Victoria is this weekend! Todd will be leading a ride to Anacortes to catch the ferry to Sidney. Meet up at 6:15 AM at the 76 station at the corner of Old Fairhaven Pkwy & 12th St. Departure is at 6:30 AM SHARP. Arrival at the ferry dock will be at approximately 7:30 AM. See you there!

Cycle Barn/Vespa Lynnwood hosted an open house Saturday to celebrate the addition of Genuine Scooter Company’s lineup to their product offerings (they also sell Vespa/Piaggio and Kymco scooters, and Triumph and Zero motorcycles).

Todd and Dorcie, Tom, Craig and new member Bill departed the Sehome Village Starbucks along with yours truly. The weather was sunny and warm all day, making for a pleasant ride down to Lynnwood.

Lots of Seattle people were there when we arrived, and there were free hotdogs, Polish sausages and soft drinks.

The scooters have all been moved to the top floor of the building. As you can see, they had a good selection of Stellas, including several of the 2-tone versions (avocado or slate blue on ivory). Jason took a new Stella for a test ride. He said he liked it.

—Orin

The meeting was called to order at 10:32 am.

* St. Pat’s Parade/Pi Run: We were a hit at the parade! Parade organizers said, “We love the new addition to our parade.” Which sounds like an invitation for next year, doesn’t it? Joel bought out a party store’s supply of green-bead necklaces, which he gave out to people on the parade route. Sixteen scooters and 18 riders participated. Talk of a drill-team routine for next year.

Most parade participants went on the Pi Run. The sun came out! Everyone had a great time, the pie was delicious. March 14 is a Thursday in 2013; St. Patrick’s Day is on Sunday, doubling up on Saturday the 16th would seem likely.

* Hamster Run: Dorcie will get in touch with Vespa Lynnwood regarding sponsorship. Regarding the t-shirt, Django said some simplification of the Vegas sign graphic would be necessary to keep the cost of the t-shirt reasonable. Dorcie and I discussed options, which she executed brilliantly. Dorcie also created a patch design that DOES include a scooter (the t-shirt will not), which is ridden by a hamster, of course.

At this point, there is no Hamster Run committee. Volunteers are needed. Also, donations of raffle prizes would be appreciated, even something you might just buy and donate yourself. Tom is in charge of food; a pig roast on Saturday night is being studied. Online t-shirt pre-orders will be available shortly, and Jeff said there’s an inexpensive device that makes it possible for smartphones to accept credit/debit card payments. A route for the Saturday Poker Run is being planned by Todd.

* Victoria: Five rooms are left in the block Todd reserved at Paul’s Motor Inn. Get in touch with Todd if you want one of these rooms; see the club Web site (http://www.scootersofbellingham.org) for info on how to reserve a room at the group rate. This year’s rally has a James Bond theme. The idea of buying a commuter ticket book for the WSF ferry ride from Anacortes was mentioned (it saves a few bucks on each fare), but whether this is available on international routes was not known.

* Membership: If you haven’t paid dues, please do. Cost is $20.00. Dan made some flyers to carry when you ride, so as to leave one on any parked scooter you see.

* Midweek evening rides: We’ll start these up again in April (unless it snows ). New meetup spot will be Kulshan Brewery on James St. Further details to come.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:05 am.

Respectfully submitted,
Orin O’Neill for
Tom Smith
Club Secretary

Going to the Victoria rally? Do you have a place to stay? Consider hangin’ with the Hamsters!

Once again, Todd has booked a block of rooms at Paul’s Motor Inn, in the heart of downtown Victoria, British Columbia. And there are still rooms available! It’s always a good time, with a good group.

Mention the Scooters of Bellingham group to reserve a room at the discounted rate.

See what a nice place it is? Hope you can join us! Contact Todd with your questions: (360) 224-7891, or tfuller (at) fullerbd (dot) com.

Everyone got into the Irish spirit (photos: Orin O'Neill)

Nobody could think of a reason why the SOB club wasn’t in last year’s Bellingham St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Well, by golly, we’re gonna be in it this year!

Sixteen scooters and 18 riders left the parking lot at Mayberry’s Sporting Goods/Cool Beans Espresso/etc. under cloudy, drizzly skies. The St. Paddy’s (not “Patty’s”) parade in Dublin, Ireland usually takes place under similar conditions. And it’s rather ad hoc like Bellingham’s: show up before 11:30 and get in line.

An-tic-i-paaaaaaa-tion...

