Heat Wave

Yes, folks, it has been hot here in Wichita.

Very, very hot.

The temperature here the past week has had high's in the triple-digits with the latest peak being 109 'F. I think this is the hottest weather in which I have ever been.

Scooter riding has been fine, though, thanks to a jacket that is meshed and allows air to pass through it rather easily. The ride has been short enough that I have been able to stay cool without sweating up a storm. Heat exhaustion/dehydration, though, can be a challenge; drinking lots of water is the norm.

Speaking of water, I have a friend at work who is enough of a health nut that he distills all tap water at home to remove as much of the nastiness as possible. He says, in fact, that every three gallons of Wichita water he distills leave behind a teaspoon or two of, well, nasty-smelling yellow residue. By his account, the tap water from all four places he has lived in Wichita over the past several years have had this residue. By methods I cannot remember he was also able to "test" Phoenix water and found that it did not leave this contaminant behind.

Me, I've never been a big one to be concerned about water purity. After seeing his "vial of vile" though, I was at least slightly concerned. And, unlike some of the other health-nut claims he has made, there is a very easy way to test his assertion! I got a big glass baking pan, filled it with tap water, and have left it a hot, isolated environment (inside my car with the widows cracked) for the past several days and let our record-setting heat evaporate away the liquid. The experiment isn't quite finished yet so I don't have result yet but I'll post them when I get done. (This is another advantage of taking my scooter to work; I can use my car as an oven without having to pay for electricity! Brilliant, I say!)

Regardless of the results, I figure this is probably not a bad thing to do wherever I live. The test is easy and it will give you at least a rule-of-thumb estimate about the quality of the water. Sadly, distillation won't remove ALL water impurities. Anything that boils at a lower temperature than water (alcohol, for example) will also evaporate off with the water. This test really only reveals the particulate contamination in the water. I don't know how carbon filters work (the kind used in most homes, like Brita) so I don't know if they would get rid of this kind of stuff. We have just such a filter and use it often so I may re-run the experiment using filtered water as well just to see what happens.

So, in conclusion:
-It is very hot in Wichita right now.
-Wichita water might be nasty.
-Unused cars left out in the sun all day can double as an oven.
-Science is fun!

Scooter Miscellanea

Tank Capacity: 1.6 gallons/6L

Fuel efficiency on first tank: 60 (25.5 km/L for you metric folks)

New top speed: 55mph/90kph (I still haven't tried going all out; maybe I can do 60?)

Odometer reading: 256km (Yes the odometer is in km. Kind of explains all the metric-y stuff above, doesn't it.)

Other: I passed my motorcycle driving test today which means I am a fully licensed scooter/motorcycle driver here in KS. The test was not difficult but I did far from perfect. I didn't go in expecting to pass but, well, I did. I will leave it as an exercise to the reader to determine if somebody with nearly exactly one week of experience driving a scooter should be able to pass the motorcycle drivers test.

Scooter-ific!

It has been five days since the maiden trip-around-the-block was made on my new scooter and since then I've put 135 km (83 miles) on it. In short, it has been a pretty sweet ride. I've run errands, gone to work, gone to physical therapy all without incident. I feel very confident that adjusting to scooter-based transportation will not be a very big deal at all.

I'm loving the fuel economy (I'm guessing I'll get over 50 mpg on this first tank), handling is similar to bicycle (not near as agile, though) and the learning curve isn't near as steep as I had thought. Smoothly accelerating through turns and maintaining a constant speed are skills I am still developing, hopefully quickly. And before I forget, it is fun to ride! Its similar to riding a bicycle in that I feel I am more aware of my surroundings and a part of what I am riding through and not as isolated as I feel in a car. Its a little hard to explain in words but if you spend much time on a bicycle, you'll know what I mean. (If you haven't been spending much time on a bicycle, what are you waiting for; get on it!) Oh, and the insurance I have is full coverage with a $100 deductible for $170/year. This is a fraction of what it costs to insure my car with a $500 deductible. The economy of a scooter is quite clear; in insurance savings alone it will pay for itself in short order.

The only real down side right now is that it is easy to get hot when its 100'F outside and I'm all geared up. The jacket I have is mesh and the visor on the helmet pops up easily so if I'm moving at any speed over 5 mph I can stay pretty cool. When traffic stops at a light, though, it doesn't take long before I eager to be moving again. For now, the work-around I'm going to use is having jeans and I shirt I wear whenever I ride and a set of clothes I can change into at work. Not ideal, but really no different than what I do when I bicycle.

All in all, I'm very pleased with how things have worked out. Obviously I can't make any definitive comments but based on my experience so far, I would recommend a scooter for all able-bodied souls who are looking for an economical and fun way to get yourself around. And really, this is why Katie and I decided a scooter would work well for me; 90% of the time I spend driving I am just moving me. You can't beat the low purchase, fuel, and insurance costs of a scooter for moving one person.

Without any further delay, here are some of the promised pictures. Enjoy!





Me and my good friend Mia assess the caged beast.




Did I mention that since that battery wasn't charged we had to jump-start the bike on the first ride? My super-helpful friend Steven is there on the left. Less helpful (when it comes to all things mechanical) but always good to have around Matt is on the right.




Very first ride. Ever.