Matt and I had a good trip to Portland, Indiana. The vintage motorbike meet was fun and
I picked up my restored Allstate motorscooter from the restorer. He took it up there to
show it and I told him that if it won, he could have the trophy. It took first place in some
really heavy compttition. It didn't surprise me a bit because he did a really beautiful job
on it. This is the scooter with the art decco look, and it's probably the coolest looking
scooter ever built. We're still trying to figure out what year it is. Sears kept that design
from 1951 to 1957 and some say even 1958. I've ridden it a couple of times and it seems
to have plenty of power and speed, although it weighs about 270 pounds and the engine is
rated at only 5 horsepower The engine is the famous Cushman Huskey.

The only scoot that I took up there was a 50cc Honda with 3979 miles on the speedo.
Matt saw to it that it read exactly 4000.0 miles by the time we left, and he never got off
the fairgrounds.

Portland, it appears, is in the corn belt. I never saw so much corn in my life. They also
raise beans, presumably soybeans. Corn and beans make a good combination because
corn tends to depleted the soil of nitrogen and beans tend to add nitrogen to soil. Both
southwestern Ohio and eastern Indiana looked good. Some areas are hilly and others
very flat. Traffic through Cincinnati was horrible. The interstate jammed up going and
coming, and it wasn't rush hour.

The Toyota with two people in the cab and two scooters in the bed averaged 30.0 mpg.
Not bad even for a 4 cylinder, 5 speed. The first tank was 30.2 and the second tank was
29.8. I love what it does for me.
Howard