I have always been a wee bit more adventurous than some, and had been considering buying a motorcycle to cut down on the gasoline I burn. We American citizens have all been too cavalier about our fuel consumption. Now that our prices are catching up with those in the rest of the world, we are forced to find new ways to cut back.
Since I am now 55 years old, and am not quite as fearless as I once was, I decided to take a motorcycle driver education class. I wanted to make sure I had some instruction in proper riding and safety issues, and truthfully, I wasn’t certain that I would even enjoy riding a cycle at this stage of life. I took a very thorough 2-day instructional class, actually riding a bike through training lessons. I highly recommend anyone who has never ridden to go this route; you learn a lot about handling the motorcycle as well as rules and regulations.
After taking the class, I decided to buy a bike of my own. I purchased a Suzuki 250. It is a size that I am very comfortable with, and where I used to put about $60.00 worth of gas into my SUV, I now ride the bike to work and around town for errands, including to my grandchildren’s sporting events. I estimate that it has saved me about 25 gallons of gas per week, and leaves a much smaller ecological footprint. Another added benefit is that as I ride along, I notice many things I never did in my closed-in vehicle, such as the sight of an eagle flying along the river, the smell of fresh-cut grass, the feel of patches of warmer or cooler air, to name a few.
Cheryl Maschino
Today I would like to share with you news of my previous shopping trip. Here is a photo to show you that if you do decide to purchase a scooter, it is still possible to do your quick errands and grocery shopping at the end of a work day. The photo shows all of the food that I picked up in one quick trip to the grocery store: 1 gallon of milk, 2 boxes of cereal, a loaf of bread, check mix, ice cream, 2 packages of chocolate chip cookies, Pop Tarts, 3 cans of food and some sugar free grape Kool-Aid, a package of Snickers, Three Musketeers and some popcorn! Those all fit nicely into my bag and my seat on my scooter. I could have even picked up a few smaller items but I didn’t want to push my luck! 