Scootin' around those gas prices

Silverdale resident Mary Lou Dahl has the answer to those skyrocketing gas prices — her 1985 Honda Spree scooter.

Dahl, 69, drives her bright red Spree often and receives comments everywhere she goes, especially lately as gas prices have continued to rise. Many in the community have nicknamed her “Scooter.”

But Dahl isn’t the only one dodging those gas prices by driving a scooter. According to Darrell Womack of Brothers Powersports in Bremerton, the store’s scooter sales have increased about 300 percent already this year and will most likely sell out much of its scooter inventory.

“Everyone can’t afford $3 a gallon,” he said. “It used to be that people come in and get a scooter because they’re getting older and they used to have a motorcycle. But now more and more people are using them for transportation.”

And that’s just what Dahl uses her scooter for.

With a maximum speed of 35 mph, she takes her Spree just about everywhere it can go, even to Costco where she loads everything on including gallon jugs of milk. But her Spree can only carry so much.

“One time I forgot I was on it and I bought too much stuff, I had to make two trips,” she said.

On fair weather days, Dahl rides her Spree to many of her errands including to the store, church, ball games and doctor appointments. The amount of gas she uses depends on how much riding she does, but she can usually go for two weeks on one tank of gas. In the winter months when she drives her car it costs her about $38 to fill the tank. But when she’s driving her scooter it only costs her about $2 to $4 a month in gas.

“I always think to take my Spree, I don’t like to drive my car,” she said.

She and her husband each received their brand new scooters in 1985 from their sons as gifts. Two years ago they sold both of them. Then about six months after selling her Spree to a close friend, Dahl changed her mind and bought it back for the same price that she sold it for.

“He didn’t do anything with it and I was so sorry that I sold it so I bought it back,” she said.

Dahl’s Spree now has a little more than 4,500 miles on it and she says she is going to continue riding as long as she’s able to.

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