Jun 09, 2013 - Delays & Detours....

This posting may seem a bit unrelated to my upcoming tour on Red Girl but please bear with me and I'll try to connect it. A few days ago I towed Red Dog (my MP3-500 scooter) to Eugene's Wheel Works Vespa dealership for servicing. 

A bit of background might seem in order so to explain, this 3-wheeled wonder is also known as Red Dog. 

Anyone curious about him can find lots of posts on another blog dedicated to just him. 

Here's a link to that blog:  http://reddogscooter.blogspot.com/

In the mean time on with this tale. Red Dog's mileage had reached a point where it was time to change the drive belt. Anticipating this and as a hedge against a roadside breakdown I'd taken to carrying one with me. 

Then when his mileage reached the recommended level I figured I'd go ahead and do the change myself. Seemed simple enough...

I'd downloaded and printed out the instructions from the Modern Vespa web site and read lots of posts on how simple it was to do. Right. Of course.

Well anyway it seemed easy enough so I dove right in, yanked the old belt out and stuffed the new one in. Easy, yah shure ya betcha.... No problemo. 

Hit the starter button Larry. Wot? No workee? Hit it again....Paddles! Stand Clear! Again!... Crap, I've killed the damn thing!

I told you not to fool around with it...

Anyway I messed around and messed around and asked lots of dumb questions and changed the battery and redid everything I'd already done three more times and finally, finally I gave it up. Time to call in the experts only they don't make house calls. 

That's when I figured I needed to trailer him to Wheel Works which I did last week. I guess I'd overlooked or hadn't thought about what they would do with him once finished but one thing was for sure, they didn't have enough space to store him in their shop till I returned from my tour. Duh... 

So yesterday I received an email from them informing me Red Dog was ready to be picked up and would I please come gather him up? Yep, another delay in starting my summer ride. Buggers. But it's not so bad, I'll just head to Eugene tomorrow, collect him and be all ready to roll out Tuesday. 

In the mean time I'm told there's a small aviation show taking place in Coos Bay also on that day, old bombers, fighter planes, etc. That sounds like it would be fun to see so I'll dial that in as a kick-off starting point to my ride. 

LL