I've had my scooter since just before Christmas, and I've already piled on 2200 kilometers. Just in case you're wondering, this island is only 30 miles long and seven or so miles wide at it's widest spot. I haven't really gone for many long rides. I went out to East End on the scooter one night a couple months back when I was at the Reef Resort to see the Barefoot Man's show, and the knobbly road on the north side of the island tore my back tire to shreds.

The tire itself was fine, but the bumpiness of the road (it was semi-paved after rebuilding the roadbed after hurricane Ivan) just was too much for the little 11" wheel, and it eventually lost enough air that it was flat. I was rescued that night and pumped the tire back up and it held... until I got one of those big, square-cross-section concrete nails in the back tire that was so big it took Lee and Giuliano both to double-penetrate it with plugs. Even still, it leaks a little bit when the tire pressure is above 30psi. (It sounds awful, and I wrote it that way on purpose) :)

Last weekend, Sharon and I went for a ride on Saturday afternoon. We took the long way through town and then down and around South Sound Road. It's pretty incredible that it's been 19 months since the hurricane and there's still so much rebuilding to be done down that way. We headed out of town and hung a right-turn in Savannah towards Pedro Castle. Pedro Castle is a national historical site here in Grand Cayman and they're in the process of restoring it (again) this time due to (again) Hurricane Ivan. I took Sharon out to Pedro Bluff, which is a bit of a challenge on scooters. She did it in fine fashion though, and enjoyed the scenery out there (but not the litter. It's awful how people just leave their trash around on this island... but that's another post) We've both got company coming in the next couple weeks, so we might go back there in the jeeps with a couple coolers in the back with some picnic-ey stuff and knowing Sharon, a bottle or two of red!

We planned to go out again this weekend, and this time we were going to bring Eleni along with us, who just got a scooter a few days ago. She's also new to our group of friends, and she hasn't run screaming in the other direction yet, so I think she might be OK (or at least with me and my big mouth, anyway) :)

We started out at Aqua Beach for lunch (They've changed their recipe for pulled pork sandwiches and it's just nowhere NEAR as good as it used to be, but again... that's another post) We headed down south (and there's still money todayyyyy) and took the scenic route through South Sound and then out towards Savannah. We pulled in at the Texaco there to see if we wanted to go to Pedro again, or head east further out of town. We opted for East and headed out on the highway, lookin for adventure, or whatever came our way. We cruised all the way out through East End, hooked around the far side of the island and pulled in at the Reef Resort with iced tea at their seaside bar on our minds.

The bar at the Reef is nice, and there was this cool bartender who's name escapes me, but she wasn't there today so I guess it doesn't matter. We soon realized that Iced Tea probably isn't  big seller at the bar there. It LOOKED promising. They had it in a big glass pitcher on the bar and smelled like actual brewed iced tea. Looks and smell is where it stopped resembling iced tea though. It HAD been brewed, but it had been brewed through a coffee maker, so as soon as you swallowed the iced tea, you got this AWFUL, NASTY, BITTER, DISGUSTING NASTY-ASS OLD COFFEE taste in your mouth. I tried lemon. I tried sugar. I tried more sugar. No go. All you could taste was nasty old coffee. If you're a tea drinker, you know what I mean, it's happened to you on at least one occasion. We settled up and headed back down the road.

We stopped in at the memorial site of the Wreck of the Ten Sails.  There's a little commemoration site and plaque out by the water, but up front, by the road is this big-ass bronze propeller from a different wreck. There was also a sidewalk and a convenient strip of land in front of it to park our scooters on for a photo-op. This picture is of Sharon & Eleni in sepia mode. I also got them to take their tops off for some bikini-scootergirl pictures, and then they even went a step beyond and took their hair down and shook it out, all Charlie's Angels style. With subjects like this, it's HARD to take a BAD picture! We then scooted our way back into town and stopped in at the Gelato place for a little frozen happiness before heading home. Sharon continued on up the road and Eleni pulled back in at Casa Docjelly to grab a couple beers an park our keisters on the beach to watch the sunset.

The sunset tonight was awesome. No, not awesome... awe-inspiring. Eleni took some photos, so hopefully she'll email me copies and I can update this post with them. There were some clouds at the horizon, but as the sun dipped into the ocean, it cleared them and there was a tiny flicker of Green Flash. That's twice now I've seen a Green Flash. This time wasn't nearly as dramatic as the first time, but it was still there. Even after the sun went down, the cirrus clouds to the south of the island turned from white to pink to nearly ruby red. They were reflecting SO MUCH red light that the entire Caribbean sea shone pink. We headed off the beach then, she went home and I went upstairs to cook some dinner, but all in all, a good four-day weekend and that sunset to cap the whole thing. As they say, priceless.