Vespa Friends

One of the greatest joys of scootering are the friends you make. You don't make them all by yourself, the scooter often does most of the work, but you make them. You make them in shops, at swap meets, on the Internet, during short rides and distant travels, in your garage, on the telephone, and via Air Mail.

Before I knew that there were clubs, and shows, and rallies, it was just me and my scooter. I thought I was the only person on the planet who cared to ride the sole surviving Vespa. It brought me closer to the machine, and forged my comittment to it, and I could have been perfectly happy with just that. But then I made a first Vespa friend, and another, and another, and a dimension was added that I would not easily have forseen. And such is the debt I owe to my little 150, friends in cities coast to coast, friends all over Europe. For a start I'll list some of them. As I make progress I'll provide links to photos, stories, and descriptions of these people and their wonderful machines.

My Hall of Fame must include:

Giorgio Bettinelli, of the world (always while on a Vespa.)

Rolf Soltau, my friend and mentor.

The former members of the California Roadrunners S.C., San Jose, CA.

Waid "Scooter Daddy" Parker of San Diego, California.

Sr. Vittorio Tessera of Rodano, Italy.

Mr. Kees Portanje of Utrecht, The Netherlands.

John Donovan of Vancouver, B.C.

The Burgundy Topz S.C of Sacramento

Michael Grundl of The Vespa Fan Club, Switzerland.

Sacha White of Boulder, and Adam Baker of Denver, CO.

Sr. Antonio Corona, and Sr. Luigi LaPiscopia of Milan, Italy.

Paul Big Dave, and Andre; independent Arizona scooterists.

And the list would be meaningless without Marisa Roskelley (our favorite scootering chef.)