Lake Life Review
The other day we took out a Moke. Two Mokes actually. Does anyone know if the plural of a Moke is actually Mokes or is it something like mouse/mice? Moke/Mike? Who’s Mike? When you take out more than one Moke would that be a herd? Maybe a fleet. I think it would be best if it was like a Buffalo, a gang! Did you know that a group of Bears is called a sloth? Can anyone confirm that Wikipedia is correct on that one? If someone told me I was coming up on a sloth. I would assume it to be one very slow moving animal. But instead, I would be heading straight into a large group of bloodthirsty bears! Why don’t the bears have a name like the tigers, an ambush? I would definitely head in the other direction if I heard an ambush was ahead!
So it is settled. The plural of Moke is Mokes, and it really doesn’t matter what a group of them would be called, because we only took out two!
Tara and Jessie were our two drivers. If you want to be a driver of one of the Mokes, make sure to bring your wallet with your driver's license and insurance card and maybe a pen. Yeah, I didn’t bring any of those, so I was out. To be honest those two were our only options. Boy #along, Tyler, didn’t arrive on time. Our photographer had to be fastened securely in the back seat to get the best shots and girl #along, Kelsey, was in charge of the radio! So there you have it, Tara and Jessie it was.
When you finally decide to rent one or more of these Mokes, you need to be aware there are more decisions to make. Don’t waste all of your rental time trying to figure out what color to drive! Seriously, just make a quick decision. They all make great photo ops so you can’t go wrong.
Tara said “Baby Blue is mine.” Way to be so decisive Tara! Jessie was trying to please us all. She didn’t want to make the decision. Or was it actually because she was distracted by all the paperwork she had to fill out and she was thinking to herself….”Seriously ladies! Make a flipping decision, and I will be there when I get done!”
Finally, we are set! Traveling topless in the baby blue and red Mokes. Jessie and girl #along looked amazing in the red. Tara, Joy and myself were in the baby blue on our way to pick up boy #along.
Stop! Back up. There are a few things I need to clear up before you, yourself get into one of these Mokes. It is an electric car, so don’t crank on the key to start it. The Moke is ready on the first twist. And remember this is a British car, and the word "topless" means convertible, not shirtless.
We needed to make our way to meet up with boy #along. You have to plan out your routes according to the speed limit signs. Your Moke can only go 30 mph tops — I believe this is only on a downhill descent. You can’t get on road with people going highway speed. You will become more of a hazard, like some of those Sunday cruisers are. You know who I am talking about. The slow moving vehicles enjoying their day, out for a "Sunday stroll" and all of the other cars coming up on them way too quickly and swerving to miss. Dangerous! Don't be one of those people!
I do have a warning for you. Although, these are street legal, I am not sure what the law is about seat belts. In Iowa, anyone 18 years old or older is free to make the decision to buckle up in the back or not. I mentioned more decisions are to be made in your journey — this is not a decision, it is a must. "BUCKLE UP!" In a Moke, there are no doors, and although it tops it’s speed around the 25 mph mark, you can get to this speed very quickly. In the parking lot, Tara took baby blue from a complete stop to turning at 25 mph. At that moment, I rethought my expectations of the outing. I was imagining it to be similar to "It's a Small World" ride at Disney. Slow...very slow. In the first three seconds, it was more like the "Tower of Terror" with a sharp turn!
Now, when you drive a Moke, you really need to throw your shyness out the window. It helps if you have someone like Tara in the driver’s seat. She honked at every intersection, every car, biker, pedestrian, construction worker, and ground squirrel. Basically anything moving, she honked. See here, her placement of hands while driving? So, the job of the passengers, of course, is not to look like a bump on the log but to wave and hoot and holler…because why not, right? You are topless in Okoboji!
If you find yourself cruising in a Moke, a great photo op is down in the turnaround of Queen’s Court. Although it is illegal to park vehicles there, sometimes people think they are above the law
and do it anyway. My hopes for you is that you have a spot to make a quick stop, and get that photo with the lake in the background. In our case, there were two huge SUVs blocking the perfect view. We have decided to forgive them, but we still are questioning their ethics.
Traveling along the lake on Lake Shore Drive is another great route to add in. You get to see the beautiful West Lake homes, along with the shoreline of West Lake Okoboji.
Another memorable portion of our drive was going across the bridge that separates East and West Lake. But I want to make it clear. Pay close attention to your driver and when she says to the car behind her, “I am going to loop a louey” it means that she is going to make a U-turn. If you recall fr
om above, Tara uses the only speed that Moke has during turns so we can feel some Gs. But after straightening out, the view over the bridge one more time was worth it.
Pulling back into the Moke parking lot, I played back in my head the last 60 minutes of my life. Honestly, I recalled getting into the Moke thinking, “Well, this will be interesting. I am not sure what all the hype is about one of these slow moving vehicles. But, as the wheels came to a complete stop and I got out, I noticed that my cheeks were sore from smiling, my gut hurt from all the belly laughs, and my arm was tired from all the waving, arm dancing and honking!
Quote from Johnny Moke, “Go Topless in Okoboji, it’s legal!”