Scooter that traveled across the country stolen, then found by Richmond police

Alix Bryan's two-wheeled steed, a 125 cc Genuine scooter out of Chicago, has a pretty amazing history.

With Alix at the controls, the scooter traced a gigantic peace sign across the United States, a path that covered 22,000 miles.

The scooter, featured on CNN, has more than 100 signatures on it from those Alix met on her journey to find peace. After her journey, she interned here at CBS 6 with Mark Holmberg, and she continues to work at the station part time.

Sometime early Monday morning, her famous peace scooter was stolen in front of a home in the 3100 block of Grayland Avenue in Richmond's Carytown area, where Alix was house-sitting for a friend.

Amazingly, Richmond police located her beloved scooter less than 24 hours later.

"I'm so happy!" Alix said when she called to break the news late Monday night.

But earlier in the day, she was devastated.

The scooter is such a large part of who she is, and how she got there, "it felt more like identity theft," Alix said.

Her journey began in 2007. "My goal was to create the world's largest peace sign on the United States map," she said. "And when I traveled, I asked people how they defined peace."

Imagine Alix's connection to this scooter. Thirty one states, the better part of a year, all kinds of weather. Five rear tires, zero accidents but dozens of close calls.

She raised $10,000 for charity during her ride. And found out a lot about this country, and herself. You can catch up to the adventure at www.peacescooter.com

When Alix discovered the scooter missing Monday morning, "It just hit me," she said. "And I started crying."

She filled out a police report, and posted messages about the theft on Facebook and Twitter.

Word quickly got picked up and spread around. There were so many tweets about it, the Richmond Police Department heard all about it and then some.

And when a neighbor who lives not far from where the scooter was stolen noticed something suspicious in an alley late Monday, investigating officers found Alix's scooter, its windshield shattered, tag bent and reeking of spilled gas, as if the tough little scooter had been dumped or crashed.

Even though the peace scooter is going to take some work, Alix couldn't be happier.

"I don't think such a quick recovery would have been possible if the Richmond community hadn't rallied behind it so strongly," Alix said.

"I'm thrilled," she added. "I can't wait to go for a ride."