A Changed Life

Every day... hell, who am I kidding? Several times a day, I pop into the forums and read all the new postings. I respond to a few; I've created more than my fair share, I guess. A lot I just read, then move on.

There's an underlying tone to most of the posts, though; at least those posted by owners/users of Segways, and that's one of "fun." It almost seems that, first and foremost, we make sure to have fun.

Yes, I have fun on Gilligan. One of the things I love to do is plan my glide so that it goes past an elementary or middle school. Living in the western suburbs of Glendale, right at the junction of two different cities, that's pretty easy to do, too. And if it happens to be recess time, all the better. Nothing brings a game of dodge ball to a halt faster than someone gliding past along the chain link fence!

But, it's not just "fun" for me. Gilligan has changed my life.

A year ago, if I wanted to go anywhere during the day, it took careful planning and consideration. Maricopa County does not have an admirable transit system, and there's more than one city in the county the transit authority simply doesn't service. My primary care physician is one of those; though he's only four miles away, one-way, prior to Gilligan, I couldn't get there without a hike of at least a mile; that was the nearest bus stop. But getting anywhere by bus, unless it's on the mainline of one bus, takes over two hours... it seems stacked against the transit system user that when transferring to an East/West bus line from a North/South bus line, the connecting bus has just left the stop within the last five minutes; the next one won't be along for an hour.

So a round trip from home to the lab which does my blood work, again only about six miles, one-way, was a five hour appointment. Or Bill would have to take at least a half-day off work.

My doctors flat out refuse to let me drive anymore, and that's more for the safety of other drivers than it is mine. In frank language, according to the medical profession, I'm about 43 years past due simply dropping dead. My cardiologist has confessed he simply doesn't know what's keeping me alive. He's never seen a person with a below 20-percent ejection rate survive longer than months; I've been doing it now for almost 8 years.

(Of course, I know the secret: I'm far too evil for Heaven. Satan knows I was born/raised in an industrial state, and is afraid I'll unionize - Hell's own Norma Rae... so here I am.)

Gilligan has given the world back to me, in limited form. And now, once we get the Lithiums we've ordered, Gilligan will be opening it even a little further. Every aspect of my life has changed for the better.

Bill's noticed. Though I never fell into the "Why me?" trap, I would get depressed and angry at things (generally the stupidity of my fellow man); since I'm getting out of the house more, those funks don't hit me with the frequency they used to. He's even noticed I don't always get everything I need from the grocery store when I go... just so I might be able to jump on Gilligan the next day and go back.

Can't put anything past that man o' mine, let me tell you.

One of the things I'm really looking forward to, when we move to Georgia, is getting the second Segway. Just from the few times Bill's been on one - in Philadelphia and Washington, DC - he's fallen in love with them, too. It's going to be great for the two of us to just get out together with nothing to do but "glike" (glide/hike) in the Great Outdoors. When he suggested we look at houses only within ten miles of his office in Atlanta, I thought he was kidding... but he wasn't. He's, I know, really looking forward to being a glommuter (c'mon... that one's easy.)

I ramble. I could have just said no invention since the toothbrush has changed my life so completely, and so much for the better.

[Desert_Seg]

Eric,

Well put together post and one that will be an inspiration to others.

Steven

[KSagal]

A post like that is the reason some of us come here to read...

What is the drive time from Georga to Indinapolis?

[quade]

NASCAR to Indy car . . . hmmm . . .

Sounds like it still might take awhile.

[polo_pro]

We need more rambling narratives here on SC. Ramble any time you want, Eric!

ps - I predict "glike" will catch on. Me and a buddy do this all the time. I'm not so sure about glommuter...

[hellphish]

I love glide hiking. Although I just call them Nature Glides.

[BillPaxton]

Originally Posted by hellphish

I love glide hiking. Although I just call them Nature Glides.

we have nothing resembling hills or mountains. I guess we just gloast along.

[SegWayne]

Originally Posted by BillPaxton

we have nothing resembling hills or mountains. I guess we just gloast along.

What a great thread, and a refreshing break.....

