Grandpa's Segway Adventure

Grandpa (my Dad) has been mentioning for some time now that he would like to try riding a Segway.  You know, those two-wheeled vertical people movers.  I am sure that the great appeal to Grandpa was the idea that he might be able to get around on them, in a way that his physical body just doesn't allow him to do anymore.  That, plus the technology is just cool.

So anyhow, when my little family was at Tempe Town Lake a couple of weeks ago, riding along in the pedal boats, I saw a whole bunch of folks zooming around the lake on Segways.  I informed Grandpa of this, and he immediately campaigned for us to take a Segway tour of the lake too.

There were a few naysayers amongst the local Tobler crowd, all out of genuine concern for Grandpa's safety. They even had me Googling Segway accident videos.  Nevertheless, knowing that Grandpa's enthusiasm for the project could not be cooled, I went ahead and booked the tickets.

Grandpa, Marc, my cousin Alice, and I ended up being the Segway guinea pigs.  Marc was meant to be the muscle - to catch Grandpa if he fell.  But Grandpa surprised us all and did AWESOME.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I was worse than he was, in terms of finding a comfort level on the machines.  Speed makes me a Nervous Nelly (if you can call the maximum of 12 mph that the Segways will go speed).

The Segway of Scottsdale tour guides, were incredibly nice.  They gave Grandpa extra time and attention.  Ultimately Grandpa and I got designated our own individual tour guider.  Devin  was kind and competent, letting us pause in all the shady spots (it was over 90 degrees out there and we did NOT pack enough water bottles).  She rode right by us, let us go our own pace, and caught us as needed.



Way to go Grandpa!  It was a thrill to ride with you.  They really were fun machines.