We invited everyone who rides a scooter to join our group. Jackie, Randy and Cathy, and Doc and Tiny came up from Seattle with their scooters; Joel, also from Seattle, cleaned a party supply store out of its entire supply of green-bead necklaces and was tossing them into the crowd. More of our out-of-town friends had planned to come, but had to cancel.

There were some orange scooters, too

The crowd lining the parade route loved the scooters. Everyone had a blast, and discussions about possible drill-team routines for next year dominated the conversation at the parade route’s end. At the parade’s end, there was free time before reconvening at Man Pies for the Pi Run.

We started with savory pies from Man Pies

By the time we left Man Pies, the sun had come out, and you could almost say it was… warm. Brooksana led us on a great ride through Bellingham’s neighborhoods, first to Supreme Bean Coffee Cafe, the new home of Barb’s Pies (you used to have to go to Ferndale), then to Grace Cafe, near the Sunset Village shopping center.

Inside The Grace Cafe

We pretty much ate their entire supply of Key Lime pie (yum!), then Brooksana announced the winners of the awards: Randy and Cathy got the farthest traveled trophy (a plate with a fork attached, and scooter pictures among the sprinkles), Jason won for oldest scooter, and yours truly got the book smart award for correctly guessing the digits in pi at six-digit accuracy (that’s 3.14159).

The only incident of note occurred on the final leg to Rudy’s Pizzaria. Brooksana got a flat tire, which was not the result of a puncture, but of a failed valve stem. Luckily, there was safe spot to leave her scooter for later retrieval, so she hopped on Dan’s Stella and rode pillion the rest of the way.

Bowling at 20th Century capped a fun day, and a great kickoff to rally season.

The parade got covered in the local media: The Bellingham Herald’s photo gallery has a good picture of Dorcie; Komonews.com’s Bellingham reporter Kera Wanielista has several more scooter pix.

You can see my pix of the parade right here, and of the Pi Run here.

If you missed it this year, you should put next year’s St. Paddy’s parade and Pi Run on your calendar, for sure.

—Orin

Scooters on the Causeway (photo: Orin O'Neill)

Going to the Victoria Rally in May? Todd needs all who’ve reserved rooms at Paul’s Motor Inn to send him a new e-mail confirming this. Approximately half the rooms in the block Todd requested are reserved, so he needs to hear from you ASAP. The group ride to Victoria will leave early Saturday morning, May 19 from Bellingham to catch the 8:30 am ferry from Anacortes to Sidney, B.C.; returning Monday, May 21 from Sidney at 12:00 noon, arriving in Anacortes at 3:00 pm. Paul’s Motor Inn can be contacted at (250) 382-9231; mention Scooters of Bellingham to get the group rate. Contact Todd if you have questions.

Scooter season in Bellingham will kick off Saturday, March 17. Which, as it happens, is St. Patrick’s Day.

If you have a scooter and you’re in Bellingham, you can be in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade! Meet at the staging area in the parking lot of Cool Beans Espresso/ Woodsmiths/ Mobile Music/ Two Thimbles at the corner of Cornwall Ave. and Ohio street between 10:30 and 11:30 am. The parade begins at noon and will head south on Cornwall Ave., turn left at Chestnut St., then right on Railroad Ave. We’ll ride past Depot Market Square and turn right at E. Maple St., ending at the parking lot at the Northeast corner of E. Maple and Cornwall Ave.

Dress yourself and dress your scooter, it’s all about the Wearin’ of the Green! All scooters and riders are welcome! Club membership is NOT required, and while you’re in the parade, neither are helmets. You don’t even have to be a Bellingham resident!

Following the parade will be the annual Pi Run. Which is all about eating pie. Yes, we know it’s not happening on the 14th, but that’s a Wednesday. People have to work.

Meet up at 2:00 pm, gassed up and ready to ride, at Man Pies, 1215 Railroad Ave. in downtown Bellingham. The route will be 31.4 miles in and around Bellingham, and will be 50cc-friendly.

Again this year we will have some tasty treats from Barb’s Pies and Pastries, but not in Ferndale. We will enjoy Barb’s treats at Supreme Bean Coffee Cafe, 1205 Washington St.

Next is a new entry into our lineup, Grace Cafe at 1065 E. Sunset. This cafe is quickly making it’s way into ‘Hamsters’ hearts as a must-have pie stop with fantastic Gravenstein Apple pie.

We will finish our ride at Rudy’s Pizzaria, 1232 N State St. Rudy’s offers pizza by the slice and I am sure by that time our stomachs will only have room for one (okay, maybe two) of their gigantic slices.

There is talk of an early-evening activity (bowling?). Check back for updates.