She saved me again...

 

The plan: an afternoon ride on the scoots.  A lovely day here in the Tropical Tip, and we haven't ridden together since the big poke.  I got the scoots out, we geared up, and headed out.  Didn't get far, when we got stopped at our swing bridge to let a boat go through.  I took the time to get a selfie...

We headed out of town for some highway cruising.  We stopped at a wildlife pull out so I could get a couple photos...

We were heading back home when something didn't feel right.  I told Joan the Vespa was cutting out and I needed to pull over.  As we got off the side of the road, she said, "Your back tire looks low."

Close.  It was flat.  The new Vespa has a traction control feature that cuts power to the engine if it senses that the front and rear wheels are turning at different rates (if you were sliding on gravel)... yep, the traction control warning light was on.

What to do?  We are about 15 miles from home, not close to anywhere safe to leave the scooter... Joan said for me to take her bike and go home to get the cargo trailer.  No way in Hell would I leave her alone on the side of the road... it means that she will have to get the cargo trailer, move it around, put the hitch on the CR-V, hook 'em up, and come get me.  Yes, she is perfectly capable of doing all that, generally though, we hook up the trailer together... ease the work and double check each other.  Not this time.

She called me to say that she was "all hooked up and on her way" about 35 minutes later.  In the meantime, I had walked the scooter to a gravel driveway of sorts (leading into the maintenance road for the windmills); I also put the scoot on its centerstand to give that rear tire a thorough look-over; nothing obvious...

Before long, Joan to the rescue...

It took us a few minutes to roll the Vespa in and get it strapped down.  And head for home.  Not quite the way I planned it.  Yes, she has a bottle of water in her hand, for me.  She is my angel.

We have been riding bikes for decades.  Never a flat tire until recently, and now two of them in 6 months, on two different bikes.

Once home, I put a compressor on that tire and could hear the air hissing out of it almost as fast as it was going in.  Tomorrow, I'll find the source and figure out what to do next.