Mystery Science Theater 3000 (you know, the show there a guy and his two robot friends watch movies and make fun of them) had twelve different episodes dedicated to either Godzilla or Gamera (Godzilla had two, Gamera had the rest).

Before the show made it to Comedy Central, they aired on KTMA, a public access channel in Minnesota. Here, they did five Gamera movies. Two years later, on Comedy Central, they did a couple of Godzilla flicks and finally, a year after did, redid four of the five Gamera movies.

The regular versions will post on Wednesdays (as is now normal) and the MST3K versions will post on the follow Saturdays. Nifty, eh? It sure is!

I’ll be watching all of these as I watch the original Japanese versions of the movies themselves.

KTMA era
Episode K04 – Gamera vs. Barugon (1966 / 1988)
Episode K05 – Gamera (1965 / 1988)
Episode K06 – Gamera vs. Gaos (1967 / 1988)
Episode K07 – Gamera vs. Zigra (1971 / 1988)
Episode K08 – Gamera vs. Guiron (1969 / 1989)

Season Two
Episode 212 – Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973 / 1991)
Episode 213 – Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966 / 1991)

Season Three
Episode 302 – Gamera (1965 / 1991)
Episode 304 – Gamera vs. Barugon (1966 / 1991)
Episode 308 – Gamera vs. Gaos (1967 / 1991)
Episode 312 – Gamera vs. Guiron (1969 / 1991)
Episode 316 – Gamera vs. Zigra (1971/1991)¹

You better be excited.

1. Nearly forgot this one – thanks, Ryan. [↩]

For one night I was the envy of all my friends! Ok, two people expressed in some way or another that I was lucky, but whatever. I had a great time laughing along to Akira Kurosawa’s Hidden Fortress. While it’s true that Kurosawa isn’t exactly known as a comic genius, he certainly pegged it on this one.

The plot is a serious one. A kingdom has been annihilated in battle. The princess of that kingdom must escape or suffer death. The one man that can save her, and the gold needed to rebuild their land, is at a loss on how to do it. Thankfully he runs into two greedy and cowardly fools who inadvertently come up with a plan, but, through no real fault of their own, pave the way for the real heroes to save the day.

However, the entire story is told through the eyes of these two hapless and hilarious peasants. They provide not only the plan and a handful of helpful happy accidents, they provide more genuine belly laughs than I’ve had in a very long time. I instantly fell in love with them, just as I had fell in love with R2-D2 and C-3PO from Star Wars as a kid.

Hidden Fortress was one inspiration for the first Star Wars movie. Lucas admits to using Kurosawa’s idea of telling the story through two minor characters’ point of view (something he totally forgot to do in the prequel trilogy). While Hidden Fortress and Star Wars were two fairly different films, the similarities existed beyond a storytelling device.

Lucas’s first treatment for what was to become Star Wars (called Journal of the Whills) was basically a scene-by-scene remake of Hidden Fortress. The only real difference was that it was set on another planet. There was no Force, no Jedis, no dark side, it was simply Kurosawa’s plot as rewritten by a young George Lucas.

Of course, early treatments are expanded, new ideas are thought up or borrowed and what was originally a direct remake of Hidden Fortress became essentially a cross between The Ramayana and Kurusawa’s film. Put those two together and you have Star Wars (complete with animal helpers Hanuman/Chewbacca).

While I watched Hidden Fortress, smaller links to Star Wars were apparent to me. One of the things that REALLY caught my Star Wars eye was the music when the two peasants were arguing in the desert and then split up only to soon-after be captured and reunited (sound familiar?). It’s exactly the same music that John Williams used in the exact same scene in Star Wars. Exactly. Pretty much.

There was a Cantina scene and even a Han Solo charactor – a no-good scoundrel of a general who, despite his no-good scoundreling ways, comes through in the end, saving the main character and the princess.

A book called The Secret History of Star Wars tells the whole story and goes into great detail. You can download the first 100 pages of this here. Pages 49 – 56ish are the ones concerning Hidden Fortress. If Jeff is reading this, he’ll want to seek it out.

Aside from the Star Wars fanboy connection, there were also Godzilla connections. Kurosawa himself was friends with seminal Godzilla director Ishiro Honda. Honda studied with him and then assisted him early in their careers. Later, he directed most of Kurosawa’s location shots for his later movies, including several entire segments of Dreams.

