Sunday scooter ride

Earlier today my neighbor Will and I took a ride around Dry Creek Valley. It was my first long trip (about 12 miles) on my Oxygen Lepton.

I’ve known Will since he was four years old. This was our first mini-road trip together. In his twenties and recently back from his second tour of duty in Iraq, Will rode his new motorcycle, slowing way down so he could stay with me as I got used to my sleek black and gray 230 pound behemoth. We stopped at the halfway mark, the Dry Creek Store, so I could check the LED screen on my scooter. When I got back home, I plugged it in, using mostly geothermal power from the nearby Geysers, the largest geothermal development in the world. Over 50% of the electrical energy for my town, Healdsburg, comes from the Geysers.

I’m leaving this afternoon for my son’s ranch out near the Geysers, to help take care of my 13 month-old twin grandchildren. I won’t be posting until I return home on Tuesday.

(photo of Will and me taken in front of the Dry Creek Store, source of the photo of the store; photo of the Geysers: U.S. Dept. of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy)

Gail goes electric

I have a new electric motor scooter. It’s an Oxygen Lepton, made in Italy. Its top speed is 28 mph and has a range of up to 31 miles on a 5-hour charge.

My younger son Rody found it for me at Thunderstruck Motors in Santa Rosa, California. It has replaced my 1976 Yamaha Chappies. I’ve owned three all these years so I would never run out of parts, but they have two-stroke engines and are notorious polluters.

The good news is that I only need a one-time license and won’t need to renew my motorcycle driver’s license when I turn 70 in a couple of years. It's quiet and I'm glad not to be riding something that emits puffs of blue smoke.

Possible bad news: It weighs 230 pounds, more than twice as much as I weigh. I’m going to need to make sure that I don’t lose muscle strength so I can maneuver it when the engine is off.