Riding a Motor Scooter

by Jean

Riding can be fun if you forget about the possibility of serious injury or death while you are out on it.  Actually, it isn’t that I’m brave, it’s more that my emotions seem to be fear resistant, so that I will do things that (at least according to my husband) are more dangerous than I realize at the time.  Hey, those people that go sky diving must be more fear resistant than me.  But, then it’s my reasonable self that puts the nix on that activity, so my emotional fear level hasn’t been tested there.

One fun part about scooter riding is the time warp factor.  I can ride somewhere on my scooter for what seems like half an hour.  Then, I look at my watch and see it’s only been 10 minutes.  I end up getting lots of places really early.  I hope that part of the experience doesn’t wear off very soon.

Of course there is the sense of being a part of all of nature when you’re riding.  There aren’t any walls to separate you from the Outside.  You can see all the sky overhead, feel the wind in your hair, the coolness and wetness of the rain, the heat of the sun, and the bugs hit your face.  All that exposure makes me feel small too.  I never felt that same smallness on a bicycle, but then I never rode a bike at 50 K per hour on a super highway either.  When I drive our Lincoln back in the States now, I feel like I am driving a tank. 

Traffic jams become a source of entertainment and sense of overcoming.  The cars are stuck behind each other, but the motor scooter drivers get to move on past them in the motor scooter lane, or sometimes weaving in and around them.  It works great until some car moves over or turns in front of you, or someone opens a door.  So far I’ve stopped in time for the moving cars and been able to get around the doors.  I think the Lord has saved me from being hit by other motor scooters when I suddenly cross their lane after getting between cars.  Most of the scooter riders here can avoid me like the fish do when you’re swimming underwater.  They have been riding on motor scooters since they were born, so they get around quite well.  The car drivers do pretty well at looking out for the scooters too, as long as they are following the unwritten rules of the road here.  They have nice little “beep beep” horns to help you learn what those unwritten rules are, too.

Even though I don’t feel fearful most of my riding time, I still prefer not to drive through rush hour traffic or to drive through down town, especially at night.  I am anticipating Gary to get back soon so I can ride on the back of his scooter while he faces those things.

:J