This the first post in a series about our beloved collection classic vehicles. My husband, a classic car lover, owns a 1962 Series IIa Land Rover which we had shipped from England when we moved to the States; but that story is for another day!

This story is about MY ‘baby', which happens to be a Lambretta Motorscooter; the 1956 LD 150 manufactured by Innocenti.  I first became fascinated by classic scooters when I moved to England in 1997, and was spending a lot of time traveling to Italy among many European Countries.

I loved their classic lines, their ease of use, and fuel economy (well, compared to cars anyway!).  I almost bought one to bring back with me when I moved back to the States, but didn't quite make it happen.  Then one day, shortly after I discovered EBay, I lost my head and bid on a 56' Lammy, thinking that I wouldn't possibly win it.  I did!  Well, I was a proud owner of my little scooter, but the problem was that it lived in Nevada, and I in Colorado.

There was only one thing to do: fly out to Vegas, rent a moving truck to pick up Lolita (yep, that's her name)  and drive her back home.

This would turn out to be one of the greatest adventures of my life.  My husband and I flew out to Las Vegas, Nevada together and picked up Lolita.  She was everything I could have hoped for and more! That night we stayed in the Hotel Bellagio, which had a stunning art display in the lobby with 2,000 blown glass flowers on the ceiling.  We decided it was worth the ‘splurge' since we were camping for the rest of the trip back home.  We drove down "The Strip"   together on Lolita, one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life.  We discovered that we were able to park her right at the entrance to each hotel/casino; my husband simply explained, with his lovely accent ;) that we had no way to lock her, she could be easily stolen so we wanted her to be in a safe place; and all the security guards & concierges' were more than happy to oblige.  It was like having a VIP tour of Vegas.

The next day we drove to toward the Grand Canyon (which I had seen once before) via Boulder City and the Hoover Dam. What a masterpiece of engineering.

I have to tell this funny story which still makes me laugh to this day.  When we arrived in Grand Canyon National Park  the light was fading fast and we found ourselves cruising down rim road trying to get a glimpse of the canyon before the last rays were gone.  I thought it best to park the truck and leg it by foot to the canyon trail, which, looked very close on the map.  After walking for a few minutes my husband became frustrated & grabbed the map to see for himself in response to my latest: "just a few more yards for sure!"

With a voice full of despair he exclaimed, "Are you crazy?  The canyon is at least a mile away from here, maybe even two!!"  "Look, here we are and here's the river!  "We'll never get there in time!" 

I looked at him and started laughing!  Pointing at the map: "And here's the rim of the canyon" "Holy moly" (or something similar) says he "I had no IDEA it was THAT BIG!"

"That's why they call it the Grand Canyon" said I with a smug look on my face.  We carried on up the slight hill through the woods and a minute later we were looking out over the vast expanse that is the Grand Canyon all alight with the golds and reds of the setting sun's rays. That was a moment to remember! 

The next day we did the rim to river hike and back.  A grueling 15 mile hike, but absolutely stunning!  Next time we're planning on taking one of those river rafting tours, river to rim is more my style.   After another night in the park, recovering from our hike, we took the scooter out for a run on the rim trail very early in the morning.  Though we technically shouldn't have had a motorized vehicle on the walking trail, it was worth the trespass; luckily we encountered no other pedestrians at that time of the morning.  The view was breathtaking and all during the ride I was giddy with the thrill of glancing down into the abyss.  Another unforgettable moment.

Next stop on our list was Williams, Arizona, a quaint old town on the Historic Route 66, and terminus of the Grand Canyon Railway (which I hope to ride someday).  Of course we had to unload Lolita again to give her a quick run on the 66!  I recommend Pancho McGillicuddys if you're in the area.  A neat little Mexican restaurant with nice outdoor patio overlooking the train station.  We also enjoyed the little gas station museum and the 50's style gift shops. We spent the next day in Flagstaff, Arizona, one of my favorite small cities in the United States.  It was there that I learned that knitting was the ‘new yoga'! All I have to say is whoever coined that term must not know how irritating it can be to try to knit when you really aren't good at it! Not relaxing in the least!  But I digress..........

After our stay in Flagstaff we drove to Mesa Verde, Colorado via the Four Corners where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet.  Mesa Verde, with over 4,000 archeological sites built between 600 and 1300 AD, contains some of the most significant archaeological findings in the world, including the famous cliff dwellings.  There had been a great fire 2 years before our trip, and much of the landscape still looked a desolate graveyard of trees; but the fire had uncovered more than 1,000 archeological sites, most previously unknown.   The fire also provided us with ample wood for our camp that night.  After watching the sun set in the park, we cruised to Durango, Colorado  to find our accommodation for the evening (in the dark).  Luckily there's a lot of camping options in Colorado!  There are many great restaurants to choose from in downtown Durango, but the one we chose shall remain anonymous because they graciously allowed us to cork our wine bottle and take it with us (I wouldn't want to get them in trouble). After dinner we went back to our  riverside campsite, and drank the rest of our wine by the warmth of the fire under a limitless starry sky. 

The next day we decided to take a detour and stop by Sand Dunes National Park, nestled in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, on our way back.   The highest dunes in North America (the tallest being 750 feet from base to crest), this 30 square mile ‘mini-desert' nestled at 8,000 feet above seal level is a stunning natural phenomenon.  It also happens to be a lot of fun, especially if you have a cardboard box with you!

Our last stop on the way home was The Garden of the Gods  near Colorado Springs, Colorado.  We had taken some friends/family there when they came over for our wedding a few months prior, but this time as we were on our own, we had the chance to get in some bouldering. 

What had taken us 2 hours to traverse by plane, took 6 days by car to cover!  By all accounts, it was the best road trip I've ever been on; and my husband (having only lived in the United States 1 year at that time) was blown away by the vast size and scale of everything he saw.  It was wonderful to see it all again through his ‘virgin' eyes.   And of course, the best part about it all, is that I have my lovely Lolita to thank for it! 

THE END

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all photographs copyright Jessica Hughes 2006