Questions from a New TravelScoot Owner

Hi Elizabeth,

Well, I’ve had my Travelscoot for a couple of weeks…. It hasn’t changed my life yet… but I’m working on it! How long did it take you to get good at folding and unfolding? I’m still struggling but it’s slowly getting better. I haven’t wanted to go out in the heat and humidity but my first trip was an indoor shopping mall that I had not been to before. That was fun! I just zipped up and down the whole thing.

But I wasn’t shopping. I was just checking out the mall. How the heck do you go shopping with it? My next trip was to a crowded store with narrow aisles. Today was my third trip. The store wasn’t crowded but more narrow aisles. Both times I carried one of those small baskets in one hand but that’s tiring and it keeps getting gin the way. Any suggestions? I paged through the blog posts but didn’t see anything like that.

Thanks for any tips you may have. Will you be going to the convention this year? I plan on it. Should be a lot easier with the scooter. Last time I went, I hurt all weekend just from walking the halls.

JeanMarie




Hi JeanMarie,

Congratulations on getting your TravelScoot! I wish we lived in the same city so I could show you how I shop with mine. But first questions first... It took me a few weeks to be really good at folding and unfolding it. I did that with mine for about a year, and then I switched vehicles with my husband and now I just load my fully assembled into the back of our van. Since I use mine every day it makes it a lot easier.

I remember the first time I went to the mall by myself and I enjoyed zipping up and down the whole thing too. If there are people around I do slow down to their speed, but when no one is near I speed it up.

How the heck do I shop with it? It depends on what kind of store I'm in, but most often I use a tote bag that I hang on the handlebars. I highly recommend that you go to http://think-king.com/ and buy the mighty buggy hook and the cup holder. The cup holder works great for carrying a drink around, OR you can put glasses, camera, and anything else you can think of. I put the hook at the very top of the front steering column, right under the handlebars. I hook my car keys on it, or you can hook a shopping bag on it too. They also have a new product called a jumbo swirly hook. I haven't tried that one yet.

You can also put items in the fabric triangle. Sometimes I use a bicycle basket I attach to the front of my scoot, but that keeps me from being able to pull up to things as close as I'd like to.

Anyway, the tote bag I use is the size of the reusable bags you can get at Target or Walmart for around 99 cents. It works really well for me. I also manage to pull a cart around the grocery store if I need to do big grocery shopping. That's not as easy, but I often will leave the cart at the end of the aisle and just zip down the aisle to get what I need. When I get to the checkout I stand up to unload the buggy. This isn't shopping, but I also used to pull my mother around in her wheelchair at her nursing home. I'd get right up beside her and put my left hand on her right arm rest and off we'd go. It was a lot of fun.

To really make the TravelScoot work for me I had to take on a problem-solving attitude. Two years later and I can say that when I'm using my scoot it feels like an extension of my body. I can turn it tight, I can go anywhere with it that my hips fit. We've folded it up and put it under a chair in a bar (to get it out of the way), and I've had three fully assembled ones in the back of my van.

Enjoy your scooting!

Elizabeth

 

TravelScoot and Hope -- Jen's Adventures

Elizabeth,

A beautiful Monday to you! I've already started my adventures! My best friend and I went to the mall, lunch and more malls- a perfect girls day out! There's no way I could have done it without my Travelscoot.

I was surprised that I could carry it down the stairs- it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I put the seat pieces and battery in a backpack and carried the frame in my hands. I didn't know that it locked shut- that was a huge blessing! I could hold it however I needed to in order to get down the three floors to the car.

The 'cub' battery lasted the entire day and never showed a low signal. It took about a minute to get set up and going. Not bad for a first time! I'm sure I'll get faster as I get used to it. I loved how I could back up and reposition myself without having a loud 'Beep Beep!' accompanying my movements. I'm big enough- I don't want to beep too!

I opened up the throttle to full just to test it out- my friend had to run to keep up with me. The Travelscoot really moves! We had a good laugh over how I'm going to be her trainer now- like in the Rocky movies. She can shut me up if she can catch me on my Scoot!

The only thing that didn't work for me was the seat. I had too much pressure but I also have bad posture and trunkal weakness from my illness so that's to be expected. Hubby is a mechanic so we're going to see if we can fit a special seat on Scoot for me so I don't develop a sore. I took a page from the blog and removed the seat back and that helped get my sitz bones more supported.

I got to shop (found a great formal dress for twelve dollars!), go out to eat and just enjoy being outside. I never thought I would be able to do those things again. The lines no longer mattered because I wasn't in pain. I wasn't afraid that I would fall in public and be embarrassed or even worse- be hurt! It was wonderful!

All that's left to do is to name my Travelscoot. We're using 'Scoots' right now- but that will change. I was thinking of naming her 'Giddy' because that's how she makes me feel. She also gives me my 'giddy-up'.

Thank you again so much for your blog- I never would have thought it was worth it till I read all these adventures!

-Jen

Linda's Blog

Linda has written a great post on her blog about her new TravelScoot.  If you missed her post in the comment section, click the link below to view her post.

http://www.sandsys.org/wordpress/2011/06/getting-healthy-mobility/

Linda's First Adventure

Linda said:

So glad to have you back. You disappeared just as I found you. I rode my scoot into a store for the first time yesterday. It was a Segway and motorbike shop and the owner was fascinated by the scoot. He's going to look into carrying it as a product. How's that for my first official outing on my scoot? :)

Congratulations on your first adventure! My first outing in a store was at a drugstore. It was so nice to be able to stop and look at everything I wanted to see, without looking for a place to sit and take a break. Keep us posted, and we'd love to see a photo of a future adventure. It doesn't matter if it's to the Grand Canyon or a zippy trip around your block. I get so many letters from folks who come here and are ecstatic to see all the fun things we're doing with our TravelScoots.

Back in the saddle again...

Hi everyone!

A few weeks ago I had open-heart surgery to remove a tumor (left atrial myxoma) the size of a golf ball from my heart. The tumor was benign and my recovery is going very well. My first TravelScoot ride after surgery was the day I was released from the hospital when I rode my scoot instead of using a wheelchair to leave the hospital. My legs felt like lead, but I was able to lift them up onto the foot rests and steer myself out of there.

While I'm recovering, I'm moving pretty slowly, so it's also great to be able to get on my scoot and zip around to get to my medical appointments and do some shopping. Alan and I were at the hospital Monday morning and in between appointments we got some breakfast in the cafeteria. On the way to a table I passed a man who had a scooter with him, but he couldn't take his eyes off mine. We struck up a conversation and his most important question was if he could use it at the airport and take it on a plane. He was delighted to find out he could. (Read more about it here, http://mytravelscoot.blogspot.com/2009/05/new-and-easier-way-of-airline-travel.html ) I was happy I had some TravelScoot cards with me.

Several of you have sent me emails with questions and things to post. I'll get to them as quick as I can. If you have an adventure you'd like to share with everyone, send it to me via email, elizabeth@ifisher.com .