It’s time for another edition of Scooter Sunday, back in Salt Lake this weekend, celebrating Labor Day [a national holiday here in the states]. Have I really done 20 of these so far?

Riding Days

I’m doing all I can to ride my scooter as much as I can before Utah’s weather turns too cold to ride. If past years have shown any sort of pattern, there will be various good weather days until the first week of November that will be considered scooter friendly.

Park The Car

It will be one week tomorrow (Monday) that I have not driven my car. The car has sat in the driveway for seven days [I did have to go start it today so I don't go out to a drained battery the next time I need it]. I kind of miss driving it, mostly for the Sirius radio I have installed, so I can listen to the commercial-free music channels and Howard Stern. But I have all winter to listen. For now, it’s scooter time.

“Don’t forget, I can hold more than one passenger”
 
 
Scooter Storage

As some of my Twitter posts have mentioned, I use my scooter for small trips to the store and other errands, as long as I keep my list to items that can fit under the seat.

Ready for the goods

As you can see, there’s some decent room in there.

I wear my helmet almost every time I ride. For short rides to go get air in my tires or to run over to my step daughter’s house, I sometimes leave the helmet off, but that is rare.

Got to have the helmet. Don’t want to be an “organ donor”
 
 
Food Run

As for my errands, once the helmet is on my head, it leaves a decent amount of room for various grocery items. As you can tell, I can fit more than just one bottle of Vitamin Water in the seat. In fact, I’ve had as many as 4 bottles, plus a few smaller grocery items like yogurt and fruit. I try not to pack too much in there, but I fit what I can. What doesn’t fit, gets put in a plastic bag and fits between my feet on the floor board.

Vitamin Water for the day, Club Soda and Tonic for drinks at night

Even last minute requests from my wife’s five year old granddaughter fit just fine.

I bought them for my wife’s granddaughter… really, I did

Smaller fruits like bananas and strawberries have room, but I had a request from my wife to get a watermelon on my way home from work. She thought I had my car. But it was really no trouble. Just had to find one that was the right fit.

Yep.. that’s a watermelon

And a great fit. Amazing, huh?

 
Feline Goodness

Even the cat wanted to get in on the game. I seriously doubt she wanted a ride since she never leaves the yard.

WARNING: Do not store internally
 
 
Useful, and Kick Ass Mileage, too

Not just fun to ride, but practical for those short trips to the store for a few items. And with another 106 mpg from my last tank, it really is cheap to run an errand or two.

Getting to this quite late, but it’s been a full day.

Another short ride today, but it was still fun. Rode it to check the air in my tires at the local Sinclair gas station down the road. As you can see from the photo, I ride with a helmet, even though Utah law does not require a helmet for any two-wheeled vehicle. I prefer not to be an “organ donor”, as my friend that rides motorcycles prefers to call people that ride without one. I understand there are times when it may hinder a ride, but with the ratio of cars, trucks, diesels and SUVs much higher than scooters and motorcycles, it’s a safety issue. At least that’s how I see it.

Golf

For the last 12 years, I’ve taken up golf as my sport of choice. And even after that long, I’m still not all that good. But I enjoy it. It’s a challenge to me and one that I really like. Yes, I swear when my ball goes in the water or when I have way too many triple bogeys in a 9-hole game. But that’s all part of the challenge, or so many golfers have told me.

Today was my first game of the season. Last year at this time, I had already played five rounds of 9-holes. But this year, as you’ve seen in some of my posts, the weather has been extra shitty cold and not very golfer-friendly. Today was no wind, high 60′s – low 70′s and just a great day. And I wasn’t about to piss it away by not getting out the clubs.

So how’d I do? Not bad, for the first game of the season. Pared one hole, single bogey on two holes and multiple bogeys on the rest. But the “fucks” and “dammits” didn’t flow quite as much. It helped that my friend and I were paired up with a 50-something couple and I didn’t feel like blaring obscenities around them. Plus, I was just plain happy to be out hitting the tees, chipping on the fairway and putting the ball into the cup. What’s not to love?

IRON MAN

But that’s not all of my day. My fiance and I went to the 7:30pm showing of Iron Man. What a kick ass movie. I knew the story from the Marvel comic book series, but that didn’t matter. The movie (albeit changed somewhat from the comic book version) stood on it’s own. Robert Downey Jr. was very well cast in the role of Tony Stark. The effects were non-stop and not cheesy or over the top. I can’t say enough good things about this film. Check it out, even if you are not part of the geekdom world that read comic books as a kid. And stay to the end, past the credits.

So that’s it for today. I’ll post again this week. Thanks for reading and sticking with me.