polo_pro
09-13-2006, 12:44 AM
First let me say, I've owned my segway for over a year and I ride it daily in my small town on the California coast. I stick to my side of town for the most part and rarely venture down main street.
Most folks recognize me as "the segway guy", but I do keep a rather low profile. So I walk into a store, they instantly know who I am (but not my name). I've purposefully avoided talking to the local paper and local police since as I've seen it there's really no need to. In all my time, I've never run across another glider (except in Santa Barbara where I've seen the dealer giving tours). Heck, even when I went down the coast, I only saw other gliders that I knew from before or was likely to bump into!
Well, I'm moving across town, so I found myself gliding tonight down Main St for the first time in months. And low and behold, I see another person riding a p133 segway towards me! Because I talk all the time with my local dealer in Santa Barbara, I'd know if he sold one to someone in my small town long before I bumped into them in the street.
The guy sees me and starts waving, and I'm doing the same. As we get closer, it sounds like he's babbling and I realize he's speaking French. He tugs at me and we glide a few store fronts away to where his family is. Thankfully, his daughter spoke English and could translate.
This is when things get truly surrealistic....
These folks started their day in San Francisco and are ending it in Los Angeles. It's 8PM, and of the dozens of towns along 101, they decide to pull off in my town. Then they happen to be gliding/walking along Main St the exact time I am (even though I haven't set foot on Main St for months)! Can you say "Fate?"
After introductions, we exchange information, web sites ( http://www.les-maisons-bois.com/?Rpage=coupdecoeur.html ), stories and all sorts of segway information. I want to take a moment to thank his daughter for dutifully translating all this as two excited gliders babbled on incessantly. Upon finding out that my fellow glider suffered from Parkinson, I became quite insistent that they stop by my house to see a Segseat. I was right on their way has they headed south to LA, and amazingly enough my Segway fit in their van with their whole family. Can you say "fate" again?
In a few minutes we're at my house, I'm showing them the Segseat which I'm betting could extend how long he'll be able to use his p133. I also printed out a couple maps (and the start of the thread on Segway Chat) so they could join us in Camarillo this weekend for polo. Unfortunately they were pressed for time, so I didn't have time to dig up Mario's phone number. It'd be really great (and almost fateful) if they could actually have the inventor of the Segseat show them his product while their vacationing here in California!
If they come to polo on Sunday, I'll make sure to give them Mario's phone number. Otherwise, they did mention "Segway of Santa Monica" and hopefully they'll have one their to show/sell them.
What a weird, wild, wonderful evening!
ps - I couldn't tell if they're here for an extended vacation and might still be around for Segfest in October.
Most folks recognize me as "the segway guy", but I do keep a rather low profile. So I walk into a store, they instantly know who I am (but not my name). I've purposefully avoided talking to the local paper and local police since as I've seen it there's really no need to. In all my time, I've never run across another glider (except in Santa Barbara where I've seen the dealer giving tours). Heck, even when I went down the coast, I only saw other gliders that I knew from before or was likely to bump into!
Well, I'm moving across town, so I found myself gliding tonight down Main St for the first time in months. And low and behold, I see another person riding a p133 segway towards me! Because I talk all the time with my local dealer in Santa Barbara, I'd know if he sold one to someone in my small town long before I bumped into them in the street.
The guy sees me and starts waving, and I'm doing the same. As we get closer, it sounds like he's babbling and I realize he's speaking French. He tugs at me and we glide a few store fronts away to where his family is. Thankfully, his daughter spoke English and could translate.
This is when things get truly surrealistic....
These folks started their day in San Francisco and are ending it in Los Angeles. It's 8PM, and of the dozens of towns along 101, they decide to pull off in my town. Then they happen to be gliding/walking along Main St the exact time I am (even though I haven't set foot on Main St for months)! Can you say "Fate?"
After introductions, we exchange information, web sites ( http://www.les-maisons-bois.com/?Rpage=coupdecoeur.html ), stories and all sorts of segway information. I want to take a moment to thank his daughter for dutifully translating all this as two excited gliders babbled on incessantly. Upon finding out that my fellow glider suffered from Parkinson, I became quite insistent that they stop by my house to see a Segseat. I was right on their way has they headed south to LA, and amazingly enough my Segway fit in their van with their whole family. Can you say "fate" again?
In a few minutes we're at my house, I'm showing them the Segseat which I'm betting could extend how long he'll be able to use his p133. I also printed out a couple maps (and the start of the thread on Segway Chat) so they could join us in Camarillo this weekend for polo. Unfortunately they were pressed for time, so I didn't have time to dig up Mario's phone number. It'd be really great (and almost fateful) if they could actually have the inventor of the Segseat show them his product while their vacationing here in California!
If they come to polo on Sunday, I'll make sure to give them Mario's phone number. Otherwise, they did mention "Segway of Santa Monica" and hopefully they'll have one their to show/sell them.
What a weird, wild, wonderful evening!
ps - I couldn't tell if they're here for an extended vacation and might still be around for Segfest in October.