Bella's Immigration is completed!

Marius San Millan a.k.a. Mr Everything-Goes, owner of MS Scooter in Offenburg kept his promise, and worked closely with the technical inspection association (TÜV) on the approval of the spouse's Italo-Canadian scooter, Bella. The red Vespa GTS250 had to pass the technical inspection (motor, brakes, lights etc.) and the environmental test. And of course all paperwork for the scooter itself as well as for its accessories had to be complete. An obstacle were obviously the documents provided by Piaggio, Italy, but in the end it came down to changing some reflectors from red to orange and swapping the Wolo Bad Boy horn against a standard issue. Bella is now a 'German citizen' with the desired certificate for road worthyness and a brand new license plate.

Mr San Millan was genuinely happy for us, and showed that he is not only a business owner who sells scooters, but a true Vespa aficionado himself. Thank you MS Scooter for your excellent customer service!

We said our goodbyes, filled up the scooters with the best the nearby gas station had to offer, and with me on Alonzo in the lead we took off to catch the evening light.

Roland wanted to repeat the recent two-up outing through the vineyards in counter-clockwise direction. The light was about to leave but we managed to capture the last sun rays.

The man is so happy to have his beloved Vespa back. He was smiling all the way in his helmet, and Bella was purring along nicely.

Bella's first trip: 65km

Now we are hoping for a beautiful fall with plenty opportunities to get our two wasps on the road!

***

Bella's Einwanderung ist genehmigt!

Er hat sein Versprechen gehalten. Marius San Millan oder Mr. Geht-nicht-gibt's-nicht, der Chef von MS Scooter in Offenburg, hat sich für uns, bzw. unseren Roller mit dem TÜV 'herum geschlagen' und die Zulassung für die italienisch-kanadische Vespa GTS250 des Gatten hin bekommen. Jetzt ist Bella mit deutschem Brief, Fahrzeugschein und Kennzeichen ausgestattet und kann den Schwarzwald ganz legal unsicher machen. Dass Herr San Millan nicht nur Geschäftsmann, sondern selbst leidenschaftlicher Vespa-Fan ist, merkt man ihm an, auch dass ihm diese spezielle Herausforderung Spaß gemacht hat. Wir können MS Scooter jedenfalls wärmstens weiter empfehlen und werden diesen Vertragshändler auch in Zukunft in Anspruch nehmen.

Im Anschluss spendierten wir unseren Rollern den besten Tropfen, den die nahe gelegene Tankstelle zu bieten hatte und fuhren im Abendlicht durch die Weinfelder. Roland ist überglücklich, dass er nun nach sechs Monaten Vespa-Abstinenz endlich seine Bella wieder hat. Jetzt braucht nur noch das Wetter mit zu spielen, damit wir vor dem Winter noch einige Meilen abspulen können.

A Mini-Trip to Sweden

Roland: My first international business trip had originally been scheduled to be held a few weeks ago, but due to the host having fallen sick the meeting in Sweden had to be postponed. This week a few colleagues and myself met at Frankfurt International Airport for a two hours flight to Stockholm, and another 80 minutes limo(!) drive to our destination in the Gävleborg area close to the Baltic Sea. The car turned out to be a two years old Audi A4 with 304,000 km down! According to the driver who drives an estimated daily distance of 700 to 1,000 km the car still feels like new, and it definitely looked new!

The scenery was typically Swedish, and the city looked like a typical Swedish town. After eight years in North America, where somehow one city looks like the other, it is still surprising how different landscapes and cities look in Europe within a flying distance of one or two hours...

The hotel (see above) was just fantastic, without a doubt the best I ever had in Scandinavia! Great rooms (albeit small), fantastic bathrooms, great dinner buffet and even better breakfast buffet. They even put my name at the door of my hotel room! Obviously the quality of the hotel is linked to the fact that the whole city has evolved within the last century around the plant that has been founded here some hundred odd years ago. There is more or less only one employer here, so you better make sure that you provide a great service!

The meeting was held in one of the classic Swedish buildings, and lunch was served in another one. We almost felt like in an Astrid Lindgren novel! The highlight was the tea room we visited after lunch: It catapulted us straight back into a time where the company's founders would settle with a cognac and a cigar to discuss business.

Unfortunately there was no opportunity to further explore the area, but next time I will make sure to get a closer look at the surrounding lakes and, of course, the ocean.

The Road to Uncle TomTom's Cabin? No Thanks!

