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Old 06-27-2017, 09:33 PM   #1
Jim McClain
New Member
Jim McClain is on a distinguished road
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Teh REAL Northern California
Posts: 8
5 yr Member
Default Segway at a Convention

I never knew you all existed (I mean this forum) until some time back. Happy to have found you.

At a big orange store, I had a heart attack and didn't know it. I was with a friend, helping him load lumber in his truck when I got dizzy and passed out for a minute or so.

Turns out I have severe emphysema, with about 25% lung capacity and walk around with a oxygen tank strapped to my back now. At least I still walk, just not very far. It's very difficult to walk around the stores in the little town I live in. A shopping trip to a metropolitan area, where the stores are 2 or 3 times the size, there's no way I can do all that without assistance.

I hate those slow-poke electric shopping carts at stores that have all the good stuff on shelves way out of reach. Getting up and down to look at everything is breath-taking to say the least. Most stores, though, don't have electric carts or any other mobility aide. So my out-of-town shopping trips are on hold. Now I have an even bigger concern.

Every year, the largest gathering of professionals in the world, who are involved in the same business I spent 35 years in, takes place in Las Vegas. The convention draws tens of thousands of participants and visitors. I've been there a number of times. I very rarely see anyone in a scooter of any sort, and never have seen a Segway at a convention, but it has been a while since my last convention.

Now I run a popular, industry related website and the loyal members all chipped in to send me to the next convention. I wrote to a Segway dealer in Las Vegas and to Segway Marketing with the hopes that they would provide me with a loaner for a few days during Surfaces in exchange for an article focusing on use by the mobility challenged and the exposure it would get in this industry as a means of transportation at conventions, mills and manufacturing facilities.

The Las Vegas dealer sent me a price list. Segway waited 3 weeks to answer me, just to say, "sorry..." no. But all was not lost. I got a call from a former client one day. I mentioned the idea and the let-down. I told him I might rent one, if I could. He said he knew someone... "let me call you back in a few minutes." I thought it was just a polite brush-off and a way to end the call, so I exchanged good-byes.

He actually called me back just a few minutes later. Gave me the number of a dealer and told me to call him. I did and the guy already knew what was what and asked if I could go a little bit out of my way to pick up a Segway to borrow for the convention.

How exciting! I spent a few hours reading about Segways and in the process, found you all here. I didn't realize there was already a large group of dedicated people with disabilities encouraging the use of Segways. I didn't realized how much the quality of my life could improve if I had one of these of my own.

Thanks for being here.

Jim
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