TheScooterScoop

Roamin’ holiday: “Fifteen months and 1,800 miles ago, Iva Jewel Tucker, a copy editor at The Alabama Baptist, drew laughs from colleagues when she told them she was buying a scooter.

The funny part was, Tucker, now 79, wasn’t kidding.

‘Iva Jewel is an outgoing person who has always been interested in doing new things,’ said Johnie Sentell, then associate editor of The Alabama Baptist newspaper. ‘She is a delight.’

Sentell’s language skills notwithstanding, his initial reaction was, ‘Good grief. Surely not.’

Friends tried to talk her out of the notion. Some fretted over her safety. Others questioned her sanity. Relatives were appalled, including a cleric who bluntly inquired: What’s next? Tattoos?

‘I already have one across my chest,’ Tucker countered. ‘`Do not resuscitate.”

Giving new meaning to ‘Easy Rider,’ Tucker navigates the streets of greater Birmingham atop a 2003 Honda Metropolitan motorcycle. The seasoned wordsmith foregoes that ‘unappealing’ term in favor of ‘scooter.’

Once she bought it in July 2004, Tucker used a black Sharpie to letter ‘Scooter’ on the shiny yellow finish of the vehicle she christened Buttercup.”