New Scooters!

 August 20th - We had driven to Carbondale, IL to look at a Honda CB-500X.  Then on to Marshall, IL where we grabbed a hotel room for the night.  A nice 500+ mile day in the SUV.  Our plan was to get to the Honda dealer in Terre Haute, IN close to their opening time.  With time changes, that meant 8am at the hotel, but that was 9 am at the dealer.  The dealer was only 17 miles from the hotel, so no big deal.

Map Link

This was kicked off by Honda NA telling us that the CT-125, (Trail 125), would most likely not be released in the US until the 2022 model year, meaning bikes might not get to customers until July to November of 2021.  We had a standing order at out local Honda dealer for the first two they could get.  We also had signed up for the Scooter Cannonball Run in July of '21.  The news, direct from Honda NA via a phone call response to my online query about when the CT-125 would be available, was a huge disappointment to us.  But, we picked up and moved forward, looking for another steed to carry us on our adventures.

The dealer in IN was pleasant, and we liked the scooter, giving more suspension travel and a more ergonomically friendly design to the base PCX 150 scooter, but their price out the door was very high and they only had one.  In the parking lot we poked phones and found the dealer in Crossville, TN that had two, and called them.  Kolton was our salesman, and he did a first rate job of giving us the facts and quoting us an out the door price that was much more reasonable.  We started the car and headed for Crossville, TN, only 390 miles away.  While driving, Kolton called us back and said he had firmed up the pricing and had a better price for us.  Even better!  TN doesn't charge sales tax to out of state buyers if you leave the state with the vehicles within 3 days.

https://goo.gl/maps/vFwjs2FiNWJzrokC7

While driving, I had plenty of time to poke my phone while Cletha drove.  I learned about sales tax issues and we talked about how we were going to get the scooters home.  It was decided that it made no sense to drive to the dealer and not be prepared to take the scooters home with us.  I found a hotel when it became obvious that we would not make it to the dealer before they closed.  I also called Kolton back and let him know to prep the scooters and we would be there first thing in the morning to finalize the deal and pick them up.  Then I set up a rental online with a UHaul dealer close to the hotel and arranged to rent a trailer for the following morning.  Once we checked into the hotel, I did have to make a run to the local Walmart for some straps and an adapter for the SUVs 7 pin RV to 4 flat connector so we would have lights.

August 21st - When we got to Tommy's Motorsports in Crossville, we were greeted by this:

We did the paperwork, got a run through on the scooters and then with the help of Kolton, got everthing loaded in the UHaul trailer for the 300 mile drive home.

The trip was uneventful.  The scooters stayed put in the trailer and we arrived home safely after a 1000 mile journey over three days.  Not exactly Iron Butt levels, but epic in it's own way.

WE HAVE SCOOTERS!

We took a little scooter ride over the weekend before we could even register and tag the scooters.  Rebels that we are.  The big smile says it all.  😁

Next, farkles!

Introduction to slow adventuring

On August 21st, 2020 my wife and I bought two 2021 Honda ADV 150 scooters.  14.4 raging horses to propel us down the roads on our slow adventures.  This blog chronicles the additions to and maintenance of the scooters over time.  It offers the reader another perspective and sometimes additional details on the adventures detailed in the blog Cletha's Adventures.  Comments and questions are welcome.  These are our choices and methods based on our knowledge and experience.

A little background on my wife Cletha and me, (Eric), then following posts will have more focus on the scooters.  We are both retired and living in Tupelo, MS.  Here I am on a ride in Utah.

I started riding by borrowing the neighbors Honda 50 or taking turns with him in the wilds behind our houses when we were about 12.  Any chance I got to ride anything on two wheels with a motor during my teens, I took advantage of.  My folks wouldn't let me get a motorcycle or minibike, so it wasn't until I was in the Marines that I acquired my first motorcycle, an abandoned '82 Honda CX500, in June of '83.  I wore out a few tires on that bike, learning to ride on the streets and canyons around El Toro air base in California.  When my tour ended, I returned home to Portland, OR and shortly after traded my '70 MGB GT for a basket case '40 HD Knucklehead chopper.  A couple of weeks later I was riding it, after teaching myself how to wire it, plumb it and wrench on it... and how to start a kick start, manual timing 1940 motorcycle.  Mine was similar to this one, down to the uncomfortable king/queen seat, long springer forks and 2 into 1 exhaust.

I took my motorcycle endorsement test and put 30k plus miles on that rigid framed, manual drum brake, kick start bike before moving on to a '85 Cagiva Alazzurra 650.  Other bikes followed off and on, and then a ten year hiatus before returning to riding in '04 on a Yamaha FZ1.  I've ridden lots of different bikes.   From custom cruisers...

 To large adventure tourers...

I always tended to do longer rides and in 2004 I also discovered long distance riding and the Iron Butt Association and started doing endurance rallies all over the Western US, including the 6 day SPANK rally and the 10 day MERA 10-n-10 event in 2010 and eventually the Iron Butt Rally in 2013.  My LD bikes were the venerable Yamaha FJR1300 and later a Yamaha Super Tenere.  Between those two bikes I rode all over the United States and Canada, including Alaska for over 300k miles.  During this time I encountered my future wife while in Hyder, AK.  She was riding by herself on a Honda GL1800 Goldwing.  Hyder looked like this then.  Much has changed since 2010.

I kept encountering this woman at endurance motorcycle events all over the West.  Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and California.  

I was living in Oregon and she in Utah at the time.  Somehow, she always ended up talking to me after the event.  I'm a little slow, she had to call me and ask if I was interested in her or not.  Hmm, assertive, smart, pretty, not broken and rides her own motorcycle....  Yes, I'm interested, thank you very much!  I proposed in January of '11 and we married in August of 2012 as a surprise wedding at the International IBA Meet in Denver, CO.  We celebrated our 8th anniversary this year and are still madly in love.

My wife, Cletha, started riding dirt bikes when her young son begged her for a dirt bike.  She didn't think it would be right to just turn him loose, so she bought him a 50 and herself a 100 and they started riding every weekend in the off road areas around Seattle, WA.  They quickly moved on to 80 and 200cc bikes.  She would go on to ride many competitions and has a shelf full of trophies from that era, but never rode on the street.  

Here is her Honda Hercules 200.

                                

She ended up falling into a HD Sportster when a fellow owed her money and she accepted the bike as payment.  She rode that only a few times before trading it in on a HD Heritage Softail which took her on many adventures in and around the St George, UT area before a friend suggested she give his Goldwing a try.  She bought her own GL1800 the next day!

She discovered long distance riding when she participated in the 3 Flags Classic in 2010.  Some of the other riders were IBA members and told her about the IBA and endurance rallies.  She signed up for the Premier Winter Endurance Rally, White Stag, shortly after.  That 12 Hr rally led her to a 24 hour rally, the MERA Utah 1088, then quickly to the MERA 10-n-10 Rally and many other endurance rallies before entering and finishing the Iron Butt Rally in 2011.

We have ridden in all 50 states and ridden together in 40 states and about half of the Canadian Provinces.  We're working on plans to finish riding together in the 10 states in the NE US that we still need to explore.   We have transitioned from 1000 mile days to fewer miles and slow adventures that may take all day, but not cover much distance.  We still have some longer days left in us though.  😉 Thanks for reading and following along with us!