TheScooterScoop

By John Kelly Washington Post Metro columnist.
Somewhere in the middle of Wyoming, roommates Mike Garrett and Rob Downs may come to question the wisdom of their journey.

Crossing the continental United States on a Vespa and a Lambretta ? Those nippy little scooters more associated with the narrow, congested streets of Rome than the vast, yawning spaces of America?

Rob Downs, left, will ride a Lambretta and Mike Garrett will ride a Vespa from Oregon to New York in the Scooter Cannonball, which begins Sunday.
Rob Downs, left, will ride a Lambretta and Mike Garrett will ride a Vespa from Oregon to New York in the Scooter Cannonball, which begins Sunday.

But they cannot be dissuaded, and Sunday in Pacific City, Ore., they will straddle their machines and point them east, destination Coney Island, N.Y., 3,500 miles away. With them will be 30 other scooter riders.

Make that “scooterists.”

“There’s a difference between scooterists and people who ride scooters,” said Rob, a 30-year-old Navy vet who works on the Department of Labor’s Web site. “Some people just own and ride scooters. If someone’s referred to as a scooterist, that means he does scooter rallies and likes hanging out with other people who have a shared interest in this hobby.”

Click the title link to read the who story on the Cannonball Run.
Pop a tire Jim! (scooter equivalent to “break a leg“)