Scoot2TX - Wrap up

It has been seven days since our group of riders taking part in the KYMCO Scoot2TX trip left Spartanburg, S.C. to travel through six states to a final destination of San Antonio and the Amerivespa scooter rally.

Seven days of riding on scooters. Seven days of talking about scooters. Seven days of scooters.

We ultimately covered more than 1,500 miles, riding roughly halfway across the country, during the journey that took the group off the beaten path of the national interstate system and offered us a glimpse at a portion of the “real” America.

Stops included Columbus, GA, Mobile, AL, Baton Rouge, LA, and Houston, Austin and San Antonio, TX. Sights included the red earth and green rolling hills of South Carolina; the peach groves and pine stands of Georgia; the thick forests of southern Alabama; the rural blight and beautiful coastal region of Mississippi; the marshlands and mangrove swamps of Louisiana; and the ranchlands and hill country of Texas.

Participants included KYMCO USA President Eric Bondy; "Kymco" Lee, VP; Frank Yang of KYMCO’s new product development team; Bruce Ramsey, VP of operations; Joe Wafford, VP of technical services; Steve Lazoff, Director of Sales; Rick Pawelka, Director of Marketing; photographer Robert Pandya; journalist Justin Dawes of Moto USA; blogger Guido Ebert; and KYMCO customers Judi McLane and David George, Gregory Dykes and Neil Sangalang.

Now at Amerivespa, much of the group has dispersed, with some joining in on the festivities, some working the event, and others returning home to spend time with their families during this Memorial Day weekend.
Bruce Ramsey and Joe Wofford are spending the weekend displaying the KYMCO product, fielding questions and offering test rides. Bruce took a moment to talk about the trip and his experience at Amerivespa.

“This trip was one of the best times I’ve ever had riding scooters, and I’ve attended rallies and functions with KYMCO for the last decade,” Bruce said. “I had a blast. It was awesome. I don’t care about the rain. I don’t care about the hail. It was a fantastic experience. Nothing tragic happened to the riders, and mechanically everything was as good as I would expect from KYMCO."

How’d the product display go today? “We had a lot of people stop by the display and show an interest in the product and give us kudos for attending, and we did a few test rides despite the heat that seemed to have people hesitant to want to go outdoors.”

But this wasn’t the first Amerivespa rally KYMCO has attended. “No, we’ve been coming to Amerivespa since 2001,” Bruce said, “and we always get good recognition from the organizers for coming out and helping sponsor their events.

“Being an event primarily attended by the vintage Vespa crowd, I was amazed to see so many twist-and-go scooters this year, and particularly happy to see so many KYMCO riders in attendance.”

Any chance KYMCO USA will plan another ride like Scoot2TX?
“I have no doubt that we’ll do this again,” Bruce said with a smile. “We’re already talking about it.”