Musically, the score by Masaru Sato is amazing. He also scored Throne of Blood, which I saw last week. Throne’s score was very abrasive with loud flutes and random drums. Fortress’, on the other hand, was much softer. Sato, between scoring for Kurosawa, also scored several Godzilla movies, including Godzilla Raids Again and Godzilla vs. the Sea Serpent.

Speaking of which, actor Minoru Chiaki, who played one of the bumbling peasants in Hidden Fortress, played Kobayashi in Godzilla Raids Again (the second Godzilla movie). Both characters were comic fools and both were instrumental in their respective happy endings.

Few will deny that Hidden Fortress is a brilliant classic. But how many know that the classic inspired the greatest space saga of all times? How many know that much of the same crew that fashioned this masterpiece also cranked out sequel after sequel of movies featuring guys in rubber lizards suits beating on each other?

The boundary between “classic cinema” and “b-movies” is never far. The differences between what so many elitists call “films” and fanboys call “sci-fi flicks” are not so vast.

I saw this with Ryan. He wrote a nice little write up here. Take a look.

I got an email yesterday from someone asking if I ever figured out what those cliff dwelling looking things were in Utah. I hadn’t. Then he sent me the answers and a bunch of other pics.

Here’s a refresher… On my way through Utah, I went through the town of Goshen. Just after Goshen, I saw something odd cut into the mountain.

They were buildings sort of dug into the cliff. But they were ancient. Maybe they were from 50’s? I’ve been searching online, but have found absolutely nothing on them.

More things to explore… someday.

So what is this wonder? It’s the Tintic Standard Reduction Mill!

According to the Wikipedia site:

The Tintic Standard Reduction Mill—also known as the Tintic Mill or Harold Mill—built in 1920 and only operating from 1921 to 1925, is a vacant refinery located on the west slope of Warm Springs Mountain near Goshen, Utah, in the United States. Metals processed at the mill included copper, gold, silver, and lead; all of which were received from another mill near Eureka, Utah. The reducing process used was an acid-brine chloridizing and leaching process which became outdated, leading to the abandonment of the site in 1925. At the mill’s highest productivity it processed 200 tons of ore yearly.

What remains of the mill are foundations for water tanks, crushers, roasters, iron boxes, leaching tanks, and drain boxes. The site dominates the surrounding landscape with its size and unique colors and shapes.

It has been speculated that this mill may be the contributor of heavy metal pollution in the Goshen Warm Springs which lie below it.

It was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1978.

There are more images of the place (from the inside) here. The poor chap who took the pics got a trespassing ticket of $50. Of that ordeal, he wrote:

Can you believe that I got a trespassing ticket there? What a crock. A couple of other (totally random strangers) decided to check it out the same time I was there. A conservation cop must have spotted them from the highway. He was cool, but still “had” to give me a ticket. $50 later… At least I made him climb all the way up there and get me. Sucker. I would have fought it (which the cop actually told me I could), but I was getting married and moving across the country the next week, so I said screw it and just paid.

My wife’s parents live a couple miles down the road (in Elberta if you could imagine). My father-in-law couldn’t believe that I got a ticket there as he said that they used to take their scout troop out there camping and swimming.

That does it. I have to go back.

Now if only I could figure out what the Temple of the Birds is….

You can see more pictures from that day here.
And you can read all about that day right here.

This is part of an ongoing series called Godzilla & Friends: Reviews from the Godzillaverse and Beyond!. Feel free to look around.

Remember last week when I said that I would probably end up telling you to watch every Godzilla movie. Well, I might have to take it back. Ok, technically, this isn’t a Godzilla movie. But I’m placing it in the Godzillaverse because Baragon shows up in a future Godzilla flick and Frankenstein’s (sort of) off spring are mentioned down the road.

Anyway, I did not really care for this one. It was weird. Not weird in a good way. It just didn’t work.

The movie’s origins are a bit more interesting though. Way back before King Kong vs. Godzilla, Willis O’Brien (the original King Kong’s special effects guy) came up with the idea of a giant Frankenstein battling Kong. The idea was shopped around by a fellow named John Beck and it later became King Kong vs. Godzilla. O’Brien died and Toho still had the original Frankenstein script, so they ran with it.

