No officer it's not a moped, it's a scooter!

So my time in Chicago came to an end and I off to Columbus. I had to wait for the rain to stop so I had a late start to the day, (1:30). And Chicago didn't make it easy for me to leave. On one turn the wind almost knock me off the Vespa . So heading on the Lincoln highway I got about 50 or so miles when I caught up to some light rain. I was thinking maybe its time to fine a spot and set the tent up and let the crappy weather pass. So just outside of Grovertown Indiana I thought I found a good spot to setup camp. After finding wet firewood and not having any chance in hell of lighten it, yes I did have two gallons of gasoline, but thought why waste it. By then the rain stopped, well until I started riding again and that fine mist was back. I rode till I got to Warsaw Indiana and found a park on the map and made my way to it. Upon arriving I discovered this park had motor homes are ready there. I thought man this might not work. But I managed to get the tent up in a wind storm. Surprising no one came over and ask me to leave. The sign did say no overnight campers, but I saw that after setting up. The winds that night made it hard to sleep and not till 2 in the morning when they died down I was able to sleep soundly. Was up quite early, still had over 200 miles to go. So while traveling on route 30 I had the pleasure of getting pulled over by Fort Wayne's finest, officer Cook. Was still 20 some miles from Fort Wayne so don't know why he was so far out. So he come up and says " mopeds are not allowed on the highway". Officer this is a scooter.
"No it isn't".
I knew right then I would have an rocky experience with the law. So after showing the officer the manual for the "moped", he took it back to the car and studied it for a good 10 minutes. He came back from study time and handed me a paper of warning. Failure to have a triangle on the back of the "moped" to warn other vehicle of a slow moving vehicle. Before he pull me over he trailed me and said I was only going 47 mph in a 60 mph road. I was doing 53-55, so bs on that. If you know the law, you must be no slow then 15 mph below the post maximum speed limit. Which even in his estimate I was above. And the other warning was cause of the trophy I had strapped to the back was obscuring the license plate, bullllll shnikes. He also said I would have to ride on the shoulder or he would arrest me and throw me in jail. He was so concerned with my safety he though riding over roadkill,glass, blown tires was better for me then cars passing me in the passing lane. I was quite dumbfounded. So with the threat of jail time I had to find a detour around Fort Wayne. Made my way around and go to route 33 via route 9 and 224. 33 was the route I was going to get on in Fort Wayne, which I got on in Decatur. From here it was a straight shot to Columbus. Now 33 turned into the same four lane highway as route 30. I'm some would have gotten off and found a two lane road, but I had no time for that and plus I was in Ohio at this point so no jail time from officer moped. When I ran out of gas I was greeted with another officer. Oh boy not this again I thought. So I shook my spare gas tank in the air and said I'm just refueling. But since there's a lot of trouble makers out there he still ask for id. "Can't be too careful" he said as I ask why I needed to be checked out. He never asked if my "moped" could do the speed limit. So with a full tank I made it to Columbus by 5 o'clock. It was time for Scoot a Que Zombie prom rally. Friday night activies was hanging out at Capitol City Scooters. Beer was provided by the cutters which quite nice of them. End up skipping the movie and hungout at a bar for a bit with the dc crew. After getting some late night pizza and eating it in the lobby of the Hyatt I was getting spent and was looking forward to some needed sleep. Saturday was kinda a late start and got to the North Market just in time for a quick breakfast before the afternoon ride. The day was gorgeous for riding the 40 mile ride. At one point it seemed like we were riding the same parts of roads. We stopped at a shopping center. The bbq wasn't quite ready for us so someone suggest we head over to the only bar in the shopping center. Now I wish I could of seen the bartender face when told that 80 or so scooterist we be in shortly for drinks. I'm sure she didn't mind after the tips made in a short time. After a refreshing beverage it was time to head to the bbq. After a little tire burnouts from Phil Waters (he made the anarchy A symbol on the parking lot) we took off. The bbq was your choices of pizza,pasta,or sloppy Joe's, sides and desserts. I decided on sloppy Joe's,nachos and salsa with vanilla ice cream. Awards were giving out after dinner. Thinking I should have another furthest distance award in the bag, they decided to give that one later at the zombie prom. Had a well needed nap and was woken up with 3 zombies girls in the room. I'd better get into zombie form. Getting to the night venue in bare feet was part of my getup. Everyone thought I wouldn't get in without shoes on, but to borrow a line from the Shawsank Redemption "how often do you really look at a mans shoes"? It wasn't till the end of the night that my bare feet got noticed by the staff. Like with any prom it wouldn't be right not to break any rules. So Mr.B and I headed to the bathroom for a drink of whiskey he brought in with him. There was a photographer taking photos of anyone that want their photo taken. To view the photos go to collages.net under events type zombie for username and 18426 for the password. The cutters gave the furthest distance award to a guy that rode from DC to Columbus. Kinda felt snubbed. I'd ridden over 1600 miles at that point. Guess I'll have to ride 3000 next year!!! Now it was time for the raffling of the rally bike. Which it won by Mary of the cutters. It was off to a afterparty then we headed back to the hotel for sleep. Sunday brunch was at bar Louie. After farewells it was time to head to Cleveland. And I'll pick up from there in a few days.

Ah Chi-town I say farewell

So I've been in Chicago for three week now, staying at my best mate (Connor)apt. And its time to get back on the road. I'm quite excited to be doing so. I had a minor break down coming back from the Slaughterhouse prom Saturday night. Took a bit to figure out what went wrong. Just a pin that came undone in the gear selector arm. Took another furtherest travel award. So 2 for 2 in that department. I've also been doing jobs from craigslist to make some money. Mostly helping people move. So far I've put on 1350 miles. Other then that pin, the scoot has been running fine. So it's 330 miles to Columbus and I figure I be there Thursday. And it's another prom, but it's a zombie prom. So yeah to getting dressed up as the undead. Just gotta to find a ridiculous suit and some blood....