TravelScoots Meet at Sea

Denise and Marlee, onboard the Grand Princess

Hi Elizabeth, I met Marlee through your great blog about a year ago and we discovered about a month ago that we were booked on the same Princess cruise. Here are a few pics of us and our scoots meeting up onboard the Grand Princess. Both Marlee and I were great "sales" representatives for Travelscoot and I handed out many of their business cards and gave more then a few demos. Being that it was a 14 day cruise lots of mature cruisers on board LOL.

Denise

 

TravelScooting in St. Kitts

This photo is of Denise, and was taken recently in St. Kitts in the gardens at Caribelle Batik on Romney Manor on property that was once owned by Samuel Jefferson, the great great great grandfather of Thomas Jefferson.

 

The Krewe of Peggy, a Mardi Gras Adventure!

This adventure began with a broken seat on 2/24/2011, the Thursday before the first big weekend of Carnival Parades in New Orleans, leading up to the big day, Mardi Gras. I called Tony with my crisis. I think it took him a few minutes to realize it was a crisis. He suggested seeing if I could get someone to fix it. My brother, Bobby, came to the rescue. He had a piece of pipe, a flange, and the equipment to make it work. He was able to cut the pipe, file it because it was a little big, tread it so he could put it into the flange and then bolt that to the aluminum plate under the seat.

Thank goodness. I use my scooter daily as a teacher of high school students with autism. We take them in community to learn how to make purchases and explore potential jobs. The scooter allows me to go everywhere.

Since Bobby got my temporary (now backup) seat to work, I was able to e-mail Tony, order a new seat and have it shipped. It would come in the Friday before the next big weekend of parades. This was important because I needed to be able to put the seat back on. With Bobby’s rig, the seat didn’t snap into place. I needed to be able to put a flag on the seat back so that people could see me better when I was riding in the street. New Orleans sidewalks are terrible, courtesy of all of the large live oak trees. In the street I might have to dodge pot holes but didn’t have all the breaks as in the side walk.

The weather was beautiful today and we didn’t need to bring the ice chest. You can see I was loaded down. We were a comical site with me in the lead, Anne following, and then Diane bringing up the rear. Anne is a resident of Poydras Home which is on the parade route. They have a BBQ for the residents and their families on Sunday. I brought my friend Sandy to push Anne’s chair, Diane and her mother Carole came along too. Anne knew all of these people and enjoyed sharing her “home” with us. We were just glad of the most precious commodity at parades, a BATHROOM! We also enjoyed spending time with Anne.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Peggy

 

An Angel on Wheels

Rhonda relayed this story to me earlier today, and I don't know if I can do it true justice (or convey her sense of enthusiasm!), but I'll bet that some of you out there have had similar experiences where you just happened to be in exactly the right place at the right time.

Last week Rhonda's mom was visiting, and Rhonda and her mom set out to do a whirlwind of shopping -- two big malls, several department stores, a few Walmarts, and I'm sure there was at least one visit to Target. In the parking lot at Burlington Coat Factory, a man came hurrying toward her, cane in hand, wanting to know more about her TravelScoot. After you've had a TravelScoot for awhile you get where you can tell who is serious, and who just wants one for fun. It was obvious this man had been searching for the perfect scooter and knew it when he saw it. It was pure chance that put them in this parking lot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the same moment because this wasn't a store Rhonda went to often, and the man and his wife were from Mississippi and just happened to be in town that day.

Rhonda gave the man one of Tony's cards and answered his questions. She also gave him her phone number, just in case. The man has a medical issue that's progressively worsening, causing him to need help walking distances. He needed a scooter small enough to fit in the trunk of his sedan. It also needed to be lightweight enough for him and his wife to handle.

Over the weekend Rhonda heard from the man. He'd called Tony and ordered a TravelScoot, a lithium ion battery, and an SLA battery. He said he told Tony that he had met Rhonda, and called her "An Angel on Wheels."

I had a tear in my eye by the time Rhonda finished the story, because I know what it's like to be that man, searching for something you're not even sure exists and all the sudden it's right in front of you. That's how I felt late one night when I was searching the internet and happened upon the TravelScoot site.

Rhonda shared one of her favorite moments when she first rode her scoot, feeling the wind blowing her hair. He couldn't exactly identify with that (given his lack of hair), but said he was looking forward to feeling the wind on his face.

TravelScooting in Ireland

Robyn has a question about using a TravelScoot in Ireland.  She writes...

"Has anyone traveled to Ireland on a coach tour and taken their Travelscoot? I am not getting very friendly reception from the tour groups when I ask about using a Travelscoot. Have any readers used one traveling in Ireland?"

TravelScooting at 60

Dean Hughson was recently honored for his upcoming 60th birthday by his company, Henningsen Foods, in the Japanese traditional way. He was given a vest and hat which signify that he has been through 12 Zodiac cycles and has now gained wisdom. In Japan, all workers who reach the age of 60 have a ceremony where they break open a keg of sake (Japanese rice wine) and are honored for the day. Dean's company is part of Kewpie Corporation which is the largest mayonnaise and egg products company in Japan with annual sales of $5 billion US dollars and has over 5000 employees. Dean was born in Dr. Goldberg's office in downtown Braymer Missouri April 30, 1951.

Happy 60th Birthday, Dean!

An Adventure from Vicki in New Zealand

Dear Elizabeth,

I love your blog and look forward to getting all the notifications of news.

I have just come back from a Mobility Scooter Rally organised by the Hastings, Napier and Flaxmere Age Concerns.

Our scooters were all taken this morning early to Napier,(the Art Deco city of the world) which is in Hawke’s Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. Last year there were over twenty of us but there were not so many this year. All the scooters are the big four wheelers, so I lent mine to someone else and decided to take my Travelscoot. It behaved like an angel. Many people enquired about it. We travelled on the Rotary footpath with the sea and the wide sweep of the Bay on our left. The weather was perfect and when we got to the finish we had a sausage sizzle. (sort of a hot dog but the dog is much bigger and more tomato or brown sauce than a hot mustard; wrapped in a slice of bread not a roll)

You may notice I have a Peterborough basket on my scoot. It is very handy and I got all the idea and info from you !!!

One thing though, is there any advice on how to pack the Travelscoot into the bag ? I get in a terrible muddle.

I will get back to you if I have any more adventures.

All the best,

Vicki
Hawke’s Bay.
New Zealand