The movie was a co-production between Toho and the American company Brenco Pictures (or possibly Benedict Productions), who had released a few other Toho films in the US. They were impressed with King Kong vs. Godzilla and apparently wanted in on the action. Originally, it was going to be a sequel to The Human Vapor (called Frankenstein vs. The Human Vapor), but that was canned in favor of Frankenstein vs. Godzilla. That, in turn, was canned in order to make Mothra vs. Godzilla.

Finally, they sorted it all out and made Frankenstein vs. Baragon, the movie I just watched. There were three different edits: the Japanese edit, the US edit and the “international” edit. I chose to watch the international edit because it’s exactly like the Japanese edit, except there’s a longer ending tacked on after the original ending.

Once upon a time… there was a plot.
The year: 1945. The place: Germany… in Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory (actually, it’s Dr. Rissendorf, but it’s pretty much Frankenstein). The good doctor has secured something in a chest. But then Nazi soldiers burst in and steal it!

It’s delivered to a German submarine and then transfered to a Japanese submarine. Where Captain Kawai hands it off to a hospital lap in Hiroshima where an unnamed doctor (played by the ridiculously amazing Takashi Shimura) explains to him that this is the heart of Frankenstein. The Germans were trying to make soldiers that bullets couldn’t kill. Kawai leaves and then Hiroshima is bombed.

Fifteen years later, Sueko Togami, a female doctor in the rebuilt Hiroshima, sees a crazy looking boy on her way home from work. She hears that there were many such boys after the war, but this one stole a dog. The next day, a rabbit is found, mutilated.

Sueko’s co-worker and obligatory love interest, the American Dr. Bowen, are sitting down to a lovely dinner. He tells her that he’s leaving Japan, but then they hear a car outside the apartment. It has hit the crazy boy! He seems ok, so they throw some food down to him. He takes it and scurries off.

Some time later, Sueko and Dr. Bowen were strolling along the beach when a crowd finds a crazy boy hiding in a cave. Dr. Bowen tells the cops to back off and let him handle it (because doctors can do that). Sueko makes contact with the boy and eventually gets the boy to trust her enough to let her take him back to the hospital.

Back at the hospital, a bunch of reporters have gathered around them. Oddly, none of the reporters is the star of the movie. That’s sort of odd for a Toho flick. Anyway, Bowen explains to them that this boy (played by an obviously Japanese actor) is white… and resistant to radiation (not sure how he found that one out).

Meanwhile, in the Akita Oil Fields, Mr. Kawai (the ex-submarine captain) is running an oil rig. There’s an earthquake! The men run to dry land and the rig falls into the sea. From beneath the rubble a creature appears… with a luminescent something or other (it’s dark, so they can’t see).

A bit of time has passed and it’s been discovered that the boy likes watching rock music shows on TV. That is, until some crazy Japanese fellow screams. The boy picks up the TV and chucks it out the window like Keith Moon!

This is all getting a bit out of hand. The boy is growing at an incredible rate. He’s large, but, according to Sueko, he’s not violent. Nobody has a clue what’s going on or where this now giant boy has come from. All they know is that he’s big and in a jail cell.

Luckily, the answers start popping up. Because of all the press, Mr. Kawai meets up with Sueko, Dr. Bowen and their associate, Dr. Kawaji. Kawai tells them the story of Frankenstein’s heart and about his role in it. The doctors then head to Germany for more answers. There, they find Dr. Rissendorf (Dr. Frankenstein). He thinks the boy could be Furankenshutain, the Frankenstein Monster.

But how does one tell? Simple! Cut off a leg. If it grows back, he’s Frankenstein! If it doesn’t… put it on ice and hope for the best.

Dr. Kawaji (Sueko and Bowen’s associate) is totally down with that idea. He wants to cut off a leg. Or at least a hand. Man, he really wants Frankenstein’s hand.

And just as the movie was getting somewhere, Sueko and Bowen sit down for dinner. They’re expecting Kawaji to show up, but he doesn’t. Oh guess why! He’s going to pump Frank full of trancs and cut his hand off. YES!

Right when Kawaji is about to attempt this, a whole mess of reporters storm in. The lights from the cameras totally freak Frank out and he busts open his jail cell – but he doesn’t leave.

