Scoot Safely

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I have two great loves. One, which won’t surprise you, is two-wheeled transport. The other is photography – more particularly, landscape photography. Fortunately for me, they are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they complement each other very well.

One of my greatest pleasures is to load Bella with my photography gear, and to head off into the wilderness in search of good photographs. Bella, incidentally, is my 2009 Vespa GTV 250. Venturing out in search of photographs is my form of hunting or fishing (except that no animals get harmed in the process). I make the reference to hunting because – just like the fishermen can report – a very enjoyable day can be had without catching a thing. What a great reason to get out and ride!

In a light-hearted departure from the usual subject of this blog, I’d like to share with my readers a scooter/photography trip I took at this time last year.

But first, a little back-story: as a child, living in my native England, I was bought a ViewMaster. I loved that thing. My very favourite was a disk consisting of images of Colorado. I’d spend hours peering into this 3D miracle, being transported to those mountains so far away, and dreamed that one day I would go there to see for myself. Possibly it was this that first sparked my love for landscape photography.

Fast-toward a (ahem) few years, and I found myself living in the good old US of A. Many years had passed, and I still hadn’t seen the place I dreamed of as a child. This time last year, I set about putting that right. I had to start working on that bucket list!

So, I carefully attached Bella to the back of the motorhome, and Sally, (my dog) and I headed out west.

I really think you’d have to look hard to find a vehicle better suited to photography trips than a scooter. It is, of course, very frugal (not so the motorhome), but is also very light and manoeuvrable with excellent carrying capacity. I can take a scooter into places that I could not go with a car, and even my street motorcycle would be a burden. The scooter is made for the job.

So, the plan was to take myself out west, and head out on the scooter to photograph those places I’d dreamed of as a child. As it turned out, once I reached Colorado, I kept going west – using the scooter for photography outings on the way – until I reached the Grand Canyon.

It really was a trip of a lifetime, and Bella proved herself perfect for the job. I could even hang my camera bag onto the shopping hook in front of my legs.

It took something like forty years to get round to it, but I finally did make that trip to Colorado, and other destinations out west. Incidentally, Utah was an eye-opener. What a beautiful state!

I’d love to hear from some of you who use their scooters for photography. Let me know in the comments!

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a few of the shots that I got while I was out there. You can click the photo for larger versions. Until next time, Scoot Safely!

Crested Butte, Colorado was an enchanting place. I could have stayed there a very long time. I was initially camped about thirty miles away (and it felt like thirty miles below), but the pre-dawn – and very cold – ride on the scooter was worth it when I got there. I loved the place so much, I went back for the motorhome, and brought it back up to stay there a couple of days. Magical!

Talking of pre-dawn, I was riding through Crested Butte early one morning, and noticed that some cars had suddenly made a stop by the side of the road. When I looked, I could see why! I don’t think I’ve ever got a camera out of a scooter so quickly!

I then moved on to Aspen to get the iconic shot of Maroon Bells. I camped about thirty-five miles away, got up at 4.15 in the morning, and rode the scooter up to Maroon Bells. It was freezing, but I wanted to get the pre-dawn shot of the mirror lake. Sadly, it was blowing a gale that morning, and there was no mirror lake!

About 8.30, another photographer (there were plenty there) took pity on me, and let me sit in his car with the heater on for half an hour. I still hadn’t recovered from the freezing ride, and the gale blowing across the lake didn’t help any.

So, on to Utah. As I stated earlier, Utah was a real surprise to me. It is breathtaking. Of course, I couldn’t do Utah without taking Bella through Arches National park.

And wouldn’t you know it? I got talking to some people in the park, and it turned out they were fellow English folk from a scooter club in England! They sent me the following picture when they got back to home.

Of course, you couldn’t visit Arches National Park without getting the iconic Delicate Arch shot. I so nearly missed it! I was racing around the park – trying to get the last shot of the evening. It turned out there is a quite strenuous hike up to Delicate Arch of a mile-and-a-half. It was sunset, and the light was fading fast. I really didn’t think I was going to make it, but tried anyway. British grit, don’t you know. I made it to the top, set up my camera, went “snap” and an instant later it was like someone had turned the lights out. Dusk seems to fall rather quickly up there. But I got the shot!

From Moab, we headed to Monument Valley. When I got there, I thought: “Well, it’s really not that far to the Grand Canyon! I checked with Sally (my travel companion and partner in crime). She said it was OK, so off we went.

It was a magnificent trip. The realisation of a childhood dream. Made so much better by being able to make my explorations on a scooter.

Incidentally, what a beautiful country my adopted home is!