You can now glide your way through downtown Winston-Salem.
Residents and visitors have a new way to experience the history and culture of Winston-Salem.
Last week, Revolution Gliding Tours began offering Segway tours of the city. A Segway is a battery powered motorized vehicle with two wheels. You stand up straight and use a handle bar to guide your movements.
“There are balancing indicators in the center of the machine. It moves based off of your weight,” says Joey Burdette, co-owner of Revolution Gliding Tours.
Segway users must be 15 years or older, weigh between 100 and 260 pounds and be able to stand unaided. They are given a helmet and have to complete a 30 minute training session prior to the tour.
WFDD's Keri Brown experimented using the turtle speed. She traveled around six miles per hour in a nearby parking lot before she hit the sidewalks.
Brown says, “The floating feeling is easy to get used to. This is so cool!”
The five mile adventure begins at the New Winston Museum. Participants get to glide through Old Salem, the Arts District, the downtown Business District and a section of the West end. Burdette says they will also get to make some stops along the way.
"The guide will have a head set. There is one guide per tour and up to four people at one time. We are able to point out the features of the tour including cool architecture or a great place to pick up coffee or chocolate truffles. We can also point out there is a dip in the sidewalk, things like that,” says Burdette.
Burdette and his partner Terry Miller moved to Winston-Salem from Raleigh a year ago. He says the success of their Segway tours in other cities inspired them to create a similar tourism experience in our city.
“One of the things in identifying Winston-Salem as right for this was that TripAdvisor lists the Segway tour experiences in Asheville, Raleigh, Charlotte, Wilmington and they are listed as number one or two activities to do and Winston-Salem didn't have that. A lot of visitors needed this and just didn't realize it,” says Burdette.
Burdette says the Segway's are also eco-friendly. Their electric motors produce zero emissions during operation.
The Segway tours are priced at $55 per person and can be booked by phone or on-line. Burdette says his company is running a special for the month of August at $40.00 per person. They are available through the week and on weekends.
For more information call (336) 776-7511.
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