Don't get no better than this!!

Two Thursdays ago I got the contact I've been hoping for for years...my son, Lucas, returned an e-mail to me that I sent over a year ago! He's 25 and it's been since, I think, he was 18 since I've heard from him. Various forces outside either of our control kind of kept us apart...a condition that lead to great grief on my part. Lots of self-condemnation..."I should have done this better, or that better". You know the way it goes. But the bottom line is; he contacted me and there is NO animosity there. He seemed as genuinely glad to hear from me as I was from him. Fabulous!!

So, you may ask, what does this have to do with scooters? Here goes; Lucas lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana now. So? Well, I don't have the means to fly out there to see him, and visiting him is something I HAVE to do! Therefore, I am tentatively planning a road trip out there from here in Cottonwood in (I'm hoping) May. On my Genuine Buddy 125. "CRAZY", you might cry! Yeah, yeah, I've heard it before...

I'm looking at about an 1800 mile trip across northern Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, into Arkansas and south into Baton Rouge. I'm trying for secondary roads for obvious reasons. Now then, how many of you have heard of a 3600 mile trip for a 125cc motorscooter? Yeah, me either. So I'm going to try to find sponsors for such incidentals as, say, oil...tires...maybe even gas if I find the right guy. I'd welcome t-shirts, stickers, jackets, helmets, gloves...any gear. I also hope to contact the right person at Genuine and see if I could get mechanical and parts back-up from them if needed.

So what would a sponsor get out of this? Aside from helping a father reunite with his son after WAY too many years? First; I intend to maintain my blog and advertise for my sponsors heavily. Second; I also intend to write an article (with pictures, of course) of my journey that I would try to sell to various motorsport magazines...from Scoot! to Cycle World to Arizona Highways. I also hope to send articles to our local newspaper. And of course, much advertising for those who sponsor my ride. It's the best I can do, guys...

This may be a trip I make alone. Jes' Jim from the Scarabs Scooter Club (www.scarabsc.com) MAY go with me as far as Texarkana, but that is still up in the air. This should prove to be quite a trip with many good stories and probably a few bad...but it's all part of the game. I HAVE to see Lucas.

So far I have 2 committed sponsors; one is a design studio in Phoenix, owned by Dave Creech, another Scarab and the other one is the Flying Dorffini, a motorcycle and motorscooter repair shop in Flagstaff. I am hereby soliciting others who may be interested in sponsoring a totally fooling old man with a dream to see his son. Thanks for your consideration.

C-ya...ride on!

--Keys