can get out of her on flat terrain, downhill with a tailwind, maybe faster? I was pretty pleased with her performance and the new tires feel great.

In terms of gas mileage, the PX is averaging a consistent 45-50 miles/gallon and the GTS is getting 75-80 miles/gallon. Not too shabby. I'm amazed at the GTS - 80 miles/gallon, and all that power! What was I thinking driving the "slower" scoot

Toward the end of the day, we encountered - yes, you guessed it, RAIN. You can't outrun it! Last two hours were spent in Frogg Toggs riding through mist, sprinkles and occasional downpours. Thank god for Frogg Toggs.

Was going to end the day in Chicago, but decided to stay in the suburb area and explore the city tomorrow morning before heading off toward South Dakota and the badlands. Anyone have any suggestions on places to see/things to do in Chicago? And if anyone is around, would love to meet up for a quick bite or drink, etc.

Total miles - Day 4: 330 Miles!!!

Open roads


Brunch at Gary's Diner in Clyde, OH (Delicious and inexpensive!)




Farmland in Ohio








Wind turbines near Bowling Green, OH




Indiana/Ohio State Line


On-the-Fly Gearbox Cable Adjustment




Indiana/Illinois State line

more corn straight ahead mate and a lot more windturbines too. enjoy.

Love the thread, commentary & photos. Safe travels!

You are giving me inspiration for what to do on my next vacation!!!

So your day 4 was Saturday,correct? If so,didn't you see any parades or fireworks? Just curious as you didn't say anything about it.

I wish I had known you were coming thru Indiana yesterday as you were just about 30 minutes away from me.I would have met you 2 and given you some road goodies.Darn it.

+1

If you plan a ride back and might be coming through Springfield Illinois let me know.

Way cool. I'm so jealous!!! Thanks for sharing this with us.

Nice posts. It looks like a great ride, and you are documenting it very well. I'm originally from Vermont myself, so its nice to see that there are at least a few scooter riders there. All of my friends who rode had Harleys.

When you get to Chicago are you going to ride any of the old Route 66? Any other famous/special route planned?

For those of you dealing with wet gloves and boots. Each night when you stop buy yourself a few newspapers or get them from your hotel and stuff your gloves and boots while you shower/eat/relax and then before you go to bed re-stuff them with fresh newspaper. Your boots and gloves will be dryer in the morning then you could have ever imagined because the dryness of the newspaper will attract and pull the water out of the leather/canvas of your wet articles.

Very cool trip! Post a note if you're coming through San Francisco -- I'll definitely buy you a beer!

Awesome! great thread, great pics. I don't think my backside could do a trip that long but its looks sooooooo FUN

very inspiring!

if you need anything when you reach LA hit me up. more than happy to lend a hand with the vintage and modern.

best,
-greasy

Indeed, very inspiring.

Of note...Greasy's "the man"...you're in good hands if you need any repair work.

Save travels....

This is a great thread. I just took a 2000 mile trip in 4 days It was great. Be safe,and Good luck!!

sounds like great trip, could you tell your readers what this costing you [please]

Wonderful Thread! This is the best! Good luck!

Safe Ride!

Gianni

Thanks for the support guys. Writing to you guys from a Dairy Queen between Cedar Rapids and Sioux City, Iowa. Planning to stay overnight in Sioux City and head toward the South Dakota badlands area tomorrow. Pics forthcoming!

PS. Some IDIOT broke his hand held camera while trying to get it out of the glove compartment while going 60 mph on the highway. Camera vs. pavement @ 60 mph is a sad sight...thankfully, we have a bazooka-style Nikon camera as well. Ug, still feel stupid though.

michaelsvespa - regarding expense, I'm getting about 90-100 miles per fillup (2 gallons), and gas costs about $2.85/gallon on avg (we're getting the higher octane stuff). We fill up both scooters at every gasup, so the GTS only refills 1 gallon everytime. So every fillup is around $8.

Hotels have been tricky. We've been using priceline to basically buy hotel rooms when we're about 25 miles away from our destination (we have a Verizon MiFi broadband card). Hotels have cost about $40 a night, with taxes about $50. If anybody have any suggestions on how to get cheaper housing, please let me know!

Camera vs. Pavement...

Hey Wang!

If you want to add another 150 miles on today swing up north to Mason City and see me.