South Lake Union Block Party!

I have been on the verge of death for the past week and finally crawled out of my darkened apartment yesterday to blink in the brightness of day like a blind cavefish tossed upon the asphalt. I think I’m suffering from the recent outbreak of Whooping Cough. I’m certain it’s some exotic ailment because I refuse to suffer this much from the common cold.

Last night I ventured forth under the influence of Robitussin (for a more productive cough) to attend an event that I’m still not quite sure what to call. It was billed to those of us who participated as the South Lake Union Block Party, but according to the South Lake Union Block Party, that doesn’t happen until August 8th.

It was indeed a block party, and it was in South Lake Union – the SLU Discovery Center, to be exact. All I really know for sure is that there was free pizza from Tutta Bella, and that’s why I was there.  Oh, and also to join five of my friends in bragging about the fact that all our scooters can fit smugly in a regular car parking space.  This is also known as “promotion.” Because how cool would it be if cars were erased from the surface streets and replaced by fleets of scooters?

Susan of Scoot About scooter rental set up the promotional table, which featured some handouts we made for the West Seattle Festival. Safety Ed had his seat and trunk open to show the copious storage space in a modern Vespa, to counteract the arguments from cage drivers that begin, “But how would I carry…?” (Piaggio USA would like to remind you that no pets should be transported in the storage compartments of Vespa scooters.)

To be honest, I don’t feel completely comfortable promoting the Stella as a totally “green” form of alternative transportation. While there are many benefits to riding a scooter in general, such as high fuel efficiency, lowered traffic congestion, flexible parking, etc., the plume of smoke exhaled from the Stella’s modded two-stroke engine whenever I start her up is certainly more black than green.

Benjimen was there with his absolutely stunning fully custom “woody” Vespa that is a total work of art, right down to the “Country Squire” badge. I was looking into getting a custom badge for my scooter for awhile that says “FrankenStella” in the Stella font. I haven’t found a place to make it yet that won’t run about $200. If you have any suggestions, do let me know.

Here’s part of our “tiny parking footprint” line-up, with Click’s red GTS on the right.

That may look like Aphrodite in the center, but it’s actually an imposter. Or rather, a relative – ridden by a fellow VCOS member. And to the left is one of the brand spankin’ new Stellas in that toe-curling baby blue, which is totally washed out from the late afternoon sun. So pretty.

I will finish with just one more pretty photo of Celeste, because she is the most toe-curlingest bike I’ve ever seen and after all the work I’ve done, I’d need to show her off as much as possible.

Hopefully my rare Western Washington Whooping Cough is drawing to a close and I’ll actually get to do some riding this weekend, now that the sun has begun to make an appearance.

Have a great weekend and keep the rubber side down!