Melissa at Costco

We just got a new Costco in Baton Rouge.  Here's Melissa on her first trip there, pulling a buggy out to her van.  She has a Peterboro basket on her scoot, but the TV she bought didn't quite fit in it.

What I really enjoyed was being able to go up and down every single aisle in Costco.  I even went down some twice.  I just could never have done that without my scoot.  

Fixing a Creaky Seat

More creaky seat solutions are available in this post:
http://mytravelscoot.blogspot.com/2013/10/more-creaky-seat-solutions.html
--Elizabeth

My friend Melissa has been having a problem with her seat creaking since she got her TravelScoot, and we've just never taken the time to diagnose the problem and fix it.  Last weekend we held a "scooter clinic" at our house to fix the problem, and I thought you'd enjoy reading about it.

These are my TravelScoots.  The previous design is on the left, and the new model is on the right.  (The fabric triangle isn't on the one on the right.)

This adds Melissa's TravelScoot to the lineup.  That's a Peterboro basket she uses, like Peggy recommended in this post: http://mytravelscoot.blogspot.com/search?q=peterboro 

Alan, my 'scooter wrangler', is trying to diagnose what is causing the creaking.  We couldn't tell exactly where the sound was coming from, but me, Melissa and Greg were all putting in our two cents on how to fix the problem.

The seat is off and Alan is lubricating various parts that might be contributing to the problem.  He uses LPS2 for lubrication.  Hardy Huber told me once that he uses vaseline but Alan's an audiophile and has the LPS2 for his audio equipment. It seems to work great on the scoot too.

This is Greg on the floor, trying to see if he can hear where the creaking is coming from.  So far the lubrication isn't working.

One of the things Alan tried was swapping out the metal parts on 2 seats, to see if the problem was the seat itself.  It wasn't.  

Here he is putting the correct metal part back on the correct seat.  

The solution for this problem ended up being that the clamp at the top of the yoke (that's the curved metal bar over the battery) needed to be loosened AND it needed lubrication.  After Alan did that we had a very quiet seat, and a very happy scooter owner!

Fran's Winter Wonderland

From Fran R.:

(Fran sent this to me back in February. Sorry for the delay in posting!)

One of the great things about the TS is how everyone shares their experiences - it's where I learned about the Peterboro baskets. And this one is definitely a winner. It holds so much and looks so much better than the usual baskets you see on scooters.

I recently bought a golf cart to use on the grassy areas around my home. There's a pond right next to my house and I love going there to watch the ducks and geese. Plus lots of open areas where I used to be able to walk my dogs - but had to give that up when walking became more difficult. I checked on lots of heavy duty scooters but decided the golf cart would be a better option. Pretty hard to load that up in the car - so the TravelScoot remains one of the best things I've purchased. There's a huge book fair coming up next month and last year I couldn't begin to get around to look at all the books - but this year the TS will allow me to do that.

The picture is of the pond by my house and my son, Jason, on the golf cart. That's the first snow we've had in the 8 years I've live here.

Getting on the Carnival Ecstasy

Once we arrived at the Galveston port for the first day of our Carnival Ecstasy cruise, we loaded our scoots with tote bags and a small case each, and got a porter to take the big luggage from the car and get it checked in. I left my Peterboro basket at home (a good decision), had my CrampBuster in place (another good decision), and off we went to start our adventure.

The embarkation process amounted to waiting in long lines to jump through the necessary hoops to get on the ship. There were lots of employees around to help us from one place to the other, and because we were on mobility scooters our party of 4 was taken to different (and much shorter) lines. There is a LOT of walking and standing in line involved before you're on the ship. This was a case where having a scoot (or a wheelchair, walker, or cane) gets you extra assistance.

A side note: If you are in the process of deciding if you need a TravelScoot for your cruise or not, please know that in addition to the walking, there really is a lot of standing in lines involved in checking in.  The scoot gives you an instant place to sit. 

The last thing you have to do before you're on board the Ecstasy is make it up the final ramp. It's not a long or particularly steep ramp but it is narrow and the beginning and the end parts aren't connected firmly to the middle. Melissa, daring woman that she is, tried to drive her scoot on. Uh... no. We both ended up getting off the scoots and walking on and getting the scoots on separately.

Our rooms weren't immediately ready, but we were able to get into them within about an hour of boarding. The narrow hallway leading to our room was carpeted but it was easy on my scoot. I mention this because hotel carpet is often plush and causes the motor to have to work harder and the battery to drain quicker. If there was no luggage, carts, or people in the hallways, two TravelScoots could probably sit side-by-side, but that is RARELY the case so there's a constant need to dodge, drive around, and avoid people who open doors and run out without looking.

We had an outside cabin, which means it had a view of the water, but it was not a handicap accessible cabin. I really hoped we'd be able to get my scoot in without a lot of trouble, but it just did not fit through the narrow doorway without being folded. This meant that every time we entered or left the room we had to assemble or unassemble it. I was under the misconception that handicap room had wide doors, roll in showers, and lots of other cool things for folks on wheels, and I didn't want to deprive anyone who truly needed those features of the room. I was able to actually go in a handicap cabin and found that yes, the door was a few inches wider and there wasn't as high a step up into the bathroom, but other than that things were the same, including the size of the room. I will most definitely request a handicap cabin the next time I travel.

