Modern Vespa

A little while ago, I got the bright idea that I was going to take road trip on my LX150...that little road trip idea has turned into a 2-3 month trip.

Thats right, I am leaving my house in Cleveland, OH and will be riding around the country for almost 3 months just on my Vespa! I will be leaving on September 3rd.

One of my favorite things to do whenever I travel is to stop at cool roadside attractions, so I thought why not make a trip just doing that.

My general route is going through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisania, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kuntucky, Ohio.

Going to be camping where I can most nights and trying to minimize hotels stays.

I have just started gathering my gear for the trip. Rear case, saddle bags, camping supplies, etc.... and installing items on my scooter like waterproof speakers, gps, windscreen, luggage rack and more.

Will be stopping at weird roadside attractions like "the worlds largest ball of stamps" and many other unusual things that are out there.

I have started a blog to update while I am on the trip:
http://coryharpell.blogspot.com/
I will try to update it everyday on the trip.

If anyone has any comments, suggestions, tips, hints or anything else they want to share about long trips on a scooter please post away on here!

Here is my route for the first 24 days, I will get the rest updated as I get it planned out. Trying to average 100-150 miles a day as I am in no rush.


3159 W 11th St. Cleveland, OH 44109 A Christmas Story House
422 W. Sandusky St., Findlay, OH 45840 The Hancock Historical Museum
11506 Township Road 101 Findlay, Ohio 45840 Campground to Sleep
Route 224 Gilboa, OH (Side of road) Giant Bull sculpture
Parnell Ave, Fort Wayne IN 46805 Johnny Appleseed Grave
2585 North 950 East Churubusco, In Campground to Sleep
E Main St, Mentone, Kosciusko, Indiana 46539 Worlds Largest Egg
3449 East State Rd 10, Lake Village, IN 46372 Giant Lady's Leg Sundial
1273 E 900 N Lake Village, In 46349 Campground to Sleep
Commerce Dr, Bourbonnais, Kankakee, Illinois 60914 Abe Lincoln Statue
South Main St, Bourbonnais, IL Childrens Memorial to Amtrak Crash
Wall St., Kankakee, IL 60901 First Dairy Queen
Historic Highway 66 Odell, IL 60460 Historic Gas Station
951 W Reynolds St Pontiac, IL 61764-2343 Fiesta Motel
318 N. Center St., Gridley, IL Telephone Museum
2113 Crazy Horse Rd, Ashland, IL 62612 Campground to Sleep
1020 S. 5th St., Quincy, IL Jesus Tree in Cemetery
1275 W. Forevergreen Rd. North Liberty, Iowa 52317 Campground to Sleep
216 S. 2nd St., Winterset, IA Birthplace of John Wayne
323 East 4th. Street, Villisca, IA Villisca Ax Murder House
Grand Avenue, Stanton, IA Water Tower Coffee Pot and Cup
Stanton, IA Find place to sleep for night
Flanagan Blvd, Boys Town, NE Largest ball of stamps
54876 852 Rd Pierce, NE 68767 Willow Creek Recreation Area
414 E. Clark St., Vermillion, SD National Music Museum
2 miles north of Luverne, MN on US Hwy 75 The Blue Mound Wayside Chapel
Luverne, MN Blue Mound state park - Sleep
Hwy 23, 1 mile north of town Antique Windmills of Earth
400 N. Hiawatha Ave., Pipestone, MN Peace Pipe
Center Street, New Ulm, MN Hermann the German
Intersection of 4th St. North and Minnesota St Glockenspiel Clock Tower
1300 Summit Ave New Ulm, MN 56073 Campground to Sleep
Hwy 169, Mankato, MN Giant Chef Statue
1101 N. Main St., Austin, MN Spam Museum
Frontage Rd. Owatonna, MN Flying Jets Statue
3900 Cabela Dr Owatonna, MN Cabela's: Dead Animals in Big Store
2554 SW 28th Street Owatonna, MN 55060 Campground to Sleep
217 Mill Street, Faribault, MN Tin Man Family
408 Division St. S., Northfield, MN Last Bank Jesse James Tried to Rob
22500 Hampton Blvd, Hampton, MN Viking Statue
31591 64th Ave Cannon Falls, MN 55009 Best Western Saratoga Inn
904 19th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55404 Scooterville - For Service
County Line Road Delano, MN A big fiberglass chicken
3804 Brickton Road, Princeton, MN A-Z Happy Chef
Princeton, MN Find place to sleep for night
21927 U.S. Hwy 169, Aitkin, MN 56431 Robin Hood Statue
21927 U.S. Hwy 169, Aitkin, MN 56431 Sherwood Forest RV Resort
Route 10, Frazee, MN World's Largest Turkey
34890 County Highway 4 Frazee, MN 56544 Rose Shores Campground
474 45th Street South, Fargo, ND World's Longest Piece of Seamless Steel Siding
15514 37th St Se, Casselton, ND Largest Stack of Empty Oil Cans
Main St., Ayr, ND Town Stuck in Time
Ayr, ND Find place to sleep for night
Hwy 281 Aberdeen, SD Wylie Park - Storybook land
Hwy 281 Aberdeen, SD Wylie Park - Camp grounds
26314 Tatanka Rd, Fort Pierre, SD Dances with wolves movie set
20439 Marna Loop, Fort Pierre, SD Campground to Sleep
Main St, Murdo, SD 57559 1880s town
6321 Highway 20, Chadron, NE Museum of the Fur Trade
15951 Highway 385 Chadron, NE 69337 Chadron State Park
NE-87, Alliance, Box Butte, Nebraska 69301 Carhenge
W 26th Ave, Torrington, Goshen, Wyoming Faded Santa In Plywood
Torrington, WY Find place to sleep for night
Pine Bluffs, WY Big Statue of the Virgin Mary
808 Elm St., Sterling, CO Spacey Bronze Creature
22018 US Highway 6, Sterling, CO 80751 Buffalo Hill Campground
30121 Frontage Rd, Genoa, CO Wonder Tower
2506 Spruce St. Boulder, CO 80301 Boulder Vespa Dealer for Sevice

