Anyone ever seen this guy?

I was on an off road trip from my house in Flagstaff to Monument valley.
I stopped to take in the sunset and I hear the putt putt of a little two stroke and this heavily laden scooter comes bouncing down the road. He waved and literally rode off into the sunset. I grabbed a few quick pics as he went by.

Any of you guys ever see a trip report from this guy? I'd be curious to see it if such a thing exists. I posted on the modern vespa forum as well to see if he hangs out over there.





there is a website on his windscreen but I can't make it out.

this looks like the web page

http://www.vespanda.com/ioelavespa.html

Ha! I literally just found it seconds ago. I've had that photo sitting on my hard drive for 2 years and I just noticed the website for the first time today. This guy seems like a pretty hardcore traveler. I was just looking at some of the videos on his website. It's a shame the link to the photo gallery is broken.

Nutz!
Checked his blog, he puts a doubt for the "need" of GSs and 990
Really, the little Vespa is handling the world tour w no issues

HAHAHA! Damn, that's hard-core!
I'll never sook about gravel corrugations to myself on my SC One again! I should be ashamed!

Hell of a ride!

{Google Translation}
"See the Three Americas.
From New York, go to the top of Alaska, down in California, visit Arizona, then down into Mexico to Central America ... then Venezuela, Guayane, Brazil, Argentina, Cape Horn, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, ... Central America and then again West Coast of the USA."

What a great ride! Gotta love people who just go; they don't try to purchase the adventure, they just load up and go on what they have.

I ran into him on 9/14/2010 at Arches National Park. As I recall he was planning on going to South America. The old Vespa is perfectly capable of round the world trips. I rode my 1974 Rally 200, which is pretty much the same scooter as his 150, on many long trips including the Alcan Hwy in 1978 when it was mostly dirt and gravel.

Very cool. I wonder how many other people have snapped pics of him in his travels. I emailed him my pics. I'll send him the link to this thread..maybe I can convince to start a trip report!

After I went to the Masters two years ago, I haven't golfed since.

I may have to give up riding, I'm a wus!

Looking at his pictures and contrasting it with the adv thread about the guy who took his Harley on about the same trip through South America made me chuckle. A light little bike that you can actually pick and drag out of a mud hole is a blessing. Sure, you don't have the cruising speed, but to me at least, it's frequently a worthwhile tradeoff.

Wow.. Now that guy has my respect. I would never thought a '60s Vespa would be reliable enough for that kind of travel, my '09 Stella certainly wouldn't be, though it can be made a lot more reliable with some work and money. The design is fine, it's the poor quality that is the problem. '60s Vespas were not much better. That one was probably rebuilt from the ground up and done right.

The one he is riding is probably about a 1975 version. Plenty reliable to do an around the world tour. My 1974 Rally 200 had 170,000 miles on it when I sold it. It never let me down in all those miles.

Very cool. I am very impressed. Good for him. A real rider.

That's awesome...

I lived in Europe in the early 60s.
A long distance rider, on an NSU 50cc moped looking scooter, road us to the main gate of the USNaval Base Rota Spain.
He came from Germany & wanted to see where he had been during the Spanish Civil War. That was quite a ride for that old guy & on that old 50cc smoker.
Always think of that guy, whenever I wonder if I can make a challenging ride.

This rider, on his Vespa, is of the same spirit.

Followed a guy riding a Ruckus 50 across the US (Wan) and met up with him here in AZ for lunch. Gotta really respect someone who can ride a 50cc scooter across the US. Makes me feel ashamed a week can go by without me even taking my rides outta the garage.

Another inmate blogged about this fellow http://californiascooterco.com/blog/

The thought of an epic ride on a scooter intrigues me. However I'm far to fond of my wife and 15 mo old son to leave...lol