The Scooter Tramp

MNCAWA 2010

Postalhoot — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 07:37:39 +0000

I just recently returned home from a 6,000 mile adventure on my Yamaha FZ6! Passed through 13 states in 13 days going from Twin Cities, Minnesota to Monterey, California to Seattle, Washington and back home.

I sped through the cornfields of Nebraska and Loveland Pass in Colorado, took the “Loneliest Road in America” (US Hwy 50) through hot Utah/Nevada desert, and encountered freezing rain in Sierra Nevada Mts. I crossed San Fran’s Golden Gate Bridge and promptly got lost on the 101, wound up in Napa Valley to tour a winery and ‘race’ a Corvette through the precarious twists and turns back to I-5. After rounding Deception Pass in Seattle and ferrying back to the mainland, I cruised through to the Rocky Mts of Montana to see the Blackfoot River and Missoula before swinging through Devil’s Tower in Wyoming and South Dakota’s Badlands (and yes, the famous Wall Drug!)

Amazing trip! I saw awesome scenery and crazy weather and friendly/interesting folks along the way. I bivouacked in near freezing weather, got kicked out of a truck stop, hammocked near mountainous streams, stealth camped in cattle pastures, surfed my siblings’ couches and floors, and visited relatives and friends along the way.

This trip has made me want to begin planning for a trip to the eastern coast next fall (2011). Any surfers interested in offering a couch en route from MN to Kentucky to North Carolina to New Hampshire and back through Michigan???

R.I.P.

Postalhoot — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 21:53:45 +0000

Yup. The scoot is dead. At least it was an adventurous story in dying, right?

So, as much as I liked my scooter and would love to have another one… I need to upgrade to a motorcycle. Currently looking at Yamaha FZ6 and Suzuki SV-650.

Scooter Adventure #1

Postalhoot — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 03:57:01 +0000

so i was planning on taking a couple of days to myself and riding out on thursday, spending the night wherever i wound up, and riding back on friday. the weather did NOT cooperate. forecast was incorrect and it was freezing! so i didn’t go anywhere.

i made up for it (albeit minimally) by riding to TFalls this evening because the weather was decent. it was a good ride and i explored 2 new routes that proved scenic regardless of post-winter road conditions.

Time off update

Postalhoot — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:33:33 +0000

just finished further discussion with my supervisor about taking time off this fall. (this is after calling the “really-high-up-there bosses” last week. they told me that i can have up to 365 consecutive days without any loss of rank/pay/bonuses/etc. so i talked with my boss and got it figured out that i’ll take between 4 and 6 months starting sometime around october 2009 and returning sometime around march 2010. this is a good step…

Scooter Tramp Defined

Postalhoot — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 04:58:40 +0000

there seems to be some confusion as to what Scooter Tramp means. here are the definitions straight from the all-powerful wikipedia.

Scooter (not the stand-up toy version)

Tramp (not to be confused with bum, hobo, vagrant, or prostitute)

add them together and you get Scooter Tramp. ride off on the scooter to wherever i wish. stay there for a while stealth camping, couch surfing, hostels, or renting. perhaps get a local job for a while or work for the host i stay with. then return home when satisfied i have seen that area through a local/educated, untourist view.

Time off

Postalhoot — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 07:27:02 +0000

there is so much more to this life and this world than what small-town MN has to offer. there’s more to learn than what my college degree covers. there’s many more jobs and skills to learn and put to test before i’m through with this world. on my quest to discover some of those things, i would like to begin my tour of the nation. stopping where i can, visiting with who i can, learning what i can, and living more fully than i am right now.

in order to make this even a fraction of a worthwhile attempt, i will need to set aside a significant chunk of time to allow for adaptation and acclamation to each area i am in. a certain amount of ‘soaking in the environment and culture’ of each place. i am currently negotiating with my supervisor to find out what the maximum time is that i could have and still return without any loss of rank or pay.

current standing is that the final decision rests on my supervisor. that is good news because i don’t know how i would convince some corporate goon thousands of miles away of my mission and why it’s needed. i probably wouldn’t even get a month free. as it is, i think things stand well enough to safely assume (fingers crossed) that i could possibly get 6 months!

Scooter Tramp?

Postalhoot — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 06:57:22 +0000

Scooter Tramp evolved from a restlessness and longing for adventure. This life is too stinkin short to let it sift by sadly and predictably.

So last summer I bought myself a scooter and I’ve enjoyed it way too much! Can’t wait for MN winter to be finished so I can ride it again. The scooter, then, becomes a means to an end. Or rather a tool to aid in the search, seeing as there really is no destination. I’ve wanted to travel and live a more mobile life and I’ve realized that the longer I stay in one place, the harder it is to get out. That isn’t to say that this place is a bad one, it simply restricts the opportunities that other places can offer. The relationships and jobs and churches that I’ve been a part of here are great and help create who I am. But in staying here, I fear I may simply live out a predictable life and miss the adventure I feel there really could be. I need to go.

This is a drastic change and unpredictable, as it is intended to be. I hope it will not be as stupidly unthoughtout as Christopher McCandless from Into the Wild. I think a trial run and some initial plans may need to be in order.