A Mini Scooter Ride to Houston

 Eric started nagging me, let's ride, let's ride.  We need to get a few miles on to reach the first service at 600 miles.  Okay, let me get geared up......

We left after lunch heading for Houston.  No, not that Houston or that other Houston or even that Houston in MS that most people know, but the lesser known Houston, MS, a very tiny, blink your eye and you miss it, unincorporated berg in NE Mississippi.  We had been past it before and I had spotted a really cool old gas station that I wanted to explore further.  Thus, our destination was Houston, a mere 27 miles from home and best of all 20 of those miles were up the Natchez Trace!

Of course we made stop on the Trace!  This time it was the Dogwood Valley pull out.

A pleasant, shady area with one picnic table and access to hiking trails.

After our brief respite it was back on the Trace a few more miles to our exit.  Riding along toward Houston at a pleasant 55 mph everything was great.  I'm so glad I bought a mesh jacket because it makes a huge difference here in the humid Southeast.  I was quite comfortable when moving and at least not sweating like a pig when stopped, lol.  After a bit I noticed a big logging truck closing in on us so I suggested we pull off and let him pass.  I really didn't want to be on a tiny 150cc scooter with a logging truck tailgating me!

Fine, that's just what we did in Kirkwood, MS, a town just large enough to be on the map.  Bonus, it gave me practice doing U-turns on gravel with the Scooter 😆.  Not too many miles later we came to Houston!  Unfortunately the Country Store was closed.  Apparently it is only open on Saturday so we will be back to discover it's treasures!

See why I wanted to come back here and take a look?  So cute!  The rusty truck parked in the yard reminds me of the Pixar/Disney movie "Cars" and makes me giggle.

Lots of fun signage.  You can get Pepsi, Coke, Royal Crown and Faygo Cola!  Oh, and Moonpies!

Mission accomplished!  We simply turned around (more gravel U-turn practice, lol) and headed back to the Trace and home.  During our ride both of the scooters had the "Oil Change" light come on exactly at 600 miles!  Well, not only did we check out the other, other Houston, but also hit the service mark.  Good stuff!

The ride home was uneventful (the best kind) and we enjoyed the shade of the Trace.  I think we rode a whopping 54 miles!  No matter, any ride on the scoots is fun.  Back at home, Eric dove into the oil change process for both scooters.  We had checked with our local dealer for the first service and they quoted us something like $130 each and never got back to us with a firm price.  Yes One Hundred Thirty Dollars.  After some internet research, Eric discovered the only service was an oil change.  Unlike a motorcycle where they check all kinds of things, the scooter only got an oil change.  There is no way in hell we would pay $130 for an oil change, hahahahaha.

Besides, my honey is very mechanically minded.  He did his research and was ready to take it on.

My scooter at 640 miles.

Eric's scooter at 650 miles.

Eric made short order of the oil changes and reset the service lights.  Our next service is at 4,600 miles.  I wonder how long that is going to take us?

Boring pics of oil change bits.  Great location for the oil drain plug!  Right next to the hot exhaust and up against the center stand.  :-)

This is the all important filter screen location.  The big 17mm cap comes off to reveal some inner workings.

Left to right, the filter screen, spring and cap w/O-ring.  The scooter is to the left and they go back in this order.

Filter screen cap with O-ring.  A little oil on the O-ring helps avoid tearing when tightening.

The drain plug with it's nice thick, re-usable aluminum crush washer.

It's a snug fit for the funnel to pour oil back in the dip stick hole.

That was about all there was to it.  0.8 quarts of 10-30 Motul synthetic oil and a double check of the dip stick after a brief run of the engine and all is done and ready for the next adventure!

Now, it's all about waiting for our tail racks to arrive so we can decide what top box and luggage to use.  We don't want to load up the scooters too much.  Just want to keep it all simple yet support a cross country ride.

Next adventure?  Who knows.  Guess you'll have to stay tuned to find out!  Thank you so very much for following along on our silliness.

Cheers,

Cletha