Eugene, OR –
Meeting Bagel
Steph had also wanted to go to Eugene at this time for a scooter rally called the Oregon 100 Rally with the Top Dead Center scooter club. They ended up staying at their friend Bagel’s yard in Veneta. I’d heard a lot about him and it was nice finally meeting Bagel. Especially as Liza in Santa Cruz insisted we look the same (#NotAllGingersLookTheSame), I can confirm we do not. I do know now that license plates can be a love language. Bagel had a very impressive collection with many interest stories about collecting them. This is nothing to say of his scooter collection which had even more interesting stories.
Top Dead Center Scooter Club
When you’re dipping your toes into a new and already established group, especially an interest group where you don’t even really have (or understand much of) the thing that’s the interest, you might be a bit anxious about how you’ll be received. I can confidently say that Top Dead Center Scooter Club was extremely welcoming to me despite me only riding a “very big scooter” (Steph graciously let me ride their BMW G650 X-Country while they road their Vespa) with them on the Oregon 100 Rally. I felt like I could easily chat with most of the people there, and maybe it’s just the trauma bonding of a multi-hour 50F ride while it’s raining, but I feel like I’d be more than welcome to join any future events regardless of my steed. Maybe I could bring a period-correct “very big scooter” next time…