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March 20, 2005
scoot soak 
I'm feeling better in every sense this morning.
Yesterday was a full day. We went out to breakfast, then went and bought a stove (yea!), then went to one of my favorite tacquerias, Tortilleria y Tienda de Leon. De Leon is a full service grocery with a deli, and the deli portion can be a little intimidating as everyone is speaking spanish. Even though I can order in my kiddie spanish and sign language, I get to that deli and freeze up and find that I can only think in german.
Anyways, it's worth it to be bold and not freeze up, as they do all the antojitos as well as a combination plate, and stuff by the pound. They also have the most delicious, potent salsas, which are totally addictive. For $10, we got a combination plate with an extra meat and extra tortillas and two Jarritos, and the two of us ate to the groaning point. So, we had black beans and spanish rice, pork and nopalitos (catcus), some type of chicken in sauce, and freshly made corn tortillas. Damn! I ate so much of the piquant habanero salsa that I had to buy a bottle of water afterwards. Oh well!
After that, we did a tour of the more established scooter resources in town. First stop was Ptown Scooters, which provides repair and restoration. We chatted with Patrick there for a while and just soaked up the good vibe. Of course, looking at the scooters in various states of repair was also thrilling.
Next stop, Columbia Scooters. Before we got the fever, in the fall, we had stopped by Columbia after a beer at the Lucky Lab, and had been impressed by the selection, and how nice the staff was. More of the same this time. I got lots of attention, and Rob was just excellent. He clued in immediately on how my height (5'5") might be an issue, and had me sit on a number of scooters to see how comfortable they might be to stand at a light with. Again, I soaked it in—nice folks, nice scoots.
Last stop was Scooter Station. I had corresponded with one of the owners last week—they stock some new scooters, and restore and sell classic scooters. We didn't realize we were walking in when they were scheduled to close, but Stefan never let that on—we looked at his beautiful scoots, and chatted for well over an hour.
He, like everyone we talked to yesterday, encouraged us to get involved in the scooter community. Each of them had suggestions for sweetie's Stella, which isn't really running right. What a different experience than at the big expensive big-name dealer where sweetie bought his scooter, who ignored me outright and seemed very unconnected to the established widespread Portland scooter community. And suggested that sweetie's Stella problems were user-error.
Posted at March 20, 2005
Comments
Glad to see some stores still cater to customers! Sounds like you found a good place to buy from. Don't you just love the places that make you feel like you are inconveniecing them by BUYING something from them? Makes me want to choke somebody.
Posted by: Jon in Michigan at March 20, 2005 3:15 PM