The next time you're in Washington, DC...

[drhardee]

Take a tour of the Capitol area by Segway! It's a blast, and a blind man (the husbear,)and someone as relatively uncoordinated as yours truly can do this with a 5 minute lesson. My older brother (with whom we stayed) bought us the tour tickets. The tour itself lasted 2 hours, but we zoomed in and out of traffic and through crowds of walking tourist groups (who gape at you, it's fun to note) at up to 12 mph, so I saw probably 5 hours' worth of sites and tour stuff, and we stopped for photo opportunities at lots of places. Turning a 360 on one of those takes a flick of the wrist, and stopping on a dime involves simply leaning back on your heels, while speeding up is done by leaning slightly forward.

We told the tour guide that Sam was legally blind only after the tour was over, and she was amazed at how well he did. And he did do very well, zipping through narrowly placed "bomb blast" car barrier stanchions in front of the White House, and manuvering wheelchair curb cuts with the best of our group. . Sam would dearly love to have one now, but at $5,000.00 new, we'll wait for the lottery man to call our name first!

The tour tickets are $65.00 each; kind of steep, but it's a blast if you've never been on a Segway. There's also an age limit, no-one under age 16..it's a liability thing with them.

Here's a link to the tour folks. And, yes, I know, I look just like the "Mall Cop" guy...

http://www.capitalsegway.com/tours?gclid=CPi4ruDx_5oCFYJM5QodeHEZew

 

[jeffg]

Looks like fun, Dave!

I remember the news story SNL did when the Segway was first introduced.. Tina Fey: "The company said it's going to revolutionize the way people get hit by cars." LOL

 

[whirlcool]

It was also announced as the next big thing when it first came out. The Segway company hyped it as a invention worthy of the same level as the telephone or the Personal Computer.
Personally, I don't think it has really taken off except for a few applications. I have never seen one in use anywhere.

I have HEARD it being used. For example in a meeting one speaker may change the subject of the discussion, and another person will comment "Nice Segway to the new subject"...... or "Let's Segway to a new idea..."