The Stealth Scooter

[Mortblanc]

As mentioned in another thread, I own a scooter.

It is nothing special, just a small Chinese 50 cc scooter built on the modern pattern, which means it looks like something Darth Vader would have driven to kindergarten. Plastic body panels, strangely shaped lights and such.

I have been banned from use of the Royal Enfield for the next few weeks and camping season is upon us, so I intend to do something different, I intend to go scooter camping.

I checked the load carrying capacity of the scooter and discovered that it is rated to carry 160 kilos, which astounds me since the thing will barely pull itself up a 20% slope under its own steam.

I am treating this scooter camping thing just like a backpacking expedition, bare necessities and light weight, so that the combined load does not get anywhere near the top recommended weight.

It also means that I already have most of the necessary gear from among the backpacking supplies and cycle hardware.

I found a site where a bunch of Australian maniacs were doing endurance runs on Postal Bikes. The Honda CT110. They are about the same size and carrying capacity, though twice as big engine wise. They are carrying massive loads of fuel and water, which I will not require, so the job should be more simple than theirs.

My goal is to visit some of the campgrounds in the local state park system, possibly ride some of the Forest Service roads and reach these points using the rural road system in our parts. None of the parks are more than 50KM from my house. At the mileage rate of this scooter I can make the round trip on one tank of fuel, easily, and there is plenty of resupply along the way.

I snagged a set of panniers intended for the RE, as well as a big square plastic milk, crate and a huge duffel bag, all of which I can bungee down or lash on and still have room to sit. The scooter came with a nice plastic top box, but I confiscated that to equip the RE. The milk crate is more convenient for runs to the market anyway.

I suppose I could just bungee the back pack on the little back rack, but that would not hold to the apocalyptic theme or promote my self image. I still have to keep the weight of gear in mind. Keep it simple, keep it light.

As soon as the doctors look the other way I am going to be off. The weather has turned nice and I hate to see the few days of good spring weather wasted standing in the window waiting for the doctors to clear me to breathe deeply.

As it is I am not allowed to bend, reach, twist, pick up anything more than 4 kilos, or touch my back in any way. I still have a bunch of staple closures holding me together for another week.