With the price of gas soaring into the stratosphere I am really happy to have purchased a 50cc scooter. Yes, it's hot out there, but when you're moving, it is very comfortable. When you stop for traffic signals, however, it's "instant sweat time". I can only get about 45 mph going downhill with a tailwind (not my own) but that's okay. I find that going faster than 45 mph is kind of useless on most roads anyway. The scooter is legal on all roads except I-10. It is not powerful enough for the big highways; it would need a larger engine to produce more than five brake horsepower. Fine with me. If I need to go on the interstate, I'll climb aboard my super huge pick-up truck and go as fast as necessary - while I'm burning about sixteen mpg. If I had my way, I would use the scooter for all my traveling while leaving the truck for the heaviest loads.

I haven't ridden a bike in forty-three years. I expected it to be somewhat arduous when I straddled the scooter for the first time, but, as people have always said, "You never forget how to ride a bike." It is true. As I moved the scooter I felt as if I had no break at all in riding motorcycles. It came back as naturally as breathing air (mixed, of course, with carbon monoxide and other poisons that we've polluted our environment with - don't get me started!). I was delighted to find that my body fit right in with the leaning and balancing and general feel of riding. Nowadays, I wear a helmet and goggles all the time; safety is very important. In the old days I wore a black leather jacket (with all the zippers) and a black beret and sunglasses so that I would look as "cool" as possible. Helmets were only for the track. I don't feel the need to impress anybody these days - or to compete. Now I just enjoy the ride, get to my destination (slowly), and take comfort in the fact that I'm getting a little over a hundred miles to the gallon.

Just a quick note on alternative power sources: if I ever put together another bike to utilize something other than gasoline as a fuel, I will only make one. It would be impossible to invent and develop something that could be used for the public because the government (which includes the major car manufacturers) and the oil industry, would squash the idea. Let me give you a couple examples. First there was Preston Tucker. There's a great movie, based on his life, called: Tucker, the Man and his Dream. It recalls the life of this innovative man as he comes out of the second world war seeking to start a company to help the public. During the war he produced vehicles and gun turrets for the Army. After the cessation of hostilities he turned to making automobiles. He designed and built better cars than were available at the time. In fact, in today's cars they are just starting to include features that were standard in a Tucker. His work was done in 1948. He built fifty cars. Then the government and the big three auto makers shut him down; they couldn't compete with him so they put him out of business. Out of the original fifty cars, there are about forty of them still operating. There is a green Tucker in the Tallahassee car museum if you want to see one "in the flesh". He had many better ideas - that worked - so why didn't everybody support him? They didn't because the government doesn't want competition. They would rather keep constant control over the public - even if their antics kill the people, which they do.

More recently, when everybody was talking about building electric cars, a problem developed in the prototypes of most entries. The batteries just couldn't hold enough of a charge to let the cars have adequate driving range to be practical. There was a man in the northeast who developed a better battery, it could hold a charge longer. It was the "answer" to the overall problem. What happened? He was shut down by the government, his tools, plans, and prototypes were confiscated and he was told that he was not to build anything more.

There is a documentary called, Who Killed The Electric Car? It tells the story of a manufacturer in California who produced a number of electric cars and then leased them to people to see how they would work. The people were delighted with the cars. At the end of the lease agreement most of the people desired to pay the agreed upon amount to purchase the cars. They were denied. They tried legal means to force the company to comply with their contract. Nothing worked. The company recalled all the cars, including stealing some of the peoples' cars who refused to turn them in. The company took all of these cars to a wrecking yard and crushed all of them into junk. The people tried to block the trucks, they carried signs, they did whatever they could think of to try to keep their electric cars. Evidently, these cars were excellent and the people wanted to own them. Guess who ruined this good deal. Watch the documentary. It illustrates that the blame is spread out in several different areas: the government, the major auto makers, the oil industry, and several others.

Okay, so that wasn't really a quick note, but, I told you not to get me started! It really annoys me that people, like Uncle Bush (actually, it's all of the politicians) get richer every time we drive one of our gas guzzling vehicles. That's bad enough, but, as the preceding paragraphs point out, they refuse to let people do anything to help themselves. If you want to build a better mousetrap, build it for your own use and don't let anyone else know about it. Sounds a lot like a communist country, doesn't it?

Back to the scooter. It is amazing that, from the vantage point of the scooter, I notice more of the cars and trucks that are constantly whizzing by me. The majority of them are huge, gas guzzling SUV's and pickup trucks. I feel like I'm in the middle of Detroit. The cost of these giant vehicles is enormous and they get terrible gas mileage, and they are always going fast, which means they are burning even more fuel. With the escalating gas prices, wouldn't we expect to see more scooters and other economical vehicles? Instead, we are seeing more gas guzzlers. In spite of the fact that the car companies are having a more difficult time selling Hummers, SUV's, and other impractical vehicles, the roads seem to be clogged with them. No matter, I travel at thirty mph, enjoying the scenery, being safe, getting a hundred miles to the gallon. I wonder if the gas prices will keep climbing. If so, it will be interesting to see what the automobile manufacturers will do in response to people not buying the gas guzzlers. Will we see GM and Ford producing scooters? So says Sam Post.