I finally made it to Bobo's house late Tuesday afternoon, and yes bailing wire was involved. After a shower and a long nap, I can say I'm glad this particular odyssey has come to a close. I'm leaving the scooter here, taking the train home Saturday, and will come back in my truck to get it next month. Bobo took me out to a great dinner, thank you so much, you are a sweetheart. And I am so relieved to spend a few days here relaxing, probably the same time it would take me to drive this wounded steed home.

I'm so very appreciative of the well wishes and support. Not sure I would do this again, being the only old scoot made me pretty much the outsider. On that replacement stock 150 top end with grossly mismatched ports, my scooter was one slow dog. Anyone on a stock P could have come in way ahead of me any day. The whole points thing is really deceiving when you are in a class by yourself. I only won my class in a forfeit, sort of a hollow victory, but a win nonetheless.

Here's a slide show of all the pics I took with my digital camera. I finally got my act together several days in to take pix with my camera phone as well, that's how I've been posting here mostly. The majority are checkpoints, but there are some nice photos in there too. I didn't spend a lot of time editing out the "bad" ones... Hopefully enjoy:

Scooter Cannonball day 12

The start of if anyting can go wrong it will kind of day. My shifter was very sloppy like 20 deg of slop. Got up early to adjust the cables. When I went to loosen the lock nut on the adjuster, the cable block broke at the rear cable. Click on the pic above for a larger view. This was the first of several piano wire fixes today. Frazzeled gear cable, replaced that. Cracked cooling shroud, screws gone, 14mm screw wallowed out, piano wired it to the muffler. Cooling shroud flopping around disintegrated spark plug cap after breakfast, flooded carb. Yellow plastic filler tube from jerry can broke off in the fuel tank at my third fuel stop, it's floating around the inside now. Piano wire sheared off fan shroud, ground wire in head set came loose, no lights after dark...

Nice dinner however at Bagel's Mom's house, Thank you so much Virginia and Gene.

Day 11

Bagel and I got a late start leaving the hotel in Portland. We stopped for a few scenic spots on the Maine shore, but soon realized the few wrong turns we had made heading to his brother's house would get us near Pittsfield MA way after dark. His father was there too and we enjoyed a great meal. One of the few real meals I have eaten.

Dipping my toe in the Atlantic.

Yay! It's over..Ow I still have to drive home.

Made it to the final checkpoint. The boat ramp at Fort Allen Park. Got lost a few times in town, but took it easy rather than blow up in the last 2 miles.

Odd ball yard art

Got separated from Karen at the last checkpoint. Stopped here for a few.

Maine, almost there

Live free, or die.

The following sign in NH was a sign about mandatory seat belt requirements. "Its a law we can live with" Hmmm, seems like a cop out to me.

No bigger main jet? No problem

I was concerned about getting too hot as I got closer to sea level. I have seized this top end three times on this trip and was gun shy. I had nothing between the 105 I was running and the way spluttery 108. I decided to wrap a shop rag around the intake. Worked well,  Lowered my EGT about 50 deg, and my CHT 25 deg. 

Welcome to Vermont.

The Ferry ride from NY into Vermont.

Southern shore of Lake Superior.

South Shore of Lake Superior in Hiawatha National Park.

Photo from a few days ago. Not sure how many ago. Made it through Canada and back through Ontario. Glad to be out of Canada. Not good for me.

Lake Placid, NY

The first real meal since Vancouver. Calamari and an Ubu Ale at Stephanos Italian grill next to the Maple Leaf Motel.  11 hour days mean lots of petrol station food and Subways: all four food groups in one meal.

Not too sure I like Canada: seized head, stolen tools, and yesterday, +8 hours driving on a light steady cold rain.

Got to North Bay, ON just before dark last night. At least there were no bugs to clean off my faceshield.

Goodbye Wisconsin, hello Michigan.

Following few photos out of sequence. Data has been sparse for my cell phone. That's how I've been posting here. Pictures will be sparse for the next two days while in Ontario. Rain is supposed to catch up with is today. Ugggh, that has always been a problem foe me with this scooter. More later.

Ortonville, MN

Made it in just before dark. Not early enough to see the big ruts on the gravel road. Dumped the scooter in the right side. No damage.

Minnesota, finally

Check point where the road turns to dirt.

Needless to say, I turned around and backtracked on the route.

Testicle Festival

Not exactly sure what happens at the Testicle Festival.  Not sure I really want to know. Somewhere in Montana, in a small town. A photo op not to miss.

Somewhere in the Dakotas?

Somewhere in Montana

Brainerd, MN

All I can think of is Marge saying "So, that'd be your partner in the chipper-shredder then?

All my crap hanging off the scooter.

Freerange cattle all over the roads

There are three juvenile cows hiding there. Cows all over the road today on Hwy 89.

Early morning near Logan's Pass. Day 3

Got an early start today. Im bound and determined Oz, and Aaron (the two nutbuckets riding the 50cc scooters will not beat me to the hotel tonight.

No internet or cell service yesterday.

