Recently,  I organized a Segway Tour of Richmond for  RVA’s neighborhood news bloggers.   I work at the Richmond Region Visitor Center, and had been watching for weeks as groups of 8-12 people would go out, explore the city and come back with windblown hair and huge smiles.  I thought it would be a great way for the them to see firsthand what the visitors were experiencing. But also, I felt like it would be a great way for the bloggers to get to see something new the city had to offer and to write about it firsthand.  

Our tour guide for the day was Chris Dove of RavenChase Adventuresand Alex from Segway came along to help.  Buck Ward over at Segway of Richmond liked my idea so much that he gave us the tour for free. Normally, it would set you back $65 for the 2.5 hour tour.  Which in my opinion,  is well worth it for the experience.

The weather was perfect! And, I had no idea how much fun I was about to have. When I first got on the Segway, I was a little shaky. It’s not like the thing has a mind of its own, but you have to get used to how it moves. 

I came thinking I was going to learn some stories about Richmond, and I did….but I kept getting distracted by all the fun I was having. I found it hard to stand still. I wanted to zoom this way and that. I wanted to go take a picture over here, and see if I could hit the Segway’s top speed (12.5 mph) over there.  Plus, if there is anything that is hard to do on a Segway, it is stand still.  I guess that is just not what they were made to do, because whenever I did stop and stay still, I found that my legs felt tired.  These things are made to move!

The Segway tour of Richmond  reminded me of what an incredibly beautiful city we live in.  When I think of my favorite parts of Richmond, I think of the River. I think of Brown’s Island and hearing musicians from all over the world playing there.  I love that we can listen to live music in such a beautiful setting and how the musicians often have to stop a set to wait for a train to pass overhead.  I love that you can  look down at the river and see kayakers and swimmers, rope swings and runners.  For me, these were the highlights of the tour.

I was reminded of our amazing architecture. And I may be alone, but one of the things I love best is the infrastructure of our old city.  Standing below the triple train crossing looking up. Feeling the vibrations of I-95 passing a hundred feet overhead.  The Canal Walk, secret paths. The old rusting heaps of iron at Tredegar Ironworks. The aqua green turrets left from the State Penitentiary.  The rusty bridge fragments across the James at Brown’s Island. The remnants of buildings left on Belle Isle. A replica of Christopher Newport’s cross with many crosses echoing in the background architecture. I love the feeling of something very important and old all around and that still I am part of it.  I

Having moved to the Near West End, it had been too long since I was reminded how gritty and awesome our city is. It is a city with  Moxie and heart.  There is so much depth to everything here. Nothing is simple or new. Everything has a story – actually many stories.    

Some of the stops we made included Court End and the Valentine, John Marshall House, The Museum and White House of the Confederacy, The State Capital and the grounds, the new Civil Rights Memorial, the replica of Henry “Box” Brown’s box, on the Canal Walk, and Tredegar Ironworks.

I think this would be a great way to show visitors a different side of Richmond. And it is certainly a great way to be a tourist in your own city, in a vacation kind of way.  Our tour was on a Sunday, so traffic (pedestrian and otherwise) was nil. That was great because I did wipe out at one point, and I’d have hated to run someone over! It is easy to feel a little too comfortable on these things, once you get the hang of them and then to clip a corner. For me, I think it was bricks on the corner of a tree well combined with uneven sidewalk.  I would say however if you aren’t prepared to make that mistake once (ie falling) then this vehicle might not be for you.  Three of the 8 bloggers were careless  enough to get bit by our Segways. Definitely the Segways attracted attention, even if you aren’t falling down.  I guess that is part of the fun. I do remember a bunch of kids leaning out the window of their car, going “whooo hooo” and we “whoooo hoooed” right back at ’em.  

The Segway tour definately a success. Not only can you read about it here and here and well, even here. But also, my partner on this news blog, Kory, loved it so much that he decided to take the training to be a Segway Tour guide for Segway of Richmond.

And although some folks seemed to think the tour was a bit too long, I was ready to go for a few more hours. If it were up to me, we’d eat a quick lunch and then add on some additional sites for a super-tour.  For the long-winded tourist,  I’d include  Maggie Walkers House, The Black History Museum, Hollywood Cemetery,  St. John’s Church, Shockoe Bottom, the Reconciliation Statue and a bit of the slave trail.

But, if I really want to go see those things, I guess I could go and rent my own. I hear there is a special on Y101’s web page for $25 for a 2-hour rental.