Thanks to all the glisters (glide masters) for chiming in..

Originally Posted by BillPaxton

we have nothing resembling hills or mountains. I guess we just gloast along.

Ah, y'all gloast and gleachcomb.

[segsurfer]

Originally Posted by Eric Payne

Every day... hell, who am I kidding? Several times a day, I pop into the forums and read all the new postings. I respond to a few; I've created more than my fair share, I guess. A lot I just read, then move on.

There's an underlying tone to most of the posts, though; at least those posted by owners/users of Segways, and that's one of "fun." It almost seems that, first and foremost, we make sure to have fun.

Yes, I have fun on Gilligan. One of the things I love to do is plan my glide so that it goes past an elementary or middle school. Living in the western suburbs of Glendale, right at the junction of two different cities, that's pretty easy to do, too. And if it happens to be recess time, all the better. Nothing brings a game of dodge ball to a halt faster than someone gliding past along the chain link fence!

But, it's not just "fun" for me. Gilligan has changed my life.

A year ago, if I wanted to go anywhere during the day, it took careful planning and consideration. Maricopa County does not have an admirable transit system, and there's more than one city in the county the transit authority simply doesn't service. My primary care physician is one of those; though he's only four miles away, one-way, prior to Gilligan, I couldn't get there without a hike of at least a mile; that was the nearest bus stop. But getting anywhere by bus, unless it's on the mainline of one bus, takes over two hours... it seems stacked against the transit system user that when transferring to an East/West bus line from a North/South bus line, the connecting bus has just left the stop within the last five minutes; the next one won't be along for an hour.

So a round trip from home to the lab which does my blood work, again only about six miles, one-way, was a five hour appointment. Or Bill would have to take at least a half-day off work.

My doctors flat out refuse to let me drive anymore, and that's more for the safety of other drivers than it is mine. In frank language, according to the medical profession, I'm about 43 years past due simply dropping dead. My cardiologist has confessed he simply doesn't know what's keeping me alive. He's never seen a person with a below 20-percent ejection rate survive longer than months; I've been doing it now for almost 8 years.

(Of course, I know the secret: I'm far too evil for Heaven. Satan knows I was born/raised in an industrial state, and is afraid I'll unionize - Hell's own Norma Rae... so here I am.)

Gilligan has given the world back to me, in limited form. And now, once we get the Lithiums we've ordered, Gilligan will be opening it even a little further. Every aspect of my life has changed for the better.

Bill's noticed. Though I never fell into the "Why me?" trap, I would get depressed and angry at things (generally the stupidity of my fellow man); since I'm getting out of the house more, those funks don't hit me with the frequency they used to. He's even noticed I don't always get everything I need from the grocery store when I go... just so I might be able to jump on Gilligan the next day and go back.

Can't put anything past that man o' mine, let me tell you.

One of the things I'm really looking forward to, when we move to Georgia, is getting the second Segway. Just from the few times Bill's been on one - in Philadelphia and Washington, DC - he's fallen in love with them, too. It's going to be great for the two of us to just get out together with nothing to do but "glike" (glide/hike) in the Great Outdoors. When he suggested we look at houses only within ten miles of his office in Atlanta, I thought he was kidding... but he wasn't. He's, I know, really looking forward to being a glommuter (c'mon... that one's easy.)

I ramble. I could have just said no invention since the toothbrush has changed my life so completely, and so much for the better.

I'll tell you man, while my condition isn't life threatening (cp, basically poor balance requiring me to use an assistive device either staffs or a walker) I too have noticed more access to the world around me. For the first time I have been able to get up to the tree line behind my subdivision up and down muddy hills and the like. And on an i2 no less. It's crazy, my i2 is about an inch and a half wider than my walker on either side and yet I can get to four times as many places shearly because of the seg's zero turn. It's so cool to go out it the woods on a seg. I'm even going to make some fly rod holders to get back up to some of the trout streams. With a seg and my trusty leki staffs, I can go pretty much anywhere all while leaving my walker at home.

happy gliding
-segsurfer