But I Want to Save the World!!!

Recently I have learned that Scooters (you know, Vespa - Honda - etc.) get 100 miles per gallon. PER GALLON! 100 Miles!

Makes me sick to my stomach that my fully paid off, fully insured, trusty tank of a Chevy gets around 20 - 23 miles per gallon. Ugh. (Please don't tell my car that I called her a tank. Seriously. She'll be peeved. You know you're beautiful darling! I NEVER said any such thing!!)

Now that gas has topped $4 a gallon, I reclaimed my bike from my boyfriend's storage unit, determined to make my short trips on the Schwinn.

I've started looking at panniers for my mountain bike.



It might look a little silly. Maybe I need a cruiser - for a back up bike - instead. But I'd really rather have a Scooter. All the short trips I make -- running around between 5 and 10 miles of my home - in the city- on streets that don't exceed 35 mph - it's all really better suited to a scooter than a car.

But I don't have a job right now so it'd be silly to spend $3,000 - $5,500 on a shiny new scooter.

But I hate knowing that I could be using so much less gas. Not for the price of gas but for the environment.

So when I talked to my dad today, I told him about my little dream. I thought since he tools around the farm on a four wheeler that he would be supportive of my desire to protect the environment.

Instead, he laughed out loud. Seriously. Then he proceeded to tell me that I'd get killed on a scooter. Too dangerous.

But Dad, your 10 year old grandson drives the four wheeler all over tarnation!

It has 4 wheels. It's safer. And it's not in traffic.

But Dad, gas is $4.00 a gallon, and scooters make 100 miles per gallon!

It won't save you that much money.

But Dad, that's like 5Xs better than my car! And it's not about the money it's about saving the planet! When I start driving a scooter for the majority of my trips, they won't even have to consider drilling for more oil in the United States.

He laughed even harder. Then he went on to share that my brother's semi truck gets 5 miles per gallon!

OMG! I exclaim. Then I have to have a scooter just to make up for the damage my brother is doing to the world!

Driving a scooter won't offset all the gas that the trucking industry uses.

But Dad, if everyone who lived in the city switched to scooters for small trips - it could! Almost every car on the streets in the city only has one person in it. What a waste! They should all be driving scooters... then the roads would be safer too. It would be all scooters.

Now he's laughing almost hysterically.

So I whimper a little and say, "So you're not going to help me buy one?"

Hell no! More laughter. And if you buy one, I'm going to come out to Denver and take it away from you.

This is where I have to remind everyone that I am 38 years old!!!!

But Dad, I never ask for anything. I can't believe you won't help me save the world.


Disclaimer: Anyone who knows me at all, knows that I would never ask my parents to buy me anything - much less something in that price range! The last thing I asked my parents to fund that entered 1000s of $$$$ was my room and board in college. Yeah, just the room and board.

The conversation documented here did happen - and most of the whiney dialogue was in jest. But I have to admit that I sort of hoped, dad would find the investment sound if not a little quirky and offer to kick in a little bit or at least start shopping classified ads for me!


Anyway, I figure at least now Dad has a good story to tell his friends.