Living without a car

At left, Steph ready for a scooter ride in the rain by Abbysmal from Photobucket.

One broken wheel and a busy week later and I'm wondering if my past desire to only drive a scooter is a realistic one.

I had taken my Mini Cooper to a local tire dealer who at first ordered the wrong tires, then somehow broke my wheel. Yes, broke my wheel.

They had to special order the wheel, and when it finally came in three days later, it was the wrong wheel. This left me more than a week without a car as my poor Mini languished in a strip mall parking lot. (I won't get into my freak-out when a hail storm hit the area and I thought they'd left my baby outside.)

I learned that if I really want a scooter to travel around on a regular basis, I'm probably better off with a 150cc powered one or higher. I love my 125 Vino, but I couldn't go home to visit friends and family over Memorial Day weekend because it just wasn't safe to travel Route 422 on it. I would've been moving much too slow for the traffic and likely would've gotten blown off an overpass by a semi.

The scooter even proved itself a little impractical for running errands around town. I couldn't fit a full load of groceries in the storage compartment, and I don't have the proper ties or cargo holder to carry stuff on the cargo bar. Of course if I did, it probaby wouldn't have been so bad.

Then there is the matter of rain. It turned out to be a pretty wet week, which kept me inside when I wanted to travel to do something. I have a rain suit for hiking, which would have worked fine for the scooter. It's bright yellow and made by Columbia Sportswear.

I don't have a windscreen, which means even with a full-face helmet, I can find myself riding in the rain and feeling like someone is shooting bullets at me. And forget about going out with the half-face and getting stuck in a storm. Miserable experience. Happened twice.

So is it practical to only have a scooter for a vehicle? Well, if you don't have to travel on major highways to get anywhere, have the right equipment, and don't mind driving in the rain, I guess so, but it wouldn't be easy. I guess that's why most populations that use mostly scooters live in warm, tropical places or major cities. You don't have to travel far when you carry something and home is not too far away when it rains. If it rains.

My fear of hitting living things

It's a beautiful day. You are riding down a shade-dappled road with the windows open and the music on.

It's the perfect temperature. Things are going well at work and at home. Life is great.

Then some poor woodland creature ventures out onto the pavement in front of you and bam, you see the critter too late and hit it. Horrible.

Bird photo by Amyjane10/Photobucket

It's a scenario I've tried avoiding. To my passengers' dismay I'd rather slam on my brakes or swerve than barrel through any living thing, even butterflies. (Especially butterflies. So few species of them have a fighting chance anymore.)
Thankfully I've only hit one creature in my lifetime and it was a rabbit that ran under my wheels.

But I've noticed that driving on the country roads that I prefer puts me in more danger of a collision with animals than I'd like.

Of particular concern to me are birds who tend to dart out in front of me as I drive by, likely because they are suddenly scared by my quiet engine. I'm worried about what happens if I hit one of them.

It's not going to collide with my hood or windshield. I don't have a windshield. What's going to hit that poor bird is me: my helmet or my body.

A windscreen is already on my list of must-haves for the scooter, but I don't know if that will make it any better. I'm that much closer to the poor dying creature and trying not to flip over my bike.

My boyfriend says birds have "bounced" off him before. I don't know if that means they were OK afterwards but I wouldn't be. I think I'd have to pull over because I'd be bawling.

Luckily swerving is easier on a scooter, but hitting something could cause me to have a serious accident.

I just hope the deer stay out of my way.