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…

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Orin O’Neill photo

Some of you have asked about the commuter derby the GTS and I did last summer.

I’m happy to report the story has finally hit print, appearing in the November issue of Seattle Metropolitan. You’ll find the magazine at grocery store checkouts and newsstands in the Seattle metro area, and the article is also available online.

I still believe I could’ve won the thing if we hadn’t gotten hung up on Lake Sammammish Parkway…

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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…

Portland so far has been wanting in the fall colors department. Unseasonably warm weather has kept leaves still attached to the trees green, and the ones that did turn got blown off by the howling Gorge winds.

When it comes to fall colors, New England never disappoints, Our lucky friend Jeff Roddick just got back from that neighborhood. He drives a moving truck, so he gets to go all over North America. But he doesn’t carry 52-inch plasma TVs and waterbeds to exurban McMansions, oh no. He’s the guy you call when you want to transport art exhibits, or concept cars, or other way cool stuff.

And there’s plenty of room in a 40-foot enclosed trailer to take a scooter along. Take it away, Jeff!

Jeff Roddick photos

I would definitely recommend New England this time of year, the foliage is spectacular. Here’s my new Summer place (in my dreams) near Bethel, Conn.

I saw lot’s of m’cycles but no scooters on my ride. In New York, just west of Danbury, Conn. the State Police had a motorcycle inspection station set up in the rest area on I-84. There were signs on the freeway advising all motorcycles to exit and the cops had two chase cars waiting to run down scofflaws. Thankfully I was driving the big truck and not the rat scooter which is deficient as far as legality is concerned.

There must be enough dry laid stone fence in Connecticut to reach the moon, if not the planet Mercury. Lots of historic and archeological sites as well.

I managed to ride my scooter in 11 states on this trip and probably only put a couple hundred miles on it. —Jeff Roddick

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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.

Yes, temperature records are still being broken, but the records are overnight lows.

Yesterday morning I was awakened by the furious rustling of leaves. The wind was fierce. The wind is like that in Portland. There’s this thing called the Columbia Gorge, you see.

But I had to go somewhere, and I had to go in the morning. I’ll just have to bundle up and hope for the best.

My destination was a place called Cascade Station, a new transit-oriented development near the airport. It has two MAX stops. It also has a W hotel and some office buildings scattered among the big-box retailers.

And there are planes flying over it. Constantly. I think this place used to be considered a flood plain, but now it’s not.

It had rained overnight. It was cold, or at least it felt that way. M65 parka weather, for sure. Also Buff weather, and snoboarding-glove weather.

Heading north on 82nd, I was sharing the road with nothing more than a few widely-spaced TriMet buses. The pavement was damp, the wind was coming from the east. But there are lots of buildings and trees, so occasional gusts at the intersections were all the wind I had to deal with. The GTS was maintaining its heading without serious control inputs.

However, north of Sandy Boulevard there’s a ramp that puts you on a 4-lane semi-freeway. And this stretch has no wind barriers at all.

I could feel the easterlies pushing on the GTS, but it tracked more or less straight. The pavement was damp, but the tires gripped securely. A glance at the speedometer showed 50 mph, the speed suggestion. My idea about giving the bike more gas in the wind might have some validity..?

However, the wind had picked up considerably by the time I was enjoying my 99-cent breakfast at IKEA. Planes taking off from PDX were standing on their tails.

Not as much wind today. Not as cold, either. In fact, downright warm. I was bundled up about like yesterday (the place where I stay is cold), and feeling a bit foolish when I walked out to the GTS.

I didn’t have to go as far, just to pick up groceries. From my place, you can go any direction and there’ll be a Fred Meyer store. A formerly local chain that was swallowed whole by Kroger several years ago, Portland was Freddie’s home base, and they’re almost as numerous here as Starbucks. Or at least as numerous as a big-box retail store can be.

I like the one at roughly 30th & Broadway. It’s newer, it’s bigger, and there’s a nice scooter/motorcycle parking spot (please take note, Mr. or Ms. green Mazda Protégé!).

And there are always free samples just past the front door. If you’re a light eater, you could just about take care of lunch…

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“Uh, sir, you have to park your moped next to the bike rack.” (Orin O’Neill photos)

This weekend was the last gasp of Indian summer, so I decided to head for Multnomah Falls on the Historic Columbia River Highway. I’d been meaning to make this trip for a while.

Longtime readers may recall Safety Ed’s incident on the ride out to Multnomah Falls during Spring Scoot in 2007. I’d be covering a lot of the same ground, but not at the frenetic pace of a group ride.

The Historic highway begins where Halsey Street ends, but having already seen that part of town, I decided to ride out to the end of Stark Street. The scenery is a bit scuzzier (Stark is south of Burnside), but otherwise not a whole lot different from Outer Halsey.

