I had the opportunity this past weekend to travel to Phoenix, Arizona. Sara's nephew got married to a lovely, young lady and we flew out to attend it. With the Summer like temperatures and clear skies all I could think of was "Where are my motorcycles. I need my bikes." Sadly they were 2,000 miles away resting in the garage. Riding there would have taken many days and is a little beyond my limits at this point in time. Of course I made up for it by doing a short ride to Binghamton (80 miles) on Monday enjoying moderate temperatures for this time of year and the Fall Colors lining the roadway.
I've had an epic year on the big scooter thus far, riding about 3,500 miles this season and enjoying fabulous gas mileage. I filled the tank on this last trip and checked with my handy calculator to discover this last tank yielded 74 mpg. So much better than a gas guzzling Prius or any other hybrid. I might not be able to ride in rain or snow but I'm making up for it when I can ride. Between the 50cc bike and the big scooter I have saved mightily on fuel costs this season. Of course there is the added expense of $60 for insurance, for both of them, for a year, but I can live with that. Since April I've put numerous miles more on my bikes than I have on the minivan and reaped large savings in the process. Not to mention miles of smiles while riding.
I don't know what the winter will bring but I'd like to hope that the little bike will still be used for grocery runs and other errands. It is a lot of fun and saves wear and tear on the autos. We'll see.