So about a month ago, my husband and one of my closest friends set off for Amerivespa, a national scooter rally that migrates from city to city. I shared a handful in a previous post but I finally sat down and sifted through and edited a few more.
We left early Tuesday morning with a couple of scooters on the trailer, all of our luggage and a ton of my stuff for the vendor booth thrown in the back of the truck (I don’t know why they don’t bring the Subaru Baja back–they’re insanely convenient and practical vehicles). After a couple of trips circling around the block to pick up the last-minute-remembered items, we headed out to a friends house to pick up a moped we were bringing along with the scooters.
Getting ready to hit the road!
A lot of people confuse mopeds and scooters, but they are actually two separate types of motorcycles despite what Macklemore might imply. Mopeds actually have foot pedals like on a bicycle!
Country Roads at Sunset
The drive to Memphis was pretty at times. We stopped in Sikeston, MO to eat at Lambert’s Restaurant. The portions never cease to amaze me and we literally had leftovers that lasted us the week, which was handy for those days we didn’t feel like going out for breakfast.
Lambert’s – Home of the Throwed Rolls
On Wednesday we checked out a couple of breweries during the day. At Ghost River Brewery, we didn’t realize the tasting room was not yet open, but we were lucky enough to receive some tokens for bars they distribute to and also a couple of packs of the Riverbank Red Ale to try.
I’m not much of a beer connoisseur, but I think it was pretty good. We then went to High Cotton Brewery and from there we were off to Beale Street for Bike Night.
Beale Street reminds me of the New Orleans French Quarter, but a bit smaller. Bars, restaurants and gift shops line the street for two blocks and there is music coming from all directions. A lot of the bars open out to the street with walk up counters for service. Generally traffic is blocked off and pedestrians can roam the streets without fear of getting run over, but on Bike Night, motorcycles are allowed in for primo parking spots along the streets.
Ironically, I spotted my old scooter, that I parted with a couple of years ago, up again for sale. Looks pretty sassy with all that chrome and tiger stripes!
Thursday and Friday included rides to a couple of historic cemeteries one of them being the former resting place of Elvis Presley and the highlight being a tour of Graceland.
Portrait of Elvis at Graceland
Saturday and Sunday were the days I was operating my vendor booth, so I didn’t have as much time to photograph, but here are some other favorites of mine.
Motorcycle light show.
Super rad custom Lambretta belonging to an interesting fellow by the name of Ogre.
Stretch Vespa
A scooter club from Mexico made the long ride all the way up to Memphis
Imported LML Star 125 and a Vespa GL
Beale Street as the sun goes down.
Red Vespas at High Cotton Brewery