Once past what I suspect is the Urban Growth Boundary, Stark transforms from arrow-straight arterial to twisty 2-lane country road before ending at the Historic Highway. At that point, you turn right and head for the falls. The Sandy River will be on your right for several miles.

The route is very well-marked, with plenty of signs to inform you of your progress.

It was rather windy when I left the house, the weather forecast mentioning 35 mph for the Gorge. Most of the way to Vista House is sheltered by trees and hillsides; I don’t know if the shelter effect was really pronounced, or I’m just getting used to riding in the wind, but the GTS was mostly unfazed.

I didn’t remember seeing the Portland Women’s Forum viewpoint the last time, but when I realized where I was, I had to stop.

You can see why.

The little tan bump on the cliff is Vista House, the landmark building on Crown Point. I imagine most of the picture-postcard views of Vista House were shot from here, or somewhere near here.

Back on the road, and it’s starting to look familiar. It also looks rather unforgiving, especially on the outside edge where screwing up could send you into a short stone wall and over the edge, or just over the edge.

I round a corner, the road slopes downhill. Yeah, right here… that’s where Safety Ed went down. I didn’t know it was him until I saw his GT in the Vista House parking area, its right side mangled. He was only a couple hundred yards from a safe arrival.

Take a few steps from where the GTS is parked in the lead picture, and that’s what you see. Pretty amazing, huh?

Vista House is pretty amazing, too. It is surely one of the most ornate public restrooms in the world.

It’s also an excellent place to enjoy the view without getting blown back to Portland by the wind.

Which, as it turns out, seemed likely to happen to me and several visitors. The wind had picked up tremendously after I took the above photo; I had to hang on to the railings, and visitors around me were holding on tight to their elderly relatives to keep them from being knocked down, or maybe blown off the stairway. The parasailers down on the Columbia River were probably loving it.

There was brief lull in the howling gale; I ran back to the GTS, got it off the stand and headed up the hill to a small turnout. From there, I turned around and headed back downhill, thinking motion might mitigate the effect of the wind.

Nope.

As soon as I got next to the building, the GTS was hurled into the opposing lane by a fierce gust. I managed to stop before running into a stone pony wall, but only just. Luckily, no one was coming the opposite way.

Remember, the road runs down the side of a very steep mountain slope, doubling back on itself many times before reaching the Multnomah Falls parking area at river level. Challenging all by itself, nightmarish with winds like this.

(cc) Kevin Kay

So here’s a picture, taken by Kevin Kay. Variations of this image appear in just about anything having to do with Oregon, especially tourism. I seriously doubt I could’ve come up with a new take on this, so I headed back to Portland. Multnomah Falls will still be there, so I’ll visit another time…

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Nissan photo

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

Similar in concept to the Renault Twizy, the Land Glider at least won’t give the impression you live in the Smurf Village. In fact, it’s tres modern, and well-finished enough to suggest it could go into production, given thumbs-up by large numbers of showgoers.

Unlike the Twizy, the Land Glider leans into corners like a scooter. However, it’s not clear whether it’s the driver or the vehicle that does the leaning.

Autoblog has more details and a bunch of pictures, and even a video showing it going around corners.

Again, this is a concept—Nissan is not presently offering the Land Glider for sale. They will be introducing an electric car called the Leaf, which you will be able to buy sometime in 2010…

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Park your cage here at your peril (Orin O’Neill photos)

While Portland is often lauded as one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the U.S., the climate for scooter and motorcycle riders is friendly as well, if these examples are any indication.

The Portland V.A. Medical Center is easy to find because it’s located on Veteran’s Hospital Road. And it’s easy to take your bike because the parking structure has tons of spaces for 2-wheelers.

As you can see, big cruisers outnumber scooters by a large margin. As you can also see, “MC” is stenciled on the pavement. This section is right next to the elevator. Parking is free for everyone. It is a hospital, after all.

There are many more spots scattered throughout the garage’s otherwise unusable spaces. The big box behind the Ninja is a bicycle locker. As I said, Portland is super bicycle-friendly.

But that’s nothing compared to Portland International Airport. PDX has the best motorcycle parking in the universe!

See how many spaces there are? Parking your motorcycle or scooter is free. It’s under cover. It’s free. It’s next to baggage claim. It’s free. You have 24/7 access to your bike. And it’s free.

Best of all, there’s no time limit. Did I mention it’s FREE?

This is a bit difficult for someone used to Sea-Tac, a place that never passes up an opportunity to charge $20 for something, to wrap the brain around. But then, PDX has won awards for its user-friendliness, being compact, close to town, and accessible by MAX.

Another example of how stuff just seems to work better here…

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