They call Bowen who gives Sueko a good shake, telling her to stay put, and then beats feet to Kawaji’s side. Frank’s going to get out, they think, and the cops show up. Bowen’s plan is to blind him. Brilliant. The cops shoot at Frank and he again freaks out, breaking his chains and running away.

Dr. Kawaji is totally freaking ecstatic because he finds out that Frank didn’t break the chains, his hand sort of fell off… or was cut off … or something, and is now crawling around on the floor. It’s creepy and fun! The hand is still alive and Kawaji hopes to keep it that way by putting it in a protein solution.

Frank is gone, but the doctors receive a call that farm animals have gone missing in Okayama. Near Osaka, there’s a dance on a boat. They’re playing some crazy rock & roll music. Frank appears in front of the boat, scaring the wild teens!

And back in Hiroshima, Kawaji is losing it. The hand has escaped! It’s soon found, but it’s dead. Turns out, it didn’t get enough protein.

Frank’s on the move again and heads to Mt. Ibuki where he tosses a tree at a bird and it (the tree) lands on a farmer’s shack. It was pretty funny, actually – though probably not to the farmer. Peering over the edge of a hill, Frank notices that the army is gathering. Tanks are coming to get him! But they never really get around to it.

Oh, and his hand is growing back.

Dr. Bowen believes that Frank will head to Mt. Fuji. He hopes that they can feed him enough and get him to settle down a bit.

But in the woods near Mt. Shirane, there’s a rock & roll party! Will Frank attack? Nope! It’s Baragon, the goofy dog looking monster with big hears and a horn on his nose that lights up. I’m seriously not joking about this. He tears the place up. And the next day, everyone blames Frank.

Just then, the Shimizu tunnel collapses! Some folks see something lighting up and it’s scary and they run! Frank?

Baragon is now on a rampage! He’s eating farm animals and wrecking houses. Some boys find Frank holed up in a quarry cave and alert the authorities. The army fires at Frank, but he runs away.

Mr. Kawai, the ex-sub captain, again finds the doctors. He tells them about the oil rig and that he thinks that all this destruction is from a different monster. He saw a light as the oil rig went down, just as the folks in the tunnel saw a light. Baragon is underground! But nobody is really buying that jazz.

So the doctors decide to find Frank. Kawaji, still ticked off about losing the hand, wants Frank dead. He at least wants the heart.. and some flesh… at least a finger! He attempts to set out on his own, but just as he starts out, Baragon pops up from out of the ground.

Lucky for everyone, Frankenstein has found them! He fights Baragon, defending the doctors. During the fight, Kawaji is injured. Frank rescues him, taking him back to Sueko and Bowen. The town is evacuated and Frank defends it, leading Baragon into the woods, away from the town.

A giant fight ensues and finally, in the midst of a forest fire, Frankenstein defeats Baragon!

But wait! There’s more!
In the Japanese version, the movie basically ends there. Frank holds Baragon aloft and both are swallowed by the earth in a great convenient cave in. Oh, but in the International version, Frank has killed the mighty Baragon and is celebrating with a hearty roar when from out of nowhere on Mount freaking Fiji a giant octopus pops up and drags Frank into a now-suddenly-nearby lake, the end.

Yeah.

Frankenstein vs. Baragon was supposedly the first American/Japanese co-production. Henry Saperstein, on the American side, loved the octopus scene from King Kong vs. Godzilla. He insisted that director Ishiro Honda tack on the super awesome scene at the end. It was filmed, but left out of the Japanese version.

Saperstein tried to market his version as Frankenstein vs. The Devil Fish (he really liked that octopus!). American International Pictures bought it, but ironically decided to cut the wacky octopus ending (calling the film Frankenstein Conquers the World). Saperstein was left octopusless… until the sequel, War of the Gargantuas, released a year later (we’ll be watching this soon enough).

This flick was also a first for Nick Adams, who plays Dr. Bowen. He’s most famous for creating, writing and starring in the TV show The Rebel. He was pals with James Dean and Elvis. He played Dr. Bowen just two years after being nominated for an Oscar. He’d film two other movies with Toho, we’ll see one of them, Invasion of Astro-Monster, next week.

Nick couldn’t speak Japanese, so he would say his lines in English. His voice was then overdubbed for the Japanese version. It was left as-is for the US version.

