Wilkes, Dan. "Free Vespa" , 'The Only Way to Go' Vol. 2, No.4. Dallas, Texas, date? (Reprinted with permission of the author)

(Publisher's note: sorry it took me so long to get around to publishing this on the blog, kudos to Dan for the great story. Also I did not alter the text, it is how it originally appeared)

FREE VESPA

This is a profile on Tim Watson's vespa and the unusual story behind how he got it. Tim Watson a.k.a. TMO (pronounced Tea-Mo) decides that he wants a scooter, and being a friend of mine might have steered him towards a vespa. He purchases a fine red P200E from Randolph Garner, and a helmet, and he's off and running. The scooters great and TMO is happy, then some KOOK (idiot) side swipes him and totals the scoot. TMO's unscathed but his vespa is beyond normal repair, the engine casings were broken. They settled out of court and TMO buys another red vespa P200E from a friend named Eric Dettmar and once again TMO is on the loose. This scooter needed some minor repairs so we fixed it up and it got stolen. O.K. your thinking 3 strikes and your out, well TMO purchases P200E from yet another mutual friend, who originally bought the scooter from me. We refered to it as Frankenstien, because I built it from pieces I had found at junk yards and parts scooters I had bought over the years. TMO's had Frankenstien for awhile now and you would have expected some natural disaster to have befallen him by now, but actually just the opposite. Someone TMO knew asked him if he wanted* a vespa? And he said sure, what kind is it? A silver P200E, alright it's not red! So me and TMO (TMO and I) went to pick-up the scooter and it's in great shape, never been layed down, it just did'nt run. TMO decides to put the engine out of the Frankenstien in the silver body, and does so. He did it all by himself, and I was proud. -DAN *-(for FREE)

We had a small session out at W-n-D yesterday after the Jeff Phillips memorial thing. Not easy to explain the feeling of having fun and emptiness at the same time, T.Mo was missed more there to me then anywhere else. If you get a chance to post this "man missing picture" I would appreciate it.-Your Friend Dan

Steppin Out

So I bought some Chuck Taylor - Converse this weekend and I wore them for the rest time today. While I was putting them on this morning I couldn't help but smile when a conversation me and TMo had sprung into my head.

FACT: Tmo could not wear Chucks because he said his feet would tear right through them

LOL He still manages to make me laugh...

Anyways... Keep on truckin'

Love,

Lettey

From: Angela White-Tragus, Austin, TX

Text from Tmo (happens to be food related)

"Im rolling to the harvest classic at 6am. Can i come by on sunday and gnaw on the pig carcass?"

From: DW

I would have never figured that me and Steve were the only ones to ever eat with T.Mo! Everytime I have Mexican Food with my mom, we get hystarical laughing about how much fun T.Mo was to be around(especially at meal times!)

From: Steve Chadie, Austin, TX

April was the month me and TMO hit the Hill Country roads hard on our bikes and usually ended up a Coopers BBQ in Llano. The roads aren't quite as fun and the BBQ not quite as tasty, but I made it out there recently and happened to take a picture of the pit. Definitely one of TMO's favorite pit stops to eat at. Thanks for the idea, Dan. It's a good one.

I was just on my way to St.Louis and stopped off in Springfield to eat breakfast at Aunt Martha's Pancake House (a place T.Mo & I frequented often during motorcycles rides), and I thought it might be fun to post pictures of different places T.Mo loved to Eat? The thing that blew me away the most was when Aunt Martha came in the front door!!! She was ancient 20 years ago! The food is Great if anyone is ever in that area, you should check it out. -Dan



P.S.- I also stopped in Eufala,Oklahoma to have a piece of pie at the J&M, but they were closed on sunday.