Unique scooter paint job

Was looking through old photos of my Key West trip when I came across this awesome shot of a custom painted scooter.

A town in need of a scooter shop

I had the luck to take a spur of the moment trip to the town of Lake Placid in the Adirondacks, N.Y.
It's a former frontier town with its past displayed in its architecture: the Olympic stadium where the 1980 games were held, old german churches with unique square shaped steeples that look like hats, and Queen Anne style buildings that now house a vibrant downtown business district.
It reminded me of Key West, but surrounded by mountains and pine forests. There were outdoor restaurants everywhere and all the hotels had balcony rooms so you could take in the gorgeous view of the mountains surrounding the lake, much like in Key West, though there the view is the aquamarine ocean. But both have towns full of people in love of flowers. Almost every house had windowboxes dripping with them and even the empty storefronts were well-kept and had flowers blossoming all around.
Lush is the perfect word for it.
And the rains can be just as fickle.

As we drove down the main street through Lake Placid, I noticed they had electric cars. Little four seaters with no doors and open roofs, just like in Key West. And while there were many people on their own scooters and motorcycles, I didn't see any scooter rentals.
The towns are close together because you can only build in certain areas since the towns are surrounded by parkland. And there is very little street parking, making it the perfect place for scooters. I was very surprised, therefore, when my boyfriend, who goes up many weekends for work (which was one of these), told me they don't have any scooter rental places in any of the Adirondack towns!
I was very surprised.
With all the empty storefronts and the perfect driving conditions for scooters, Lake Placid is certainly in need of a good scooter rental shop.
There is one setback — the winter. I'm sure there'd be no business in the snow; but why not have a scooter rental place in the summer and a ski rental place in the winter? As it stood, I saw many of the empty storefronts were still decorated with advertisements for skates, skis and other winter sport offerings. I'm guessing they didn't figure out a way to keep the cash flowing. It's plenty touristy in the summer, too. So why not take advantage of the lack of scooters?
After some discussion, my boyfriend and I agreed. If we had the money, we'd certainly relocate and take advantage of the market.
We'd always discussed taking off and living in Key West with a scooter rental store supporting us. But there are so many of them in Key West already.

What have I got myself into

  This is not what girls my age do. 

   It all started with a simple statement from my boyfriend after he moved in.

  "We should go get my cousin's scooter for you."

  One of those statements I disregard because it came out of the blue. It was a whim, surely. Wasn't it. 

  He asked a couple of more times, obviously intent on getting it fo

r me whether I responded or not. 

  I was very hesitant to want it. First, where were we going to put it?

  We live in a tiny apartment over a garage, and while I'm allowed half of it, my mini cooper and his sport bike just about fit — along with all his junk from his old apartment. 

  Second, the only time I've ever ridden a scooter, I

 almost s

mashed head-on into an SUV as I attempted to turn a corner in Key West. 

  Nightmare.

 

  Let's face it, 

motorized versions of the bicy

cle aren't good for everyone. Most people can't figure out how to handle a clutch in a car. (I have and I like it.)

  But most scooters don't have clutches, so I can't let it out too fast and crash, right?

  But I still wasn't sure.

  I didn't want to get hit by an SUV and die just tooling down the street. But I guess that could also happen while I'm walking ...

  Then one weekend my boyfriend announces that he's borrowing his coworker's truck and running down to get it.

  I'd already had plans and this was out of the blue, and when I came home that night, it was in the garage, in pieces. 

  I still have no visual concept of what this Geely will look like once he gets the pieces together, but the body has been sanded and sent out to be painted. And my boyfriend has dedicated a lot of time to fixing it mechanically, so I can't really say no at this point. 

  But what there is of it here looks so small. Almost like it belongs to a child. Which makes me a little nervous. 

  Check back. Hopefully I'll have  a video of my successful ride down the back alley.