Last night I packed my backpack with stuff for my new office in anticipation of riding my scooter in the morning. I woke this morning and the first thing I did was check the weather on my phone. I was a bit dismayed to see "light snow". It is November in Birmingham, Alabama! They aren't supposed to get snow this early (some years not at all)! Plus that would mean the sidewalks would likely be wet.
Then my husband went down to our workout room and forgot his key so I had to meet him at the elevator so I took advantage of that moment to poke my head out the railing at the end of our hall. (It's kind of weird having open air halls.) The walks only looked damp and so I figured 50 minutes would give them enough time to dry a little more. It was cold though!
So I finished my breakfast, made my mug of mocha and grabbed my scooter. The wind was bitter and the nylons I wore didn't do nearly enough to keep my legs warm but I kicked on as I soared down the city streets. I made it to work in record time (less than 5 minutes) and was at my desk with time to spare.
I think this is going to be a very nice commute....
In 2016, 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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