Sunday, April 6, 2008

Anyone can get in on this fun!


I was hoping to influence people to get out there and ride, even if they never had before. I had no idea that my own wife would get the hankering though. Was it the fun she saw me having? Was it the promise of 80 miles to the gallon (at $3.25 per gallon) or was it that she just thought that scooters were cute? I'm not sure, but she bit the bullet and is fast becoming a rider!

We were sitting down the other night discussing life and out of the blue she said, "I want a vespa". Impressed with her taste in scooters but not impressed with their prices, I, with mixed emotions, let out a rather loud, "really?" I was excited at the prospect of adding another pony to the stable, but I knew how much Vespa's cost. Mixed emotions...wouldn't that be like seeing your daughter's teenage boyfriend going over a cliff in your brand new car? I'm speaking hypothetically of course...I mean she doesn't even have a (current) boyfriend...I'm just saying. I would never find joy in that...really...well...nevermind.

So I told her how much these little buggers cost and then suggested that maybe I could check on EBay. Wait, is this a moment or what? "Honey I want you to go to Ebay right now and buy a motorcycle"...a wife telling her husband to buy a motocycle...now that's the stuff dreams are made of!

Have you seen the offerings of restored vespas on Ebay? At any given time there are several really nicely restored classic vespas at real fair prices. But the newer ones have a "twist-n-go" automatic transmission and I thought it would be worth the extra thousand or so dollars for my wife to start with that. Then she asked if I had checked Craig's List. Nope, hadn't thought of it.

I asked her what color she would want and she said "tangerine, but since you'll probably ride it and that would be a little fruity for you, I'd like red". I appreciate a wife who is sensitive to my need to protect my machismo...course tangerine with little flowers on it might be nice...wait, I mean red, yeah, red that would be good.

So I open up Craig's list and lo and behold thar she blows! A red 150 cc vespa with a trunk and a windshield, with just 800 miles at three quarter the price of new! I called on it and the lady gave me the directions to her house...it was the street right below us...I could have thrown a rock and hit her barn...of course if I had she wouldn't have sold me her vespa.

We went over, looked at amazing little machine, I rode it around the block, offered her $250 less, she countered back at $200 less than asking price and I said "SOLD!" Then I rode it home because my wife had never ridden before.

Since then, we ran out and bought her a "cute" helmet and started running the little thing up and down the street. Yesterday I followed her in my sidecar and we took a little 2 mile country road tour and I must say that I'm quite proud of her. There you go...anyone can get the urge to get out there and get bugs in their teeth or dust in their mascara, whatever the case may be. Happy trails sweety!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is Sparky back again. If you keep up with these most memorable "muzzings", you're liable to either break up some 'happy homes' from sheer desire of the unusual, or else give a whole new meaning to togetherness!
Congrats, little "wife-ie" on your new toy and happy wanderings. Keep that man of yours entertaining us.

Sparky