Vespa Inauguration!!!

Well the day has finally come and the Vespa project is complete (well, almost)!!! Everything is reassembled after the paint work and it started up after a few kicks. Firing it up was very rewarding after all of the time and effort put into the restoration.

We are not on the road yet though as there are a few electrical issues as well as the licensing, titling and insurance. Hopefully we can give it a ride around the block soon though. Overall we are happy about how it turned out. Amanda and Toby will be cruising in style!

North Manitou Island, northern Michigan

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but wanted to put up pictures of our recent trip to N. Manitou Island in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan. We went with Anne (Voglewede) and Steve Walker who live in Ann Arbor.

We took a ferry through Lake Michigan to the island where there are no motorized vehicles. We backpacked across the island by day, setting up camp by the lake shores. It was a cool mix of wooded trails and sandy beaches. The water was crystal clear and clean, but the swimming was brisk! It is a unique and beautiful place to visit if you ever get the chance.

PS - I've made alot of progress on the Vespa -- engine is rebuilt and body is repainted. I'm in the process of reassembling it right now. Pics to follow!

It's All Good!

We went to the All Good Festival in Masontown, WV with Katie last weekend and had a really good time! It was great weather until we left of Sunday and we all came back with sunburns. Highlights for me were the Avett Bros., Grace Potter, Tea Leaf Green, Phil Lesh and Keller Williams. Though we all had fun, we agreed that Merlefest is calling our name next year.

Back from the Blast!

Wanted to follow up on the Vespa... Got the parts back from the sandblaster and they're looking much better! (Don't worry, I didn't forget the gas tank... we decided not to blast it). Started priming last night in a mock spray booth I put up in the basement. Hoping to have the paint done sometime next week - I'll post more pics.

(Also note our freshly sealed deck ;)

Before:

Huber Birthdays

The Huber's both had birthdays this month and Amanda surprised me with a trip to the Vinoklet Winery on the westside. After a wine tasting you pick your entree that you then grill yourself. The winery was a beautiful place - the rolling hills reminded us both of Virginia.

We went to Marion last weekend for our 10-year high school reunion -- which was much better than my extremely low expections imagined -- so Amanda got to celebrate her birthday in stand-still traffic on the interstate! (A close second to the winery).

Vespa Update

While parts for the engine slowly trickle in, I've had some time to focus on the body work. The 20+ year-old paint was completely dead and the bike obviously needed to be refinished. I wanted to do all of the work myself, so my nights of late have been spent on the back porch removing old paint and rust with a wire brush drill attachment. After way too many hours of work and nearly down to bare metal, I've decided the body really needs to be sandblasted to ensure a good finish that will last. So today the parts were off to the sandblaster! Should have them back next week - I'll post the 'after' pics.




In other news, Amanda picked a 1963 VW color, L87 Pearl White, for the body with a brown seat to top it off - classy! Same color as Herby the Love Bug...

New River Gorge - Memorial Day

Wanted to share some pics of our Memorial Day trip to the New River Gorge (courtesy of Anne [Voglewede] Walker). We stayed in Babcock State Park which had some nice hikes and is home to the frequently photographed water wheel/grist mill pictured at the bottom. We also got to do some rock climbing which was really fun, though Toby wimped out on the ladders at our climbing spot, Junkyard Wall -- Amanda is the best belayer! The group included Anne and Steve Walker, Catherine Kelly, and Clay and Rachel Lyons (Catherine's friends from Richmond).