Once we were in the room we unpacked, got the batteries set up to charge, and parked my scoot in the corner. Our cabin only had ONE place to plug in a single item, so put a power strip on your list of items you MUST pack for your cruise.

The messy picture shows the counter where we charged the batteries. The other shows the corner we used to store my scoot. This picture was taken after one of the times when we were able to get it just right and tilt the scoot in a way where we could get it in without breaking it down. We gave up on being able to do that consistently and just folded it each time. There was plenty of room to walk by the scoot and walk around the bed. If you need every inch of floor space you could also fold the scoot and put it under the bed. That's also where we put our empty suitcases.

Basket 'o Breakfast

The first Saturday of the month was a scooter adventure to the Red Stick Farmer's Market with Rhonda, Melissa and Rae. Our first stop was a fun breakfast brought to the table courtesy of my Peterboro basket. It held 4 boxes of breakfast and all the fixings! I'm impressed and amazed at how much it holds. I've used my several times now for grocery shopping. It's much easier than pulling a grocery cart along and I can usually get what I need in 2 trips to the car. On average it holds about $50, depending on what you're buying.

I'd tell y'all what Rae and I bought our nephew Ben at the market, but I don't think it's arrived in D.C. yet and he might be reading.

Kay (Ben's mom) recently changed the motor on her scoot and took a bunch of pictures of it. I'll bet if you all give her some encouragement she'll send them to me so I can post them here.

What are you all up to with your scoots? I've got some pictures from Daniel in Poland that I need to post, so look for those soon!

Fran R. gives thumbs up to the Peterboro basket

From Fran R:

I also give a thumbs up to the Peterboro basket. I got the xlarge Cherry one too and am finding it to be so handy. It's roomy and holds a lot. I use my TS to exercise my 2 puppies and have used the basket to hold the female who needs a ride sometimes. So glad Peggy put that info out there for us.

Two thumbs up for the Peterboro basket!

Peggy had a great idea with the Peterboro bicycle basket! I bought one of my own (the extra large one, in cherry), and tried it out yesterday. It has leather straps to attach it to the scoot and they fit nicely over the handlebars and fasten tightly. The basket didn't wiggle very much, and it held my sweater, purse, and the fabric I was shopping for at Walmart.

Look at the picture of this basket on their website (http://www.peterborobasket.com/p-1269-peterboro-original-extra-large-bicycle-basket.aspx ), and see where they have the leather straps attached. The only change I made was to move each strap more to the middle.

I don't think I'd want to have this basket on my scoot all the time because I'm used to being able to pull up close to things and it's harder to do that with the basket attached. I'd definitely want this basket if I was out shopping though, because whatever you put in it is easy to reach. It does make the hand brakes harder to use because it's so close to them, but the only time I use the hand brakes is if I'm going down a hill and need to slow myself down. Any other time I just let go of the throttle and have no problem stopping.

It's pretty simple to attach or remove -- just buckle or unbuckle the straps. I give it two thumbs up!

Peggy's Peterboro Basket, part 2

I asked Peggy which size she'd gotten and here's her reply:

"The basket I purchased was the large one-cost $50. The leather straps are great. Play around with them and you'll figure out the best way to attach them to the handlebars. You can get the basket to sit level. I think the heaviest that I put in it was 2 half gallon cartons of milk."

To view all the Peterboro bicycle baskets:

http://www.peterborobasket.com/c-48-bicycle-baskets.aspx

Peggy's basket:

http://www.peterborobasket.com/p-1269-peterboro-original-extra-large-bicycle-basket.aspx

Peterboro has free shipping and right now you can get 10% off by using the discount code WINTER10.

Peggy's Peterboro Basket

From Peggy:

No one should have this much fun riding on a scooter. Recently, I hit both Clearview and Lakeside Shopping Centers in Metairie. Target is in Clearview and I was all over the store. They had lots of things on sale. I was looking for warm knit pants. I think it's going to be a cold winter and Mardi Gras. I was able to go from one section of the store to the other without being concerned about getting tired. I did try to take a few corners too fast and there were other shoppers right there. The breaks work very well!!

Lakeside was very crowded. I had to use a handicapped parking place because available parking places were on higher floors and I would have had to use the ramp. I wasn't sure how well Silver would handle going up the ramps, and wasn't ready to try. We handled Lakeside well. When I stopped to eat a very late lunch, someone nicely offered to help me to a seat. I said no thank you as I could place the tray on top of the basket. I remembered your blog about Nancy's food tray invention and realized that the top of the basket was flat. It worked well.

The best thing about the basket is that I figured out ou a way to keep it on Silver while I put it in the hatchback. If you turn the handlebars around as you put them down, the basket faces the seat. I had to make sure the basket bottom was not hitting the the upright bar as I lowered it. Otherwise, no problems. It's so nice to not have to put on and take of the basket. That wasn't really a hassle, but just another step that can be eliminated in order to save time.

The best thing about this 5 hour shopping excursion is that I wasn't exhausted when I finished! I actually enjoyed shopping.

The basket is proving to be the second best investment; Silver was the first. I'm always careful with baskets but this one is proving to be as strong as the company says. It can hold my 11 1/2 pound Hailey as well as a few other items and is taking some abuse in moving it around on Silver. Remember the basket is from www.peterborobasket.com.