My ride to Alaska and continuing on to Scooter Cannonball 2010 is long over. It was great fun and I still think I’ll eventually finish the blog. I have pages and of notes and lots of photos to share.

But now I’m on to a new adventure – a lap around Australia. It started as the idea of a fellow San Diegan in 2010. He was going to retire at the end of 2011 (I think) and relocate to Australia. The ride was a way to combine the joy of riding in is new homeland with other scooterists from around the world. He envisioned it as a huge event with 100 riders. It did not go as he thought. In fact, the event was officially cancelled just days before it was to begin.

Since I was already committed, plane ticket in hand, I decided to go ahead with a modified version of the same “event” – circumnavigate Australia with any scooter rider who wanted to join in. I had already “met” some Australians on the website Modern Vespa. It’s a forum for scooter enthusiasts that I stumbled across about five years ago when I was looking to buy my first scooter. Anyway, when they heard I was coming to ride, these Aussies stepped right up with offers of help in planning a route, places to stay, a home cooked meal, etc. I hope not to need their help on the road but it would be nice to meet some of them in “real life.”

One I’m going to meet today is Bill. He’s organized charity events and rides both BMW and Vespa. And as a native, he’s got great info on where to go and where not to go. We’ll be setting off from Sydney on Sunday and expect to meet up with additional riders along the way. Can hardly wait!