Mid-Atlantic Fall Scooter Rally, 2009

Saturday morning, as I was headed up to New Holland for the Mid-Atlantic Fall Scooter Rally, I was reminded of why Lancaster County is such a scenic place to ride. A hot air balloon was flying low over the farm fields of Bareville and Leola. This balloon was just above the rooftops and wires. As Will had said to an out-of-towner the night before, "There's nothing that you can name that we don't have around here."

The day started promptly at 8:30am at the Hollander Motel when Will blew the whistle and yelled, "Mount up!" A New Holland police officer held traffic for us as we turned northeast up Route 23 to Shady Maple for the traditional breakfast buffet. Breakfast was from 9 - 10:30, and you needed the time to pack in the wide variety of meats and potatoes, including turkey bacon and sausages. We would need the nourishment, as we would not be stopping for lunch. Nobody left hungry; just look at these satisfied customers.

Those finished with breakfast early spent time in the parking lot looking at the 57 scooters that had assembled for the main ride.

Most of the scooters were Suzuki Burgmans, which is not surprising as this rally has been primarily organized by members from www.burgmanusa.com. But there were a few small guys there too, like this Zuma 125 and a Buddy 150. I didn't notice either of them having trouble keeping up on the ride, although the Honda SH150i did suffer on the hills, as it was carrying 2 people.

I don't have any pictures of the ride itself, because I didn't want to hold a camera while we were moving. There will probably be more pictures at midatlanticscoot.com. It is quite a sight to look ahead and see scooters as far as you can see in front of you, and to look in your mirror and see scooters as far as you can see in back of you. I hope we didn't disrupt traffic too much. How surreal it must be to have that many scooters suddenly pass your out-of-the-way home. We certainly put some smiles on faces and got many waves from bystanders.

Along the way, we stopped at M&S Suzuki (on Rt. 322, outside of Blue Ball) to thank them for their sponsorship and their having helped multiple rally-goers over the past years. They have gotten more than one rider that limped in on a Friday night rolling by Saturday morning.

We also stopped at Pat Garrett's Sheepskin Shop on Route 183. Even though I believe we were expected, we had to overcome some initial nervousness about the size of our group.

Overall, it was a good ride. We just beat the rain back to New Holland. From there I went back to Lancaster and skipped the rest of the Rally, as I had other plans. But I will definitely go again in the Spring.

On a personal note, it re-affirmed my satisfaction with my Vespa 300 Super. It easily held its own with the Burgman 400's and 650's, while being nimble and light. That last point was reinforced when I saw a Yamaha Majesty and and a Burgman 650 get dropped at a stop sign during the ride. I like a mid-size scoot.