Friday Fresh Perspective - The Open Road From "Behind the Scooter"

Meryl Carver is a public defender living in Kansas, a gardener, and a dog lover who shares her life with Moe, Porterhouse, and her Sweet Husband (that last one is a man, not a dog.)

Last year her husband did something that mine did too. They each got a scooter.

As Meryl points out, it saves a lot on gas money and is very enviro-friendly. But like Meryl and her husband, the 'we' decision that I made with mine in purchasing the scooter has resulted in a ride that's primarily 'his.' It's not my ride yet because it requires a motorcycle license, and I'm working on that. But it sounds like Meryl has hers, because when her Sweet Husband took their only car out of town, the scooter became her primary means of transportation. And here's her story - "Behind the Scooter" - sharing the joys and the pitfalls (or potholes, as it were) of two-wheelin'. First, the joys:

In the afternoons when I'm zooming home from work--speeding down a hill, zig-zagging a little just for grins, the wind in my face, my hair blowing back–-it's a nice little ten minute wind-down from my straight-laced desk job. And when I pull up somewhere-–even in my college town where scooters are fairly common–-I'm generally greeted with smiles and friendly curiosity. After all, I'm a scooter chick, one of the cool kids, "yeah baby" and all of that....

That reaction from observers is typical, and not at all gender-exclusive. Scooters have gone from 'cute idea, but not for me' to 'wow, what a sweet ride' in both women's and men's minds. Less common in the suburbs, you see a lot of them in urban areas. There's a certain something about their compactness, their profile (much less intimidating for a newbie two-wheel driver than a motorcycle), and the European feel that some makes and models possess. (My husband points to the cover of The Who's album Quadrophenia and claims Pete Townshend was riding a Vespa.)

Ah, but I'm getting lost in the romance of a scooter. As Meryl's post reminded me, it gives you an intimacy with your daily route that's sometimes good, sometimes bad:

I know where every pot hole is between home and work, I know every bad bump, and yesterday I discovered some new funky ridges in the road to avoid as well. If you want to know the condition of your city's roads, ride them on a scooter.