Sweet Ride to Point Mugu

LTD met up with its newest member, Matthew Hill, for a glorious ride to Point Mugu. Taking the back roads through Camarillo and Channel Islands, sailing to the Pacific Coast Highway was a breeze. With summer slowly coming to an end, this ride was a sweet reminder of the joys that a weekend ride like this can bring. The weather was beautiful, with just the right amount of heat to make a smooth ride along the coast a dream. The ride began in Simi Valley and winded through Santa Rosa Rd. and into Camarillo. From there it was a quick ride through the fields of Camarillo, past CSUCI, and onto the PCH. Going a steady 50mph, LTD worked their way to Point Mugu, pulling over to take in the ocean breeze as waves crashed against the old road that once wrapped around Mugu Rock.

If you haven't taken your scoot along the PCH yet and experienced Point Mugu or the other wondrous beaches of So. Cal, add that to your list of things to do before you die. LTD

Mullet on a Scoot

I had the luxury of being introduced to mulletjunky.com this afternoon. While I enjoyed some good laughs from the amazing images on the site, my heart didn't skip a beat until I stumbled across this gem.

I'd like to share with you the words of mulletjunky.com in reference to this photo: "Every 6 months or so a mullet submission will be sent in that is like no other. Like a piece of artwork that you can't take your eyes off of. There is SO much going on here; overweight, young, red haired mullet on a modified moped cruising in a ghetto McDonalds parking lot. It rarely gets better than this." I couldn't have said it better. I hope this inspires you all to be creative. LTD.

A run-in with Paul Teutul Sr.

An Interview with Tom by Tom:

Tom: Tom, nice of you to sit down and chat.

Tom: Thanks Tom, and can I say that you look great.

Tom: You too, lets dive in. Word on the street is that you had an encounter with a celeb at the Los Angeles International Airport, what you call LAX in the buis.

Tom: Ah yes, that’s true.

Tom: Well, can you tell us about it.

Tom: Sure

Tom: Do you have to be so difficult, just tell us the story, why do I need to pull this out of you.

Tom: Don’t yell at me, you didn’t even make me coffee this morning.

Tom: You’re right, I’m sorry, let me get that for you.

Tom: Do you have NDCs**?

Tom: You know where they are, please just tell us about your encounter.

Tom: Ok, so there’s three things you need to know, 1. blink 182 is the best band ever. 2. Mankowski’s love TLC/A&E/DC, etc. 3. OC Choppers is the West Coast Choppers of the East Coast.

Tom: Blink is pretty great, please continue.

Tom: Well, I’m getting coffee, and who do I see leaving the line, but Paul Sr.

Tom: Paul Sr, as in Paul Tuetul from Orange County Choppers

Tom: That very one, please stop interrupting. Anyway, I walk back to my seat, open my card holder and take out one LTD business card provided by the lovely Lauren and Becky

Tom: so you

Tom: I said stop interrupting, we, I mean I have a call in 20 minutes.

Tom: Sorry, continue.

Tom: I’m sipping on my coffee, which FYI was Starbucks, 60 cents for soymilk, buy Coffee Bean free NDC, and United makes the call for 1k, global alliance, and premier executives to line up. As you know, I’m premier executive.

Tom: Everyone knows, it’s not that cool and you kind of sound like a jerk when you bring it up.

Tom: Really, well maybe you want to fly in the back, you know what, I’m ignoring you.

Tom: What a waste of time, I’m going to make oatmeal.

Tom: No let me finish, so I get up to the line, and Paul Sr., who is obviously flying first class is standing a few people ahead of me.

Tom: Us, ahead of us.

Tom: Me. So I walk over to him and say, “I don’t want to bother you, we’re huge fans, we have a great little scooter club, here’s our blog”.

Tom: what did he say?

Tom: He says, “What’s that?”

Tom: Hah, that’s cause you mumble.

Tom: That’s hurtful. I say to him, “Scooter Club, Living the Dream” to which he says “Cool man thanks” and takes the card.

And I say “LTD”

Tom: That’s a great story, I’m really glad you didn’t just write a 4 sentence paragraph.

Tom: Whatever, that wasn’t NDC I used, so enjoy the stomach ache.

** Editor's note: NDC = non-dairy creamer for all you amateurs.**

Vespa Restaurant - NYC

Tom Mankowski (the owner of Orangina) and his brother Tim are living the dream in New York this weekend. They stumbled across a sweet gem of a place, the Vespa Restaurant. Why does a glorious establishment like this not exist in CA? Some questions we will never know the answer to. Vespa is located in the Upper East Side of Manhattan and serves a variety of tasty treats. If you're in the area or out of the area...do what you can to make it to this place. Imagine the wonderful feeling that would come when scoots pull up to Vespa for a friendly meal? To all scoot riders in New York, this should be your goal for 2010. LTD!

[Photo courtesy of Tim Mankowski]

The Birth of LTD

It has become that time. LTD has been established for a couple years now and we are only just getting to this blog. I suppose this is mostly for our own benefits, but maybe even for the lone scooterists out there looking to get involved in even the smallest way, or scoot for fun just a little more often. Its pretty simple, really. We love scooters, we love our scooters, and we love scooterists. We are well aware of those of you who think this may be a little silly, maybe even a little much. It seems though that we have heard it all, and honestly, we are left unfazed. There are plenty of scooter clubs out there that have been started for Vespa only or Vintage scoots. LTD was founded on the idea that scooterists, no matter what they are riding, should hang out every now and then - to talk scoots, share stories, or even just do a bit more exploring on the side streets of their own backyards. There are no rules, there are no regulations - we don't jump in new members (as we've been asked before).

This idea basically spread like wildfire among friends. Some close friends got a scoot, everyone took a test ride and was hooked pretty much immediately thereafter. We had our very first "meeting" at a local Denny's and invited anyone who wanted to come. As you can see from our picture, we got a good handful of people there to talk about decals, business cards, future rallies and rides, and hopes for LTD in the future. We had some great feedback from friends who don't even own scoots, even from our waitress. We gave our friends some test rides out in the parking lot (to plant the seed of course), and headed out for a ride around Thousand Oaks, putting the very first LTD meeting officially in the books.