Segway

I'm currently a resident volunteer at Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge in South Texas. (Way down near Brownsville.) One of my projects was a new ramp outside the visitor center. The old one was made of wood and decaying from weather and rodent damage. Instead of just rebuilding it I poured a sloped concrete pad that functions identically but is now pretty much weather and rodent proof.

I shared that project on Facebook a couple months ago. In my post I described it as a wheelchair ramp. Because that's what refuge staff called it. I suppose accessibility ramp might be more appropriate language but I think fewer people immediately understand what that word means. It's also longer with more syllables and humans can be lazy so I suppose that's why calling it a wheelchair ramp stuck.

One of the comments I got on that post was from a cousin who does not use a wheelchair but she does use a walker. She pointed out that that ramp was not only wheelchair friendly it was also walker friendly. I had to agree and thanked her for expanding my perspective.

Today I went to the visitor center and met a couple who had just arrived. They unloaded their Segway scooters. Then went up the ramp to the kiosk. I was grinning from ear to ear. I asked the man for permission to take a picture.

I explained that I had just built that ramp and was delighted to see it being used in another way I hadn't expected. It turned out they are regular visitors to the refuge. They used to walk or ride bicycles but his wife's knee injury doesn't permit that anymore. So they got Segways to keep getting out and enjoying places they like to explore. They like to ride around the 15-mile tour loop, sneaking up on wildlife, for example. He told me how much he liked the new ramp.

I'm still grinning as I type this.