While I didn’t like this one as much as the others, it was still a bit of fun. I mean, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it’s worth a look-see. So should you see it? Well, if you’re big into kaiju movies, you pretty much have to. At least once. But if you’re just the casual Godzilla fan, you can probably give it a miss. Personally, I’m ready for another Godzilla movie.

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Monsters: Frankenstein, Baragon, giant octopus (but only in the International Version)
Locations: Hiroshima, Akita, Osaka, Mt. Ibuki, Mt. Shirane, Mt. Fiji

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Producer: Tomoyuki Tanaka | Director: Ishiro Honda | Screenplay: Takeshi Kimura
Special Effects: Eiji Tsuburaya | Score: Akira Ifukube
Released: August 8, 1965 | 94 mins | Color | 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio

Over this past weekend, the shipping company that was bringing my scooter from New Berlin, PA to Seattle, WA dropped off Ruby in front of my door.

It only cost $425 going from door-to-door. That’s pretty good, no?

They showed up around noon and as they rolled the scooter off the trailer I got this weird rush of nostalgia. Not like 1950’s nostalgia or anything like that. But it was like seeing an old friend. This scooter and I had ridden 13,000 miles last spring and summer. We hit nearly 30 states together. There’s definitely a bond.

Having her back makes me want to travel. But at this point, I can’t even legally ride it yet. The Pennsylvania tags are expired and in order to get it registered in Washington, I have to get the bank to send me a photocopy of the title. Yeah, I’m still paying on this one.

I asked the bank if they could just scan it and email it to me. But no. They said that wouldn’t be secure.

That brings up a point on how banks are woefully behind the times. How is emailing something “not secure,” but mailing it totally ok?

When you mail something, it passes through the hands of a lot of people. And unless it’s registered mail, there’s no way to tell where it is or what happened to it if it goes missing.

But still, that’s secure according to Jonestown Bank. Thankfully I don’t have my money in their secure location.

And speaking of banks – I find this funny.

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We got a call from Ryan yesterday morning asking us if we wanted to ride the S.L.U.T. Well of course we did! Since moving to Seattle, one of the things on the to-do list was: ride the S.L.U.T.

Another was to go to Pike Public Market. The Market wasn’t super high on the list, but I still wanted to check it out again. I was there over the summer or maybe it was in 2007. Whichever, I wanted to go again.

So we drive downtown, spend about a year looking for parking and find Ryan, Jaime and family. A fairly ridiculously amazing cooking store was hit first. We got a squirrel cookie cutter and little stainless steel dipping bowls. I’ve been looking for these for a long time. We got four. Now I can dip whenever I please!

We also found Cubby the cat. I think he’s sort of an institution at the Market. He’s somewhat trained to handshake and I believe they’re raising money for a shelter or something. I kind of miss having a cat, but I don’t miss cat barf, so it’s all ok.

In one part of the Market, there’s a too-anatomically-correct wooden sculpture of an ape. Viri (RyJa’s son) was a bit weirded out by it. So was I. Viri said what we were all thinking though, “That’s a penis. He’s a papa monkey.” It sure was.

And with that in mind, naturally, it was time to ride the S.L.U.T.

S.L.U.T. stands for South Lake Union Trolley. It runs from downtownish to Lake Union. The area is called South Lake Union, and it is a Trolley.

It was disappointing to learn that South Lake Union Trolley wasn’t actually its final name. Seems it was their original idea until they realized that South Lake Union Trolley spells out SLUT. So they officially named it South Lake Union Streetcar.

Lucky for us, the original name stuck. A local cafe even made t-shirts urging us to “Ride the S.L.U.T.” Hell, there’s even a song.

Since all this rigmarole, Seattle has renamed it “Seattle Streetcar.” The line (the only line) has been named “South Lake Union Line.” Sort of a bummer. I was hoping Seattle would be wise enough to just call it The SLUT. No such luck.

Anyway, the SLUT ride was fun. I mean, it’s your basic trolley, but still, it’s on rails, so I’m pretty down with it. Down with the SLUT. In a good way. Whatever that means.

After a quick ride from one terminus to the other, we concluded our fine day downtown.

Thanks, Seattle!

You can check out Smartz’s blog for a different perspective and more pics. Go go go!

