I walked out to the bus stop after work and debated whether to take the coach or the county bus. The coach would get me home faster but the scooter ride would be a bit longer. The county bus would take a little longer but the scooter ride would be so much more enjoyable. The coach bus showed up first but since the rain was holding out, I decided to wait for the county bus.
Not a minute later, the skies opened up and it started pouring. A friend offered to have me take her bus and she would drive me home, but something told me that I would enjoy my scooter ride home, even if the pouring rain persisted, so I watched her get on her bus and waited for mine which arrived shortly thereafter.
By the time the bus dropped me off at my stop, the rain had slowed to a drizzle. I considered getting out my poncho to try and stay a little drier but decided against it. The evening was still fairly warm and I had my fleece on. Plus the rain wasn't coming down that hard. So I started down the path on my scooter.
About a quarter mile in, standing right in the middle of the path was a good sized doe. I slowed to a stop less than 20 feet from her, not wanting to scare her. I stared at her. She stared at me. I think she didn't know what to make of me. Who would be riding down her path on such a rainy day?
I started talking softly to her and she started twitching her ears and then slowly sauntered to the side of the path where she continued to watch me. I slowly glided past her only to see she wasn't alone. A smaller deer was standing right next to her in the brush. It was incredible how close of an experience this was.
Two years ago, I started a new job which meant a new commute. My previous commute was a 12 minute walk which I enjoyed year-round, in any weather (rain, snow, cold, heat, etc.). I knew my new commute would be quite different but I was determined to find a way to avoid getting in my car and to include some time in nature each day.
Hence, this is where the scooter came into play. So after some research online, I bought a Razor A5 Lux in blue and began playing with it. Fortunately I had a few weeks in between jobs to test it out and pick out my ideal routes.
My commute then included a 1.7 mile scooter ride in the morning through my quiet neighborhood and then down a beautiful bike path full of wild life to where I catch the county bus to work. In the afternoon, I alternated between taking the county bus followed by that same 1.7 scooter ride from the morning or taking the coach bus to the park and ride followed by a 2.5 mile scooter ride on the sidewalk along a busier road. They both had their advantages and I liked the flexibility.
Now you may ask yourself, how much of the year could I really scooter in such a cold weather state? The answer is most of it. The cold didn't stop me. It never has. Snow covered trails would stop me though but fortunately my city plowed the bike paths, so they don't stay snow covered for long. And I don't scooter on wet pavement in the morning as the spray up turns the back of my dress a bit muddy. (In the evenings when I can go home, clean up and change, I don't mind the rain or wet pavement.)
In November of 2018, I moved to a new city, Birmingham, AL in a much warmer climate, where my commute is now 7 blocks. It is amazing to now have a 4 minute commute to work! Such a change from my one-way hour commute in Milwaukee!
Let me tell you how I came up with the name for this blog, "The Scooter Lady". I was downtown Milwaukee afterwork one day riding my scooter. (I don't even remember why I was hanging out downtown that day.) I stopped in the local mall and was carrying my scooter when someone yelled out, "hey there's the scooter lady!" When I told a colleague at work this story, he told me I needed to create a webpage for The Scooter Lady. So without further ado, read on for my experiences commuting by scooter.
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