After today's trip I had to have a serious conversation with my TomTom. It is not the first time that I ended up on gravel roads which I am ok with if they are in reasonable condition but this time my GPS had sent me off on a trail of blood, sweat and tears.

My destination was castle ruin Hohengeroldseck, which is only a few miles from home (and not my first visit). I opted for the twisty road setting, and arrived on nice clean roads without further ado. However, I like round trips and I picked an alternative route for the return. That was a bad idea!

Of course TomTom obliged, and I followed it over the fields and through the forest. What started out as gravel road became a conglomerate of rocks and mud, and patches of grass. The recent rainfalls didn't help keeping the ground even, it was downhill all the way, and the trail didn't allow a save turning maneuver.

Already shaken and stirred by the rocky descent I had a pucker moment when crossing some deep muddy tractor tracks in my path. A sudden slip of the rear wheel almost threw me off the scooter. I felt like on a bucking horse, with Alonzo's underside making contact with a muddy bump, but the Vespa pulled through, and I managed to keep the shiny side up.

The next section was grassy and wet but negotiable, and I felt myself relax a little. I ground wasn't stable enough to park the Vespa so I killed the motor, kept sitting on my scoot, and took a few deep breaths. What had I gotten myself into? For the first time I looked up and around. What a stunning view! And bonus, a rainbow!

I took this as a sign to continue my journey. Only a few minutes later I met two forestry workers who were seemingly amused about my being in the woods. But they were kind people, and showed me the best trail down to the next paved road. Oddly enough it was not, what TomTom dictated. However, I opted to follow the gentlemen's recommendation, and voila, a few hundred meters further down, to my relief, I had a paved single track road again under the rubber.

Poor, Alonzo. Yet again, he is utterly dirty. Maybe I should start calling him Pig Pen, like the Peanuts character. Once cleaned I better give the scooter a thorough check in case the bumpy ride loosened some screws, nuts and bolts.

And finally I have discovered how to program my TomTom in order to eliminate the gravel road option. Lesson learned! This route? Never again!

***

Der Weg führt nach Nirgendwo!

Ich musste heute doch mal ein ernstes Wort mit meinem TomTom Navi reden. Normalerweise machen mir ja Schotterwege nichts aus, aber dieses Mal hatte mich mein Navi auf einen Weg ohne Wiederkehr geschickt. Zumindest fühlte es sich so an. Auf dem Plan stand der Besuch der Burg Hohengeroldseck, welche nur wenige Kilometer von zu Hause entfernt liegt. Ich bin immer wieder mal da und habe mich daher auch nicht lange aufgehalten, sondern wollte weiter. Da ich am liebsten Rundwege fahre, befragte ich mein Navi nach einem alternativen Routenvorschlag. Das hätte ich diesmal lieber bleiben lassen sollen, denn es führte mich fast direkt auf einen Schotterweg. 

Kein Problem, dachte ich, doch dann wurden aus Schotter grobe Steine und Schlammpassagen. Mein armer Alonzo und ich wurden ganz schön durch geschüttelt. Besonders schlimm wurde es, als sich tiefe Traktor-Querrillen vor mir auf taten, in denen das Wasser stand. Der Hinterreifen verlor seinen Gripp und ich wurde fast vom Roller geschleudert. Puh, das war knapp. Wenig später fuhr ich dann auf einer Grassode und konnte mich wieder ein wenig entspannen und meinen Griff lockern. Ich hielt einen Moment an und schaute mich zum ersten Mal richtig um. Meine Mühen wurden doch in der Tat mit einem traumhaften Blick und einem Regenbogen als Zugabe belohnt. Ich nahm das als gutes Zeichen und setzte mich wieder in Bewegung. 

Ein paar Minuten später traf ich auf zwei Waldarbeiter, die zwar amüsiert grinsten, als sie mich und meinen Gefährten sahen, aber mir dann freundlicherweise doch auf die richtige Spur halfen. Nicht viel weiter unten hatte ich wieder eine geteerte Straße unter den Rädern. Meine arme Vespa ist natürlich wieder total dreckig. Vielleicht hätte ich den Roller lieber Pig Pen nennen sollen, nach der Figur von den Peanuts. Demnächst sollte ich besser noch mal alle Schrauben kontrollieren. Wer weiß, was sich auf der Stecke alles los gerappelt hat... Meine Lektion habe ich jedenfalls gelernt. Mein Navi ist jetzt auf 'Schotterpisten vermeiden' umgestellt. So etwas passiert mir nicht noch einmal!