The Marcophile: Scooter-mania

Chris Curle/Special to the Eagle

When is a "Persian" lime not really a Persian lime? Publix sells them but there's no need to worry about an international incident.

Chris Curle/Special to the Eagle

Bill Koetting and Diane Wooten are among Marco Island's increasing number of motor scooter users.

Chris Curle/Special to the Eagle

Bill Koetting and Diane Wooten are among Marco Island's increasing number of motor scooter users.

Back in 1985 when Islander Dave Rice got a motor scooter, he was a curiosity to many motorists.

“My friends say, ‘Dave, you look like a giant on a little centipede.’ They tease me but that’s part of the fun,” he said.

Rice, Marco’s scooter pioneer perhaps, has a lot of company on island streets now. Not a day goes by without seeing several locals tooling to and fro on motor scooters, from fancy, pricey Vespas to lower-priced, slower but totally cool other brands.

A means of transportation that once was mostly for fun and convenience now is becoming a practical, economically sound alternative to cars, SUVs and pickup trucks for obvious reasons — the soaring price of gasoline.

“I get about 50 miles to the gallon on my little Honda ’85,” says Rice. “It goes only about 35 miles an hour top speed, but my son’s Vespa will go 75 or 80.”

Another long-time Islander, Bill Koetting (BK to his friends) got hooked on scooters about a year ago.

“I look like a Shriner on a mini-bike,” he laughs. He also smiles at the economy of his Chinese made scooter — about 110 miles a gallon

“I run errands, post office, Publix and more, every day. It costs me virtually nothing and is fun besides.”

BK and his significant other, Dr. Beth Steward, a veterinarian, are a two scooter family.

“Beth rides her scooter to work every day unless it’s raining. But she doesn’t get as good mileage as I do, just about 80 miles per gallon.”

Another fan of seeing Marco by scooter is Diane Wooten, who rides her yellow Bacci to her job at Royal Palm Bank. She too gets 100 miles per gallon.

“When I fill up the gas station guy laughs when my gas bill is about four dollars.”

Diane wears skirts and dresses to work — hey, it’s a bank — but that’s not a problem.

“People see me zooming along with a dress on. Some call me the motor scooter mama.”

— Chris

Nuts and bolts of the scooter life

Scooters are increasing in popularity around the country as fast as is the price of gas. The Wall Street Journal this week had a major lifestyles report on scooter popularity.

The Motorcycle Industry Council says first quarter scooter sales were up 25 percent from a year earlier.

With the exploding popularity of scooters comes some serious advice from the Islanders who’ve been doing this for a while.

“I’ve been run off the road because I tried to be polite and moved over to the right as far as I could,” says Dave Rice. “I’ve learned not to do that, because if you move over so far, motorists misjudge and I’ve come close to being clipped by their side view mirrors. It’s best to stay just left of center in the lane and go the speed limit.”

Bill Koetting also urges caution.

“I’ve had some close calls with the bobble heads and their town cars. You just assume you’re invisible. If someone is coming out of a driveway, they’re not going to see you. Luckily, these scooters have good brakes and a little horn.”

So are scooters dangerous? Says one scooter dealer in Rolla, MO, “They’re only dangerous if the persons driving them are dangerous.” Motor scooters aren’t just cool, cute and economical. They’re fun and comfortable, many with automatic transitions, flashy looks, convenient step-through design and handy bins for carrying stuff.

The other day we saw a guy scootering up Bald Eagle Drive wearing a suit and tie — the tie and his hair blowing in the breeze. He looked like a model in a TV beer commercial. Maybe he was one of the soap opera actors who were here recently. Some enjoyed Marco so much they wished they could have stayed longer. Maybe one did.

In a nutshell scooters are a hoot.

“It’s just really fun,” says Koetting. “It’s wonderful and I love it,” says Wooten. “I think they’re great, get one!” says Rice.

— Don

Politically correct limes on Marco Island – at Public

I bought a few limes at the Publix on South Barfield the other day and was disturbed when they showed up on the cashier’s video display as “Persian limes.” What? Persian limes? Limes from Persia, now known as Iran? I politely asked one of the store managers whether Publix was selling limes imported from Iran.

She shook her head, pulled a lime from my basket and checked the label. I had no reason to be concerned about dealing with “the enemy.” “Mexico limes,” it read. The manager explained that “Persian” in the lime world is a type of lime, not its place of origin. “Like a Persian cat,” she said with a grin.

We grow a lot of Persian limes here in Florida, I am told, so I don’t know why we’re getting Mexican ones too. Other lime trivia while on this subject, thanks to the Fresh Grocer Tony Tantillo’s Web site:

– Two species of limes are in common use here. The larger Tahitians are known as Persians in Florida and as the Bearss lime in California. The other species, the smaller lime, is the Key lime of Florida, also known as the Mexican or West Indian lime.

– Using lime juice to enhance the flavor of various foods “will cut down the amount of salt you need to use, and eliminate the need for adding fat.” One Persian medium-sized lime has about 20 calories, seven carbs, two grams of fiber and no protein, fat, cholesterol or sugar.

– Limes put in a plastic bag in the refrigerator will last up to six weeks.

– Freshly squeezed lime juice may be frozen for up to four months.

There, that’s my penance for being the only guy on earth who thought that Persian limes came from Persia.

— Don

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We welcome your emails on what you’d like us to write about. Email: chris@chriscurle.com or don@donfarmer.com.