This is the blog that I kept while planning and riding Scoot 66, a three month, 11,000 mile journey on a Vespa motorscooter. There’s quite a lot to read here, but below is a summary.

If you would like to read the posts in the order they were posted, look to your right and select “Sort by date ASC.”

Happy exploring!

May
This was the start of the trip that would change everything. After a couple days tramping around the hills of West Virginia, I departed on May third.

Weather would mar my trip for the first several weeks. The first day was no exception. Rain through Ohio, and then wind and then rain again at night as I searched endlessly for a cheap motel. Eventually I found one.

Route 66 was the main inspiration for this trip. It started in Chicago, and that’s where I headed on the second day. It was my great fortune that it was sunny and springlike. The next day, riding across Illinois, was also sunny and nice.

I crossed the Mississippi. Missouri and I get along very well. Another fairly beautiful day.

Day Eight of my trip was a wash. It rained all day. I have never seen so much rain before or since. It came in sheets and I was nearly swimming through the air. On Day Eight, I had my only accident of the trip. The rain became so intense, so sudden that I could not see and didn’t make a turn, winding up in a ditch. Thankfully a family came along and dragged me out. There was no damage to anything but ego.

I retired for the night, only riding 100 miles, in the small college town of Rolla.

Rain marked the next day and the next as I rode through the rest of Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. The weather was still a factor, I was just lucky. I missed a deadly tornado that leveled a town I rode through by a day. By the night of Day Eleven, I was in OKC, ready for a break.

I had originally planned a side trip here, but shortened it, staying in OKC for a few nights.

Finally rested and fully dried out, I hit the road, falling in love with Route 66 through Oklahoma. This is a very underrated section. Sun, rain, dirt roads, getting lost, hippies and fun were all in store for me through western Oklahoma, into Texas. Texas is unforgiving and relentless and I love it. And it rained. Big, Texas rain. And the temperatures dropped into the low 40s.

Each night I was having to dry out everything I owned. Not because I didn’t plan for rain, believe me, I did. But even rain gear gets soaked and needs to dry. All day rains are tiering. And going into New Mexico, snow started to appear on the mountains. Visions of the Donner Party wiggled through my head.

But thankfully I escaped without having to eat my own arm to survive. No snow (yet), but wind was becoming a factor.

I fell deeply in love with Albuquerque and a wonderful family I met and stayed with there. I crashed for a few days, took in the local sites, hung out with some of my new favorite people ever and generally had a blast.

I was sad to leave, but had to (though I’d be back). Here is where the wind became a real issue. Actually no, here is where I figured it would be, but only caused minor issues, like blowing my tent down all throughout the night.

By the time I got to Arizona, the wind was amazing. It’s nearly impossible to ride into 40mph sustained winds and make good time or gas mileage. Both suffered. It’s also exhausting. And then there were the dust storms. Huge, billowing clouds of swirling, pissed off dirt kicked my white ass across Arizona.

Day 23 brought all sort of fun weather: wind, rain, snow, cold. It was a riding nightmare, but the scenery and stops were worth it. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. The day ended in Flagstaff with flurries flying and temperatures dropping to the low 30s as I rode around looking for a place to eat. No camping tonight.

I awoke to several inches of snow, that held me up for a bit. It soon melted, but more storms greeted me throughout the day. Riding in snow is not very possible. I did my best and ended the day short, which was fine by me.

Route 66 was winding down. Only the rest of Arizona and California to get through. Day 25 was cold at first, but as I wound my way up to Oatman and down the other side into the Colorado River valley and then into Needles, the temps rose, though it wasn’t the 119F that I experienced the last time I was through here in 2006.

It would be nice if Route 66 ended in the Mojave. I love that place. It wasn’t hot and was just an enjoyable ride with a little desert rain. The next day was LA. I hate LA. I blew through it, very unceremoniously ending Route 66 and headed north on California One.

My plan was to make it to Big Sur the next day, but decided instead to head to Berkeley to visit Cole and Josh.

Though I don’t really care much for Berkeley, I had a great time thanks to my hosts. We saw the sights and even some big trees and a fault line and met the Great California Sky Whale! It was a delightful way to end the month of May.

