Ice Cream Run

I'm pretty sure it was the former Olympic marathoner and writer, Don Kardong, who was quoted as saying that a life without ice cream wasn't worth living. I agree. But, I would add that a life without chocolate ice cream wasn't worth living. I was the kid that when they opened the half gallon of Neapolitan ice cream was careful to scrape of any remnants of the vanilla and strawberry. And, while we're talking about it, chocolate should be chocolate, not all mixed up with bits and pieces of other things. Double chocolate? Sure. Chocolate chocolate chip. OK. But leave out the flavors that distract from the chocolate.

The part of this whole Piaggio MP3 scooter experiment that has been the most intriguing for me is how much I'm enjoying it.  And, how much sense having it makes. Don't misunderstand, I knew that I would like ANYTHING that allowed me to throw my leg over it and had a motor. What I didn't expect was that I would choose to ride the scooter over a garage full of motorcycles. You could argue that part of it is that it's like a new toy and I want to play with it. But I would argue that it's more than that.

The other evening Jenny and I had enjoyed a nice dinner at home. We'd fired up the grill, sat on the deck at sunset and basked in the cool temperatures. Then someone - probably me - mentioned taking a ride to go get ice cream. I didn't say "Let's take the Piaggio". I just said let's take a ride for ice cream.

The next thing I know we're in the garage and I'm backing the MP3 out of the door. Jenny is NOT looking to drag out a motorcycle of her own to ride, but is dressing warmly so that we can go "two-up." I can't emphasize this enough. Jenny has NEVER wanted to ride two-up. But something about being on the Piaggio has changed all that.

So we did exactly that. We hopped on the scooter and went for ice cream. No drama. No agenda. No plan, really, other than heading over to The Plush Pony - there is a nearly live size toy pony inside - for ice cream. As is always the case when you're on an MP3 the ice cream stopped turned into a conversation about how cool the scooter was.

When we left the cool night air was perfect and we took the long way home. And not just a block or two out of the way, but miles of riding for no other reason than it felt good.

I'm not sure how long this can last. I'm not sure how long I'll have the scooter, but I can tell you that I would already miss the element of pure pleasure that it has provided.

John