All Mixed Up and Broken

Clint at work at The Scooter Lounge
Store Front

The culprit

SL Scooters (left to right) Jordan, me, Craig, Josh

Uhaul in Kemmerer

Kaput

V.J and I

Between Casper and Kemmerer

A.C., NJ to A.C., WY

The Continental Divide

My grandfather told me a funny story once about the time he brought home his first car. With pride and excitment he pulled up to his house and rushed to the front door to get his father (my great-grandfather). Great granddpa Ernesto walked outside to take a look, squinted his eyes and said in a low Calabrese Italian voice, "Tutto rotto tutto shangad" or better translated, "All mixed up and broken" or even better translated, "What a piece of Sh@$!" He then shook his head, and quietly dismissed himself from the tragedy that lay before his eyes....no congratulations, no handshakes, just a dismissal of the whole thing.

This blog is dedicated to all things mixed up and broken....especially my scooter. Since the first fuel tank crack in Pierre, SD, its been nothing but downhill. Let me give you a brief run down of the past week and a half:

Pierre, SD: cracked fuel tank - down time 2 days

Casper, WY: 2nd cracked fuel tank - down time 1 day

Kemmerer, WY: 3rd cracked fuel tank - down time 2 days

Salt Lake City, UT: 4th cracked fuel tank - down time 1 day

Spanish Fork, UT: Flat rear tire - down time 4 hours

Equalling a grand total 4 cracked fuel tanks, 1 flat tire, 6 days and 4 hours of idleness...and probably over $600 in added expenses.

I've already posted the details of the first two fuel tank leaks but here's a quick re-cap of the others. I left Capser, WY feeling great about finally fixing this fuel tank issue. Like I said, the folks over at Yellowstone Scooters were great, taking care of me in every way....but there was still one itsy bitsy overlooked hidden disease deep within the bowels of my scooter...and when the bowels could no longer take the pressure, my scooter would have something I call "Scooter Diarrhea" or if you want the medical term, "ISS - Irritable Scooter Syndrome"...com'on, you know the feeling, you think you're safe but you're not...you followed the rules, eat this not that...but it's all in vain. Sooner or later you're going to have to go and its usually in place far away from home. And when you try your best to postpone it, pinch it or plug it, it often comes even quicker and with greater intensity. Such is the nature of Scooter Diarrhea.....

I road about 275 miles from Capser to Kemmerer...about 20 miles east of Kemmerer I pulled over to snap a few photos. I could smell the mountain air, the burning of firewood, and to my amazment, gasoline. I looked down and there was once again a steady stream of gas flowing from my tank onto my engine. I wanted to yell, I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry. In my mind, I saw myself light the scooter on fire and push it off a cliff...yelling, swearing and cursing at the air as it exploded into an oblivion at the base of the canyon. Tempting as it was to act on my impulse, I decided instead to ride out the remaining 12 miles to Kemmerer with the gas leaking....I figured I had two choices/dangers - 1) Ride to kemmerer and risk catching fire 2) Spend the night on the side of the road waiting for help (I had no cell phone reception) and possibly get knifed by a bloody hitchiker. Death by fire seemed to me the better way to go....

I road the scooter to Kemmerer, a small little town with a history of major paleontological finds. Driving through, I checked multiply motels but they were all booked - there was a gas pipe line being installed on the outskirts of town, and most of the workers took all of the rooms. I finally arrived at the Fairview Motel on the border of kemmerer and diamondville where they had (1) room left. The owner, a older hawaiian man named V.J., told me me that I was guaranteed a clean room at a fair price and gave me the keys. First I drained the gas tank fully and attempted to plug the crack with some permatex. The next morning I had a solid ring of permatex that seemed fix the leak until I tested it again in the parking lot and the leak broke through. I stayed in the motel until 11 am that morning, tinkering around, calling places, trying to figure out my next move when VJ called me and said, "Hi Sir, I have some Hawaiian coffee waiting for you in the lobby...and....you must leave the hotel room in 15 minutes, its check out time" I was thinking, "So you suck me in with the old freshly brewed coffee bribe then kick me out, eh? I guess that's how it is..." I gathered my things and headed for the lobby.

When I was checking out, VJ handed me a Christian salvation track and began to tell me about Jesus (I suppose I looked like a lost soul to him)....I immediately told him to save his breath because I was already a Jesus follower and fellow Christian. We then began to talk about spiritual/biblical things for the next half hour or so. He got a little preachy, so I started calling him the prophet VJ...he laughed and said that he is only a servant. He was adamant about stressing the importance of us Christians to preach the gospel to a lost world...I couldn't agree with him more, even though I fail at it often. We then prayed together for protection during my trip and the selling of his motel business so he can go into full time ministry. VJ even made me a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch! It was just another example of God sending his people to see me safely through my journey....

That afternoon, I rented a Uhaul truck ($160 + $40 in gas), loaded up the scooter and drove about 200 miles to Salt Lake City where I dropped off the scooter at SL Scooters in downtown Salt Lake. I then jumped on the trax and front runner local public transportation trains, and headed another 35 miles north to my friend's house in Ogden, UT. (I'll fill you in with the details of my stay in Ogden on the next blog)

The guys over at SL Scooters seemed like very competant mechanics...they had the tatoos to prove it. The scooter stayed with them for 2 days. Genuine scooters shipped them another fuel tank, a new shock system, and new fuel lines and connections. They replaced everything. My buddy, Paul, drove me to Salt Lake and I picked up the scooter. I decided to drive back to Ogden, stay over one more night and leave in the morning for Moab, UT. But you wouldn't believe it! With absolutely no extra weight (besides myself) on the scooter, the tank cracked again! This was just getting ridiculous and comical. This was number 4! I called roadside assistance again (which was a part of my Genuine Scooter warranty). They told me that I would have to pay to get towed because roadside assistance under the Genunine warranty is only good every 7 days. WTF! that's crap....I then called the roadside assistance number with my insurance company and they gladly sent a tow truck to pick up my scooter and send it back to SL Scooters.

From there, SL Scooters gave me the complete rigged hook up. They welded a ring inside and outside and all around the fuel tank crack. They raised the fuel tank about an inch so it wouldn't hit the back tire guard. Finally, they tested it by putting three guys ontop and riding it off of curbs. They were confident that this would work....and so far, they are right. Thanks Josh, Craig, and Jordan for your help. I couldn't have gone another mile without your assistance!

There was still one more little snag to be had. I left Ogden the next day and rode about 100 miles south to the town of Spanish Fork, UT. There was a lot of construction going on and I was getting turned around left and right with all the detours. I finally made it to route 6 (which is the road that goes directly southeast to Moab) when my back tire felt strange and began to swerve. I pulled over and looked down...I had a flat tire. I ran over a nail.

Is someone out there trying to tell me something? What gives?....lol (that's a sarcastic lol)

I called roadside assistance AGAIN, got towed AGAIN, and back tracked another hour north to the Scooter Lounge dealership in Orem, UT. They just happened to close but one of the mechanics, Clint, stayed behind to change out my tire. He did it in less than an hour, but it was about 3 pm now, and I still had almost another 150 miles to ride before dark in the heart of the rockies....

I was so tired of all the delays and decided it was time to hunker down and get it done.