June!
The first few days of June were spent in Berkeley with more fun, but finally it was time to say goodbye to California, climbing the Sierra-Nevadas and visiting Donner Pass. I took Route 50 through Nevada. It’s called The Loneliest Road in America, but isn’t. There are “worse.” This was, however, one of my favorite stretches of road on the trip so far.

It took me through the long valleys where you could see twenty miles of road in front of you, to mountains and finally to the salt flats of Utah. I wound up in Salt Lake City after a brief stop over at the Hare Krishna temple way the hell outside of town.

I stayed with friends, Mandy and Earl, dropped my scooter off to be serviced and picked up a rental car (which turned out to be an evil white PT Cruiser). Smartz joined the trip for a few days and we first drove up north a bit to see the Spiral Jetty and some train stuff. We then headed south for some wild west style fun. We spend the next handful of days hanging out in Albuquerque pondering what to do after Scoot 66 ended. We knew we were moving, just weren’t sure where. Albuquerque? Sure seemed nice.

We drove back to SLC and then Smartz flew out the next morning. I stayed for a day and then was off north through northern Utah and bits of Idaho and Wyoming.

Riding through Idaho, I discovered that I loved Idaho. Would never ever want to live there, but couldn’t wait to visit again. Idaho seems to contain bits of almost every state. From rocky mountains to white water rivers to deserts to thick forests and everything in between. I also discovered that I really dug the Oregon Trail, and followed a segment of it for a spell, however, not into Oregon.

By Day 54, I had been on the road twelve days longer than I thought that I would be… and I was only in Portland, a place that I didn’t even plan on visiting. The trip evolved on its own, naturally. The longer I was out, the longer I wanted to be out.

I could only stay for a few days in Portland, visiting Ashley, a traveling companion from 2004. Portland was my favorite town of the trip. We passed a very happy day there, picking strawberries and wandering the streets. Maybe I would move here. It was a plan. Love for a city makes you do wacky things. The next day, I fell in love with it even more. I did every but promise Ashley that I would move there. Hell, maybe I even did that. And I still might, who knows. Life is long.

I did not want to leave Portland to go to Seattle. But I did want to go to Seattle. I just didn’t want to ride there. I planned a fun, elaborate all-day ride. But I was worn out and said “eff it” and took the interstate.

The last day of June was a day off in Seattle. There would be many more of those days off to come.

July!!
At the very latest, I was to be home in early July. Instead, I spent the next two and a half weeks in Seattle. Mostly, it was so that I could get my scooter repaired – there was some drama associated with that. There was a lot of money associated with that as well.

I stayed with Ryan and Jaime and Jeff. We are old friends. Pretty much the oldest I have. I’ve known them since I was 18. We didn’t grow up together, really, but in a way we did and are still.

I can’t say that I fell in love with Seattle. Not yet. But I fell in love with being around such good, old friends. The plans once more had changed. I was moving to Seattle.

Now if only I could get back on the road!

By Day 78 of what was originally a 42 day trip, I was again on the road, heading through eastern Washington. The next day, I picked up the pace a bit. It’s not that I wanted to be back in PA, I was just tired from traveling and had a whole continent to cross as quickly as possible.

Montana and North Dakota were really fun to ride across. I was doing about 500 miles each day, which is quite a lot on a Vespa. South Dakota was as well. It was also fun hitting states that I had never been to before. Minnesota flew by. I hardly remember it.

But Iowa was like the mid-west’s answer to Idaho! I know that doesn’t sound too appealing to most, but trust me, there’s a lot of fun to be had in both!

That evening, I crossed into Wisconsin. I had never been to Wisconsin before, so yes, yet another new state… and my last of the 48. I have now visited every single one of the lower 48 states. Of my many fairly pointless accomplishments, this is one of my favorites.

I zoom through Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, wiggling closer and closer to home. Though it would not be home for long.

The next day, I was back at Rati and Dwija’s. Home? Pretty much.

Day 86 was the last day of Scoot 66. It was twice as long as originally planned and probably twice as fun.

There had been no major mechanical problems on the trip. It was smooth sailing (save for the small crash in Missouri). I didn’t even get a flat tire.

That is, until the day after I returned. Thank you, dear universe, for sparing me.

And thank you, dear readers, for getting this far. May through July of 2008 were life-changing for me. I wish I could have summed it up in fewer words so that more than a very small handful could read it, but hey, I’m not into the whole brevity thing.