This sounds like a great trip. Wish I could spend that much time riding.

If you'd like an easy way to update this thread with pictures from the road, send me a PM and I'll get you set up with a still-in-beta feature of the forum. It will let you simply email photos to a special address and the pictures will automatically be resized and posted along with any text in your email. It was specifically rides like you're about to do that inspired this particular feature, as we'd all really like to follow along.

Best wishes and have a great ride!

Most of my photos will be uploaded to my blog, but I will definitely keep this thread updated with progress and photos as well, so yes, if there is an easy way to do it, then sign up me up!

PM sent.

I can't wait to read all about this. A cross-country trip on my LX sounds like a dream. Looking forward to it very much!

Excellent. Looking forward to the adventures. I am very interested to see how the LX150 holds up. I would like to take some longer trips, a week at max, on my ET.

Good luck.

Shane

Good on you mate, Like jess I wish I'd got 3 months spare so I could do something similar!!!!
Mind you in 3 months I could ride round the UK several times

Anyone is more then welcome to come for any or all of the trip

Im slowly getting the rest of the route together. Its really hard to map one of these out, I do have 2 places that I have to be at on certain dates, so that makes it harder to try and plan.

Im trying to keep some of the days short so if any issues come up, im not too far behind schedule and can catch up.

Do you have plans for tire changes along the way? Your rear wheel, in particular, is going to need replacing, and probably sooner than you expect.

Would be good to have a dealer here and there lined up and ready to go with a tire on hand.

Or better yet...Carry a spare wheel with a Spare tire already mounted.

Awesome! I love your plan. The one thing my husband and I regretted most on our recent week-long tour, was that we didn't plan enough time to stop and smell the roses. Your itinerary sounds really lovely.

How far down into Tennessee do you plan to get? We'd love to ride with you if you get anywhere near Chattanooga.

