Scootabout- Day 4

I left my parent's house early yesterday morning and headed towards Waynesboro, VA via Rt.15 to Rt.20 to Rt.250 to Skyline Drive. I rode Skyline drive (to date, the best scooter riding I've done in my life) and made camp @ Matthews Arm campground in Shenandoah National Park. I hiked about five miles of the Appalachian Trail and then built a fire made myself some food and went to sleep. So far this morning, I have broken camp, ridden the remainder of Skyline(about 25 miles), and headed into Front Royal, Virginia, where I currently sit, charging my phone, telling people who care that I'm not dead and updating this blog. Despite the fact that I will be hitting the road again in just a short while, I have not yet decided my next destination. Pittsburg? Steelton? NJ? Something else....hmmm, not sure. Here's some pics.

Scootabout Days 1-3

I have embarked on a trip around the States on my 1979 Vespa P200e. Many things have lead me to this journey, some of which I will touch on from time to time here on this blog. I also post to Facebook and Instagram regularly. I have quit my job(s) as a chef and "moved out" of my "house". Fact is, I have been living in a barn with no plumbing for the past year. I'll touch more on that later.... Right now it is 2:45 AM early Tuesday morning. I am in Culpeper, VA at my parents house. I have been here since Saturday evening. I plan on leaving in the morning to tackle Skyline drive in Shenandoah National Park. Since I've been here, I have been able to visit with my Grandma, Mom and Dad and I stopped by and saw a couple of other old friends while in town. I have also gotten my scooter legal (tagged, titled. registered and insured). I have done some riding in and around Culpeper (the town where I lived from age five to about age seventeen, I've done yardwork for my Father, visited a dentist in hopes of fixing my teeth (too expensive)and done some cooking for my family. Following this are some photos...stay tuned for more blog posts! Keep in mind, there will be facts about myself and my life that I have never publicly admitted...do me a favor and dont ask me questions about them. Here is my scooter all loaded for the trip. (I had already loaded and attempted to leave before this but the weight distribution was off. I had to repack, cut weight and reload). First gas/rest stop (rt 522, just past Lake Anna) Baby Jim's Snack Bar...a Culpeper icon. This place has been here as long as I can remember...I've never been inside. Stopped in a quaint little coffee shop on Davis St. The coffee was mediocre at best but the place was nice. (things like this did not exist when I lived here) This is a photo of the first "real" job I ever had. At the time it was called The Rochester Corporation. (I ran machines that taped or extruded plastic around fiber optic cable.. it was around 1988 or so) I once led the police on a high speed chase down this road as a teen...Route 666! This is the church I attended (or was forced to attend) as a kid. Turns out a member of the church and friend of the family went on to molest me for over a year. That fucker still goes to the church. Makes me sick thinking about it. Despite his serving time for molesting other boys... he has never come forward about what he did to me. He ruined my life and it haunts me to this day. I hate him. My first apartment ever was above this seafood restaurant. A lot of insane shit went down here. I also used to make extra money on the side my cutting high top fades and "gumby" haircuts on the people who lived in the "motorcourt" a seedy motel behind there. That's all for now...gotta pack up my gear, get a bit of rest atc. Tomorrow will be my first "real" day of the journey. Stay tuned.

Gonna get back to the blog a bit. It's been a while.

Here's a little diddy about my upcoming gig.

South of the James Market Introduces Celebrity Chef Demonstrations

Chain of Fools S/C weekly meetup

It's been a long time since I posted here. Perhaps with scooter weather coming back I'll take more photos of my adventures and post them up. Trying to get a regular Wednesday ride together. We'll see if it pans out.

Pumpkin Carving at the Hermitage Grill.

Fred Perry Vespa Special Edition

Well, I wouldn't ride this scooter, but I thought some of you would be interested.


Vespa

is collaborating with the Fred Perry fashion brand to make a limited edition of Fred Perry Vespa scooters to celebrate the fashion brand′s 100th anniversary. The Vespa Fred Perry Special Edition will feature the famous laurel leaf logo and Fred Perry detailing. The other feature includes a beautiful seat. The Fred Perry Special Edition will be produced only 100 for Perry's centennial anniversary. It will be sold starting from August in the a few markets such as UK, France, Japan, and the US. Unfortunately Piaggio (the parent of Vespa) has not confirmed the price of its special edition scooter.

Hermitage Grill rises like a fabled phoenix

-click-"Hermitage Grill rises like a fabled phoenix" -click-
And don't forget the slide show!

The Blood: Megalomania

I previously owned some of these books, now I own none and would like to have all again...

Yes, I am doing a post about books that I want. Not the usual sort of thing I post here, but you'll get it. Here's a link to a blog that profiles the famous "Skinhead" author, Richard Allen, nicely. So I don't have to go to the trouble myself!

Those We Left Behind

I think I will systematically find and purchase one book at a time since buying them all at once, though cheaper, is out of the question at the moment. I will include a nice picture of one of the covers which, of course, I'll rip directly from the other guy's blog without permission.

Perhaps even the Youtube vid as well...Fuck it.



Anyway...It's a beautiful day and I am off all night as well as tomorrow. So I off to ride the scoot!

Some of the food I've cooked in the restaurant since I started working there...

North Carolina Tamales: A steamed collard green, wrapped around sweet corn and cheddar polenta And smoked N.C> style barbecue (which was , smoked, chopped, and sauced in house).

Locally grown Figs stuffed with artisan Gorgonzola cheese and wrapped in hickory smoked bacon then roasted to sweet, savory and gooey perfection.

This is the "cooker" we smoke our pork butts in to make the N.C. BBQ. We are doing a batch tomorrow that we will take out Saturday to chop and sauce. MMM MMM!

Here is a photo of a photographer from the Times Dispatch taking a photo of another photographer from the Times, who is taking a picture of food from our restaurant for a write up we recently had in the weekly Food section.

New Spare & Rim

It was a nice night to take off that old, dingy spare and that rusty old rim for a new red aluminum rim from FA Italia and a Michelin S1 racing tire ( which will end up as my rear tire as soon as I put some air in it, since my pump is not working).

Slide show of a rimjob. Well, it is.

Find more photos like this on The Scooter Space

Hell W10

Hell W10 from Billy Blaze on Vimeo.

Chain Of Fools Scooter Club

So, we all (well, not all but several) managed to get together, grill some meat at Thor's place, drink some beers (not too many!), and get in a ride, before heading down to Empire and then parting ways for the night. Funny thing that happened: So we are sitting there in the back yard, bullshitting, when Thor looks over and says, " Hey Pat, doesn't that look like your old ET2" Sure enough, upon approaching the neighbor we not only found Pat's stolen Vespa (2 years gone almost), but also did some interrogating and figured out that someone we know actually stole it, but he's currently under lock and key for bank robbery, so no revenge happening at the moment. All told, a great night, with some good people, good weather and even better scooters!

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman Star Yvette Vickers Found Mummified in Home

Former Playboy pinup and B-movie actress Yvette Vickers died at the age of 82. But it wasn't until a year later—last Wednesday—that her mummified body was found in her Beverly Hills home.

Read more here.

Late 50's Cushman Truckster

Was watching the cult classic, SPIDER BABY, with Jenn tonight. To my surprise, during the opening sequence of the film, was a guy riding a late 50's model Cushman Truckster!

Lola's Song

Lola's Song by Soundweapon

Snapshot

New Lambrettas in Production.

They are making some new Lambrettas...for more on the story check here.