By Brewster Moseley
Lora Lee Reeder has operated Sedona Segway Tours since 2010 in the majestic, red rock country of Sedona, Arizona. Since Segways are self-balancing, riders learn how easy it is to stay upright with very little training.
Within the first few months of starting the business, Lora Lee would learn that disabled customers–whom she initially thought would be unable to operate the machines–could not only ride effortlessly, but that they would teach her more than she ever could have imagined.
“When the military veterans were coming in with missing limbs, I didn’t know how that was going to look. I had no clue. I was petrified. Did we have enough insurance? Should I be doing this? But I felt like I couldn’t discriminate,” she said. Then Lora Lee made a surprising discovery. “What I found in working with them was that they weren’t the ones with the disability. The disability was in how I thought. It wasn’t them–it was me. They were perfectly capable of doing a Segway tour.”
“I saw fears and I saw curiosities and I saw people changing, I saw me changing. They would come in apprehensive and they would leave full of joy. The military veterans were coming in and the people with Parkinson’s, and customers would bring their children with autism. The people that were coming in touched me. They were scared and I got to show them that we could overcome fear. That it didn’t have to hold us back.”
Lora Lee’s customers who had missing limbs actually showed her how to ride. She discovered that if they couldn’t bend their knees, they didn’t have to–they could bend their toes, lean back on their heels and use their hips to navigate. She says this process benefited her more than the customers since it was a valuable lesson how their bodies adjust. Lora Lee found she could provide, as she puts it, “a place of safety” for physically challenged persons. She discovered that it was a liberating experience for them, and she says she enjoyed sending them on their way full of joy.
Lora Lee’s earliest experiences in helping a physically challenged person learn how to ride a Segway involved a man with one arm. He had called to make an appointment and asked if he’d be able to navigate using his right hand. Lora Lee told him she wasn’t sure, but she was willing to help him try. When he stepped on the Segway he was initially wobbly like most other people. But he recovered instantly. After a minute or two, the man showed Lora Lee how a one-armed person could drive–and he ended having a safe and enjoyable ride!
“No one in a wheelchair wants to be at waist level–they want to see eye to eye and not have someone see their handicap. They’d say things like, ‘I don’t want people to look at what they think is wrong with me, because that’s not who I am.’ When I was able to show them how to ride, they felt liberated. I got to see their transition happening over and over again.
“I could take these people in and, from me being a mother, it just got bigger. The ones that were missing arms showed me how to ride. I got to be blessed by things I was petrified of. The whole learning process, the whole skill of growing and how you appease people and how you can liberate them and help them find a place that they can come to and be full of joy. How can you provide a space of safety and a holding presence for them where they go through their mental anguish and come out on the other side? It was like Psychology 101. Who knew it could happen on a Segway? I didn’t know it was going to go like that. So I became excessively passionate about it, and people–they mattered. People really mattered. So to me, it wasn’t just providing a tour, it was creating a really cool space. And I dug it!”
Segways were invented in 1999. They’re powered by electric batteries, steered by moving a handle to the right or left, and glide effortlessly up to speeds of 12.5 mph. Since they’re electric, they leave an extremely low carbon footprint (occasional tire tracks on sidewalks). The Segway PT, which is used at Sedona Segway Tours, can drastically reduce greenhouse gas emission and substantially increase energy efficiency by replacing short-distance and single-occupancy car trips. And it has five gyroscopes for balancing–the same idea as the wings of a plane. According to Lora Lee, it’s like flying on wheels.
Lora Lee became hooked on Segways while on vacation in Colorado. She saw her first Segway during a visit to the Garden of the Gods, outside Colorado Springs. “I said, ‘What is that!?’ and went to see the owner of the local Jeep tour company that also provided tours on Segways. The business I worked for in Sedona was in the midst of a turnover, so I had taken my résumés with me on the trip.” Lora Lee and the tour company owner talked for three hours and she was hired on the spot. Before she left Colorado, she started looking at the sidewalks and imagining how Segways would look in her home town of Sedona and how she could showcase her city.
“I thought Sedona is a true Garden of the Gods and I’d be able to show off what I love. So I e-mailed the tour company owner. Would he be interested in bringing those machines here? He came out 2 days later and said, ‘Tell you what. If you do the work and you find the building, I’ll come out and look again and I’ll provide you with the machines.'”
Lora Lee sent the owner a proposal; he came to Sedona, and by November of 2010 Sedona Segway Tours was up and running. She found the company’s current home, and when she told her prospective landlord what type of business she had in mind, he said, “Are you kidding me? How fantastic is that! I’m in!”
Lora Lee worked without compensation for the first seven months, but she was excited about the potential. “I went from six machines to seven, then ten, thirteen, and up to sixteen. And I was using them all the time. I felt like I’d found my niche. Everything grew. I could provide a safe space and wave at all the neighbors and get to know people, and they would invite us in. We could show off our local artists and stores. We want people to explore Sedona, to come out and play with us. Our job is to help customers find other businesses in our community that provides a service that they are looking for while they visit our Verde Valley. We support our locals. They’re important. They let us ride through their streets and play in their front yards. So we take care of our locals. It’s not just about us, it’s about who can we provide another service for. We want people to remember us not only for the fantastic tour they had with us, but that we were of service for them to the best of our abilities. Customer service starts with us here at Sedona Segway Tours.”
With more and more people finding out about Sedona Segway Tours and giving Lora Lee the opportunity to help physically or mentally challenged customers have fun and overcome what may seem to them a daunting challenge, plugging local businesses, and showcasing Sedona’s unforgettable views, Lora Lee has found what she describes as her dream career. “If you love what you do,” she says, “you never have to work a day in your life.”
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