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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!
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
From Jen
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
Elizabeth, thank you for sending me your Blog. My name is Peter I am a 83 year old man and I live in Australia . I only bought my TravelScoot about one month ago and I love it.
Welcome, Peter, and thank you for the flowers. Happy scooting!
Dean sent this in on February 9th. I'm a little behind on blog posts! -- Elizabeth
I have been learning things about living in cold weather. Since I am on a project that keeps me in Omaha (and my wife is in Phoenix) this week it got down to minus 8 degrees F. I learned that lithium batteries have perhaps 1/2 of their power in that cold of weather. My scooter functions wells but the aluminum body 'creaks' as does my own body in the cold weather..ha ha....
Dean, on his experiment of living with a TravelScoot and traveling worldwide
I received the following email from a blog reader. I hope we hear about MANY future TravelScoot adventures from her.
Thank you so much for making your blog.
I've been getting sicker these last five years- can't really walk anywhere anymore. I used those scooters at walmart and target, but they were heavy, loud and always ran down. I thought- this is mobility? We also live on the third floor of an apartment building- so lugging a 500lb scooter upstairs to charge it wouldn't work. I felt so trapped and alone.
Then I found the travelscoot and then your blog. I see pictures of people having FUN! They're outside! They're not alone! I cried because now I know I can have that too- I can have a life again. I could go for a walk with my Hubby like we used to. I could even go on a cruise! Imagine- me who only leaves the house for two hours a week- a CRUISE!
I'm excited again- to live and get out there! I hope to send you lots of pictures of me outside - spending time with my loved ones again. I might even get to the grocery store on my own!
You've given me a great gift- thank you so very very much.
Sincerely,
Jen
This is Dave, Rhonda and Mark, who completed the Race for the Cure in Baton Rouge on Saturday. Rhonda said no one even gave her a second thought.
Have you done a similar event on your TravelScoot? Send me a picture (if you have it) and details to elizabeth@ifisher.com and I'll post about it here.
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