Name that Woody Allen movie where they find a Volkswagen that has been sitting in a cave for 200 years, and it pops right off when he turns the key.
If you said, "Sleeper, 1973," you get 150 bonus points.
If you said, "What does this have to do with anything?"... well, I'm getting to it. Last week we stopped at a Honda motorcycle dealer in Brownsville to order a front tire for the PCX we still have (the black one... it used to be Joan's, but after I got the Vespa, she laid claim on the red one... so, the black one hasn't seen any use in a year). Knowing that we will have to take that scoot to the dealer when the tire comes in, I said I'd rather bring that scoot home (it has been in our storage unit, about 40 miles away) and take it from here, as opposed to riding through Harlingen and Brownsville to get to the dealer. It is 4-lane almost all the way from our place to the dealer, and only a bit of the crazy Brownsville traffic.
We had put a fresh battery in that scoot a couple months before we put it in storage. I disconnected the battery, put it on its center stand, put a cover on it, gave it a pat for giving us good service, and left it. I really expected we would be selling it.
Forward to today: we took my riding gear out to the storage unit. The front tire is in real need of being replaced... even though it is "officially" Joan's other scooter, I did not want her to ride it home. I reconnected the battery, turned the key... and the dash lit up! I pressed the starter button and it roared to life! OK, for accuracy's sake, it kinda purred to life. The PCX is a civilized small scooter, and it does not "roar." We were both amazed that it started right up. I rolled the scooter back to the open door area of the storage unit so we wouldn't asphyxiate ourselves and checked it over. Added some air to the tires. It is good to go.
Parts of the road between our home and the storage unit are 65mph... which means Texas drivers will be doing 75 or more. The stretch that is 65 is nice 2-lane; Joan covered me from behind while I drove 45 mph most of the way home. Yes, the PCX will do more than that - I do not trust that front tire. Also why I was wearing full armor gear as the sun heated up the still air. Yeah, it was hot. With no breeze, there were a lot of gnatty bugs outside our storage unit... I had to raise the face shield on my full face helmet a few times on the way home to let those buggy critters out of my helmet.
But, besides the heat and bugs... and the concern about the tire coming apart... it was a decent ride home. It reminded me just how great the PCX is for a small(ish) scooter. We talked about selling it again, but I think we're both onboard with it being our "mail and grocery getter." So, I'm calling that our scoot, not just Joan's. ;-)
Joan took this when we got home...
There is a spot between the house and the cargo trailer where the PCX will stay, under a cover. If it doesn't get enough use, we'll find it a new home.
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