Finally made it to the Glacier Resort. About an hour or so after dark. Late start due to late night and stolen truck jazz. Had trouble starting, and had to stop four times before we made it out of Grand Forks. Just sucks for Bill and his truck. I'm working out some other support arrangements. Although anything outside of cables, CDI, VR, headlamp, and such, I outta luck, to get back on tba road.

Thanks Sean for riding out of town with us. Trying to re-jet on the fly is not the best way to go. I soft seized again, coming down the first huge pass. I figure I'm running out of chances here.

I thought I had a bad day yesterday.

The guy I "contracted" with for support, had his F-350 stolen from the hotel parking lot last night. It had all my shop tools ( pullers, holders, etc) spare engine parts ( gear box, sprockets, chain, etc) and my oil. It had all his tools, and his son's personal belongings (who was driving the truck.

I was out there at 2am last night getting a liter of oil. I think the only things I might miss will be the spare tire, and the tubes. I'll give someone here a shout if I need something sent.

I hope all the epic shit is over....

Midnight Garage in Rm 108

First of all I have to thank Bagel for swapping his ground level room with Karen S and me. By the time we got to the hotel after 11pm, allthe ground level rooms were gone. Five hours working in a gravel pull off, replacing my top end sort of put the damper on the thought of working in the parking lot.

Not five minutes down the road, it sputtered and backfired. The plug cap and wire had given up the ghost. It's now resting peacefully in a ditch on the outskirts of Hope. The next leg I was way too rich to pull up hills. Downjetted and raised the needle one clip, at the next fuel stop. I might have soft seized when I went on reserve the next time. I'll never know, cause I have no intention of pulling this top end off again. It has a respectable 115 psi cold. Not as good as the 140 I had on the 175.

Finally got to the hotel, thanks to Karen S staying just behind me on her GTS. I could not see much with my headlights, there are no reflective bits on these roads. Sean, a swell local scooterist, and a Lambretta guy to boot was waiting for me. The bushings on my my dampeners slipped right out because the washer was too small. Sean helped me with that as well as replacing several other bits that have gone missing. Thank you so much.

Tomorrow has to be better. Karen S stayed with me all day today, and I'm sure she got some hilarious pics of me standing on my head. Check out her blog (link on right).

Goodnight.

New top end, albeit a 150 I already put on about 600 miles last spring. Next time I think I'll try and stop an a paved section of road. The gravel sucks to work

in....

Bad news already :( already seized on the side of the road in Hope, BC. Got the top end off. Rings and piston have become one. Waiting for support truck. I've g

ot a spare 150 top end on the truck.

Cannonball Send-off

Local Vancouver scooter crew invited us to a swell place called Zawa. Another Lammy was there for the send-off. Nice place, reasonable prices. Not too sure they were expecting the large crowd. There's about 40 of us including scooters and support team drivers, plus the Vancouver scooter bunch.

Karen likes his corn.

Chilliwack Corn

So Karen S, my roomie and walked to the drug store. We found a guy selling what was described as the sweetest corn in the world. The Chillawack underground springs keep this local corn sweet and tender. He shucked us a sample and it was like eating a juicy piece of fruit.

Vancouver, BC

I guess our motel used to on the far edge of town. Now it's been swallowed up by the town. Rider meeting at 4pm. Start tomorrow morning. Sadly I'm the only scooter in the manual class. So I won. Yay! I guess I just could drive home from here...

Flight at O'dark-thirty to Cannonball, yay!

Off to Seattle, via Detroit. Meet up with my scooter, on to Vancouver. I don't think I've forgotten much. A few planning details to work out.

Thanks for the ride LaRhe so early.

Heading over to the Bull City Rumble, like I need a hole in my head. Just testing this mobile text blogging thingy.

Scooter Cannonball 2010

I figure posting to a vespa blog about a cross country adventure while riding a vintage 1966 Lambretta would be like spitting into the wind, or blaspheme, or um... pick your metaphor. And I can't help but thinking of this less as an adventure, more like the odyssey it's doomed to be, since I'm driving an antique, rather than a newer reliable ride.

With that in mind, I added this second blog to my repertoire. It has a small widget to track my progress via google latitude. My phone GPS will report my location.

Please don't expect any more than some photos with a few comments. Writing a coherent blog/journal is difficult for me and takes more time than I expect I'll have.  Also don't expect a lot while I'm in Canada. Phone data charges are ridiculous, however I can send and receive texts to my hearts content with a very reasonable cost factor. I'll try and catch up with the photos once I get back in this country.

Here's a link to our route:  Clicky here

I wasn't smart enough to take any photos of my scooter loaded up for the Cannonball. Last weekend I spent a lot of time, packing spare parts, tools, rain gear, extra gloves, first aid kit, etc., that I would carry with me. I got a roll chart to write my route on adding machine tape. I think trying to copy/paste/print/tape together directions from google maps will be a chore. I've got a sharpie, and my handwriting still works. With two extra jerry cans of fuel, and a roll bag on the rear rack, I am the Beverly Hillbillies on two ten inch tires.

Here's a photo of my scooter similarly loaded up for CORSA:IFP  close enough...

Wish me luck. Ciao.

Starr