New Stuff - and FINALLY an update!

Alright, friends, I have to apologize for forgetting about you. Sorry.

There have been a number of updates since the last posting WAAAAYYYY back in June. First, yes, I trashed the engine in the Pirate Ship. The good news was that Damn Dirty Dave had an extra laying around his garage that somebody had given him. And he turned around and gave it to me! A couple weekends later it was in and running. It leaks a little oil and a little coolant, but not enough to worry me and it runs nice and strong. Since then, it's made a couple trips to Phoenix and Lord knows HOW many over Mingus Mountain to Prescott. I had a number of classes for work I had to attend in Prescott, so the trips were made on the scooter.

Let's see...what else happened...??? I am now thoroughly divorced. Since the last posting I have attended and competed in two Scottish Highland Games. I have a new lady in my life, Colleen, who agrees that riding a scooter may just be the next best thing to....well, you know where I'm going with this...

Oh yeah...I also rode in the latest Something For Nothing rally from the top of Mingus Mountain to Flagstaff and back. Colleen rode behind me from Cottonwood to the top of the mountain where we met a bunch of the others (I think there were 12 scooters up there that morning) and rode back down. Apparently, my propensity for speed scared the crap out of her and she had me take her home when we reached Cottonwood, so I did the rest of the trip solo. Great ride both up and back. No mechanical failures or crashes on the way up. We met the Pharoahs in Flagstaff, had some coffee and pastries and (after what seemed a 'forever' wait) headed back down through Oak Creek Canyon. A FAST and fun ride!!! I watched Wade on his amazing small-frame Vespa outrun just about everything there...including my 250 cc Pirate Ship!!! I could keep up, but it wasn't easy! Wade had his ipod going the whole time and was dancing all over the seat of his scoot and STILL kickin' butt! Good times! Kent and I blasted past tourist traffic through the canyon at breakneck speeds, grinning all the way! We hooked a left in Sedona onto Hwy. 179 south to the Village of Oak Creek, then over Beaverhead Flat Road to Cornville Road. Right then to Page Springs Road (where I ditched the group and headed back to Cottonwood for my pickup full of camping gear and Colleen) where they enjoyed 8 miles of beautiful curves. Then a left on Hwy. 89A back into Cottonwood. They fueled up and headed for the mountain.

I caught up with the group at the campsite where we all set up out tents and partook of adult beverages as we laughed and visited. Big bonfire and great eats that night. Some kind of fajita stuff that one of the Pharoahs made. FABULOUS!!! More stories, more beers, more laughter and finally bed. Next morning everyone got up, and those of us in cars moved on while those from Flagstaff prepared to ride home. As always, the Pharoahs put on a great rally!

Mostly my summer, though, has been spent in various classrooms for my eventual transition to sergeant in about a year and a half and getting on with my personal life. On that note, Colleen has expressed an interest in getting a scooter and riding with me, since riding cupcake scares her, so I asked around and my dear, sweet friend Vanessa had two to sell me! So last weekend I picked up an '02 Kymco People 150 and another (bless that girl) '02 Bajaj Chetak with only 2067 miles on it! I won't tell you what I paid for them, but I will say this; God has blessed me with some VERY generous and gracious friends! Thanks, V. They will be ridden and cherished. I included a few pics of my current stable of scooters. Both the Kymco and the Bajaj have been sitting for about 2 years with full tanks of gas, so they both need to be drained, the carburetors cleaned and new batteries. The Bajaj (being a 2002) needs a new voltage regulator which I have ordered.

Last weekend I drained the gas in the Kymco and replaced it with new and sprayed carb cleaner into the available orifices in hopes that would fix the varnish problem. I got and put in a new battery and, well...it KINDA works. I AM going to have to pull and clean the carburetor today. Oh well.

That's about it for now,
C-ya...ride on!

--Keys

P.S. And for those of you who may not believe I was actually competing in the games, I included a picture of me during the Prescott games...