Segway Adventure-Check that off the Bucket List

In all reality, riding a Segway was not on my bucket list.

I never really thought about it too much, not even sure I knew what a Segway was, but when I saw the opportunity was offered at Chestnut Mountain, Illinois, I decided we would give it a try.

We were given a gift card for a stay at the Irish Cottage in Galena Illinois.

The girls gave it to me for my 60th Birthday.

We decided to use it over Labor Day.

We felt it was a great way to end the summer.  I start school on Tuesday and John starts his new adventure in Pewaukee on Tuesday, also.

We figured that a trip to Galena would be the perfect way to end one thing and start another.

It sure proved to be a fun get away.

At any rate, I started to look around for things to do in the area since we would be there for two days and nights.

That is when I read about the segways at Chestnut Mountain Resort.

Without thinking about it too much, I went ahead and reserved the segways for Sunday at 4:00.

There was no looking back.

We were going to be riding segways.

 

We arrived at Chestnut Mountain, which is located about 10 miles from Galena

It is situated in a beautiful spot high above the Mississippi River.

We got there in time to ride the chair lift.

Most people ride down the mountain on an alpine sled run and then ride up on the chair lift.

Well, I was not about to do a sled, so we rode the chair lift both ways.

It was a bit scary at times, but we saw beautiful scenery and enjoyed most of the ride.



 Here are John and I on the chair lift.

 

Our view as we rode along.

 You can see the two sled run tracks under the chair lift here.  It was fun to watch the people riding down on the sleds and listening to their remarks as they came down the hill.

Another view of the sled run and my lovely knee just to prove we were up there.

I was so nervous we would drop the camera or the phone.

This is the beautiful view we saw as we rode down the mountain.

That is the mighty Mississippi down there.

On the way back up the mountain, we went over this rather rocky area.

Recently we saw a movie where three people were stranded on a chair lift, not sure how the story went or why they got stuck and no one could help them, but anyway, they could not get down and then a bunch of wolves came and wouldn't leave the area.  I don't even know how that movie ended, but I do know it was not a good ending for the three people involved.

That movie was crossing my mind as we went over this area, I figured we could  never jump out here and there was no way a fire truck could get in here.  I was glad when the lift started moving again.

And here are our feet dangling about that rocky area.

 

We did survive the chairlift ride and after getting off that ride, it was time for the Segway Adventure to begin.

We began our adventure with the viewing of a video on Segway safety.  It showed people falling off of segways in every direction.

It did not put any of my worries to rest, but our instructors, Destiny and Danny assured us that none of us would fall off or get hurt, okay...

There were three other couples in our group, all of them much younger than us, probably in their early twenties.

It was obvious to me, that these three girls were doing this for their men who were very excited.  I felt good to know that none of these people had ridden a Segway before.  I also took comfort in the fact that all the other women girls were nervous.

After the video we had to choose our helmet and then show the instructors individually that we could handle the Segway.

I always opted to go first for the little tests since otherwise I would get too nervous.

After we passed all the little tests we were allowed to go on a grassy area and practice still in turtle mode.

It was going swell for all of us.

Then Destiny and Danny told us we had to practice going up and down hills and we were going out of turtle mode into a faster mode, great, just great.

Somehow I just figured that we would be on flat ground.

More panic, but I passed those tests, too.

We all did and our little group was ready to roll.

Here is Danny, our very patient instructor helping me get on the Segway.
Segways have a mind of their own and you cannot get on or off of one without help until you are much more experienced.

 

Then is was time to try to move it on my own.

It actually went very well and I was relieved that I could actually make it move.

Next we had to each get through the obstacle course of cones.
I made it without hitting even one cone.
That is when I graduated to the grassy area.
It felt like we were putting on a show in that grassy area.  It reminded me of a motorcycle act in a circus or of the nomads in their little cars who perform in our fourth of July parade.

 After the grassy area, we did the up and downhill practices and we had to demonstrate a quick stop just in case we needed to stop fast.
We took a dirt bike trail through the woods complete with roots, gravel, and narrow parts as well as hills.
So much for my idea of a nice level cement trail.
We had just completed one short trail when one couple had to quit because the girl's feet were falling asleep.
How funny is that?
The old people keep going while a younger couple have to quit.
I am sure when the instructors first saw us, they probably thought, "Oh, no, old people who think they can Segway!"  I was glad we could keep up and keep going.
We got started again on some more trails through the woods and finally ended up at this beautiful look out area.
This is the spot where we could have pictures taken.
It is almost impossible to stand still while on a Segway so pictures are tricky, but we managed to get a few and document our feat.

After this area, we headed back to the woods and our instructors told us that we would be going up a steep hill, one at a time for safety.  They would be there if we needed any help.

Oh, oh this does not sound good.

But we all made it up the hill just fine except later John told me that he almost fell over backwards!

We ended up at another look out spot where we were all able to get off of the segways and get our legs back to walking order.

We made our way back to the Segway station and breathed a sigh of relief, we had all completed our task and were all intact.

 

For John and I riding a Segway was stepping very far  out of our comfort zone.

We felt very accomplished and very deserving of a bottle of wine and Italian dinner after mastering a Segway.

 

Check the blog for more details of our trip to Galena in the next few days.