+1 on making advance arrangements for tire changes. 2500 - 3000 miles seems to be the average rear-tire life expectancy on the LX.

as far as tires changes go. I will have a new ones installed before I leave. First stop for check/service is about 1600 miles in, 2nd stop is another 1000 miles after that. I don't have the rest of the trip planned yet, but should be done in the next few days and will keep adding in dealer stops every 1000-1500 miles. I figure its better to be safe then sorry.

I dont have the return home planned yet, so I can make it go through any part of Tennessee still. I will see what I can do, I would love to meet up with some people, that's half the fun!

One word of caution - don't expect dealers to automatically have a tire in stock - especially the smaller shops. I usually have to ask my dealer to order a tire before I can schedule the change.

Out of curiosity, what is the longest trip you've taken up to now?

Im going to have a spare here at home, will call a day or so before I get to the dealer if I need a replacement, if they have one in stock, great, if not then I will have it sent overnight from home to the whatever shop im going to.

Longest trip, LOL, less then 100 miles...but I did drive my Lotus Exige almost 5,000 on a road trip one time...that is the most uncomfortable ride ever. Im sure I can handle this trip on the Vespa.

Just updated my list above for the first 24 day of my trip, taking me into Boulder Colorado. I am planning on spending 4-5 days there before heading to northern California.

If anyone is in the Boulder/Denver area and wants to meet up of if the local groups have anything going on from the Sept 27th to October 1-2ish please let me know!!

Sound like a lot of fun. I will follow your trip as soon as you start.

Chad

Sounds like fun!

I have several ride reports on another site and the one thing that stuck out in my mind was "Bring a Chair!" many times you end up in a camp with no place to sit comfortably. You cannot always depend on a site's table being close enough to the fire ring or able to moved closer.

What a great trip! We're in southern California (San Bernardino Mts. off the 15 freeway) and would love to put you up if you need a place. Please keep an eye on the weather, as this time of year it'll get chilly really fast.

Enjoy and ride safely!

Thanks teach, Im sure I will take you up on your offer.

17 Days until I leave. UPS is telling me that I my order from scooter west is going to be here tomorrow with my saddle bags, rear seat case and rear rack case. I have been stalling on getting too many supplies until I know how much storage space I have. I did already get some camping supplies as I know that most of my nights will be spend camping out. (pics of everything I got is on my blog).

Still need to get a full face helmet (using 3/4 now), some sort of comfortable waterproof shoe/boot. Those are the big things, but im sure ill come up with tons more that I need.

Just uploaded a map of the first "leg of the trip" to my blog, wont upload here at a reasonalbe size to actually see..

Check it out

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_e4qB1wMIZd8/SojVhTfpMpI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/Ox8cEh-OZJc/s1600-h/Leg_1_Trip.jpg

or

www.coryharpell.blogspot.com and click on thumbnail of it if the link above doesn't work.

Just got everything in from scooterwest.com

Here is a quick shot, more can be seen at my blog.

Looks great, good luck!

Looks good!

A bit of advice on your helmet shopping -
Once you've found the what seems to be the "perfect" helmet for you, take it home and wear it inside the house for at least 2-3 hours. That gives you a much better chance of finding any pressure points while you can still return it and swap for a different size or model.

Sometimes those pressure points don't make themselves known until after a few hours and you don't want to be a half day into your journey only to discover that what works great for a 20-minute jaunt to work or the store, becomes a torture machine on a road trip.

Sadly, I learned this too late when I bought my Shoei RF1000. It's great for commuting, but kills my ears on long trips.

Your blog disappeared! You still active?

Still here...but I think im going to have to delay the start of the trip. My house is up for sale here in Ohio and with the government "fist time stimulus" money ending on Nov. 1st, my agent thought it would be better for me to hang around town because she thinks the house will sell before then. Im not happy, but shes right. So im going to play it by ear, I hope that I can leave before it starts getting to cold here, but if not, then Im going to wait to spring to leave.