Evil scooter plans for my nephew...

[bbishoppcm]

DandyDoug, I disagree with you 100%. This kid needs direction, just like we all did at some point in our lives. Sure, some kids really are degenerate useless beings who exist solely to consume oxygen and calories... but this kid is too young to be a complete "write-off" to society. I personally know MANY people who were in the same shoes as this kid, and they completely turned their lives around by age 25, becoming productive members of society. I would suggest this kid join the military; he's young enough, and if he hasn't built up a criminal record, he'd make it in just fine.

[DandyDoug]

The younger kid is 25 , way over weight, has always had everything handed to him because someone told him he had a learning disability when he was younger. He does have hearing problem, and needs to wear hearing aids ( which he steadfastly refuses to do). He has absolutely no ambition, his dad got him several jobs that lasted about a day or so, then he just stopped going. Waste of the human gene pool.

His older brother was convicted of some lame assed crap as a teenager, got tried and sent away. Did such a fine job as a prisoner he managed to stretch it out to 15 years. Real genius he is, could not even be bothered to get a free GED .
He got out , moved back home and sat on his ass and stayed either high or drunk. Got in a fight with his dad , got shown the door. We managed to get him in to a training program. To learn a trade, that lasted a couple months.
Yep, he is a credit to manhood that boy is.

The military won't even give either one the time of day , why should they.
I figure it's only a matter of time before one or both of these fine citizens show up on the evening news.

By the way , they have a younger sister, she is in college and doing very well inspite of the home environment she was raised in.

If you are looking for a project as a social do gooder, I'd be happy to put you in contact with the dynamic duo

[redhandmoto]

Eh, we do these things, we try them: sometimes they work and sometimes they don't, but we try because we may recognize a little of our youthful clueless selves, or maybe we feel that you can't just walk away when a little direction and guidance may help.

My own misgivings notwithstanding, i wish the OP every success; hope that the kid catches fire with enthusiam, hope that he gets a little motivation and starts developing a little traction, hope that they both have fun.

[bbishoppcm]

Alright, so those kids are an example of "useless scumbags." It happens.

[Domromer]

I think we ought to cut the kids some slack he's in his early twenties. He has the rest of his life to worry about bills and other adult bs. If the op wants to be the catalyst for this kids adventure than so be it.

[larrylarry75]

You guys will probably appreciate this. Back in the 60's there were tons of communes being set up, mostly by hippy types or people who were just wanting to drop out. The communes lasted for awhile, then fell apart. One of the groups who studies phenomena published a report on their findings as to why the communes broke up. Seems the people could agree on just about everything they encountered; politics, religion, love, lust, money, you name it, all things except for one and that was the main reason for their failures: They couldn't agree on how to raise children. Take a look back through this thread and guess what? Nothing's changed has it?

LL75

[SPOFF]

In my new minimum wage life I run into a lot of unmotivated youth. Good thing, or 55 year olds like me would never be able to find two jobs to survive. But I do grow tired of working 18-hour double shifts on my feet because a cook only will show up one out of four shifts he's scheduled.

Personally I'd stop feeding the nephew. If I can walk to work, so can he. And another life tip for him: Dumpsters behind restaurants contain tons of food.

[Brooktown Geezer]

Any update on this? Just wondering if the ride ever took place, and how things worked out?

[Jim Moore]

I gave both my nephews cars and tool kits when they were in high school. They were junkers, but they ran. They were both destroyed within a year due to lack of preventative maintenance. They learned their lessons though. They had to buy cars with their own money, and now they're some preventative-maintnenance-doin' mofos.

OP, if I'd do it he's a good, cheerful, pleasant-mannered kid. I'd skip it if he's a wanker.

[scottro]

I say if you like the kid, do it. I think I'd go with bigger bikes tho. Maybe '70s--80's era 400--450 twins. They're still pretty cheap and plentiful, aren't too big, are simple to wrench on, and have enough power to get you around the mountain states and keep up w/ traffic. Nothing against scooters at all, I just wouldn't want to be chugging up a high altitude pass on a 250 or smaller w/ a semi on my a$$. A 250's gonna feel and move like a 125 at altitude, and a 125 is gonna feel like a 70.

Also, I' recommend getting memberships in American Youth Hostels and stay in hostels instead of hotels/motels. The kid will meet a lot of people from all over the world who are up for adventure and travel, AND have saved to pay their own way, or are working their way around the world. Developing a network of friends from all over makes future travel a lot easier and a lot more fun. Maybe something or someone he meets will inspire him. He can also plan his solo route home thru towns with hostels.