This is how I roll. At the moment…

I look like I’m having so much fun, don’t I? (Paul Nickell iPhone photo)

The right foot is doing well, thanks. I have to wear a weird-looking bootie, and use a cane to keep weight off of it, which is not a lot of fun when trying to navigate a ginormous grocery store. Good thing Fred Meyer supplies lots of (oh, hell) scooters to make shopping for those of us whose legs don’t work at 100% efficiency easier…

Exactly 1.2 lbs of zombie flesh

You may have noticed I haven’t been hanging around here as much.

About 10 days ago, Pablo sat me down and said, “we’re going to the hospital.” I’d been leaving some bloody footprints around the house, see.

The reason for that? About four months ago, I noticed my right foot was rather swollen. Since at the time I had no health insurance and no money, about all I could do was shrug and hope it didn’t get worse.

Well, it did. I’ll tell you, my right foot was something straight outta Night of the Living Dead by the time I arrived at Portland VA Medical Center’s emergency room. I was drawing a crowd. Heck, even the emergency room director stopped by to have a look.

Long story short, the front third of my right foot was so badly infected, it had to be amputated. I still have my tonsils and my appendix in spite of growing up at a time when conventional medical wisdom said get rid of them (“hey kid, you can have ice cream after the operaiton!”). Needless to say, my time in hospital has been a gut-wrenching, life-changing experience, and I will have lots to say about it in the weeks and months to come. Maybe not here, but somewhere.

But most importantly for this particular journal, there isn’t gonna be any riding until the right foot heals. So posts will be sporadic, though not completely absent. After all, there will still be weird new microcars and scooters, and news that makes riding easier, or more difficult. Or both.

There’s still time to ride in Portland (and other places), so get out there. Just watch out for the wet leaves and rotting jack o’lanterns…

And I’m fallin’

Orin O’Neill photo

When it’s warm and sunny, the idea of a scooter being your only vehicle is almost a no-brainer. Especially if your scooter is fast enough to ride on any road you’d care to travel.

But the autumn switch has been flipped in Portland.

Yet another 4-wheeled scooter concept

Nissan photo

The run-up to the Tokyo Auto Show sees more offbeat concepts like this one, the Nissan Land Glider.

Three years already?

I’m not sure what this scooter is, or where the picture came from…

Three years? Really?

A 2-wheeled scooter alternative

Suzuki TU250X (Suzuki photo)

Have I mentioned the $101 credit card statement from Shell? And how I went looking for a small-bore motorcycle and ended up with a scooter?

None dare call it homesickness

I’d talked for years about gettin’ the heck out of Seattle. I now realize only a gut-wrenching, life-altering event would’ve actually made me head for the exit. Like, f’rinstance, the one a couple months ago.

See how it’s made

The Science Channel series How It’s Made recently had a segment showing the steps in building a Vespa. The video recently turned up on YouTube.