My interesting find of the day: The yellow scooter and American flag helmet in this episode of MTV's Austin Stories belonged to me.→[More:] For scooter views skip to 6:00 and 8:35 (where some dork is wearing my helmet.)

The producers saw me tooling around Austin on it in 1997, followed me, and rented it from me for the shoot. I think they paid me $200. I remember the check was from MTV and laughing about it with my friends. I got to go to the 'set' (just a street in my neighborhood) and eat from craft services. I was hoping they'd pick me up for use as an extra - I certainly looked like an Austin weirdo at the time - but no such luck.

I saw this episode when it aired but hadn't seen it since. I wish the second half of it was on youtube, as it contains more and better shots of the bike.

It's a 1981 Honda Passport CT70 and I loved the everloving crap out of that thing - hell, it even got me laid once. The scooter, alas, is no more. I wrecked it into a creek one sunny afternoon about six months later when I was out of my head on a cocktail of illegal pharmaceuticals. I gave the helmet to a friend a few years later.