Tour this Virginia state park on a Segway PT

VIRGINIA BEACH Hoofing it through a state park can get you blisters and aching muscles.

At First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach, the going gets easier when you see the changing landscape -- woods, swamp, boardwalk, wildflowers and beach -- from a Segway Personal Transporter.

Segway of Hampton Roads uses the electric personal transporters to give 90-minute guided tours of the 2,900-acre state park and its osprey trail. It also offers tours in the historic Freemason area in downtown Norfolk and off season at the Virginia Beach oceanfront.

Riding a Segway PT is a little intimidating at first, but Mark Landers, who co-owns the dealership, patiently provides basic training that takes 15 minutes or less.

"Step on it like you step on a ladder," he says to nervous first-time rider Phyllis Beers of Virginia Beach.

Once you find your center of balance, riding a Segway PT is simple. Call it intuitive transportation -- the PT goes where you lean. Straighten up and you stop. Five micro-machined gyroscopes and two accelerometers automatically sense changing terrain and your body's position.

"It becomes a part of you and you don't even have to think about it," says Virginia Beach resident Jackie Gaskins, who bought her own Segway PT in February. She rides it to the nearby bank and grocery store, taking fresh produce home every couple of days in a travel pack that attaches to the front frame or in a backpack she wears.

Gaskins coaches Beers while Landers turns his attention to two more tour-takers. Training takes place in a quiet parking lot at the Virginia Beach Hotel and Conference Center on Shore Drive, where he has an office.

The next challenge is riding the personal transporters across traffic-heavy Shore Drive to the Cape Henry Trail that meanders through the state park. Like a mother duck with ducklings, Landers leads the group. He's proud of his safety record and keeps reminding everyone to pay attention to his instructions.

Safely across Shore Drive and into the quietness of the paved trail, you realize the Segway PT makes no noise. Instead, you hear crickets chirping and birds singing. The group glides past a garden blooming with every flower imaginable.

The state park trail also takes you past several historic American Indian exhibits, including a burial ground. At a rest stop, a short boardwalk leads to a small swamp filled with bald cypress trees draped in Spanish moss and dragonflies doing touch-and-goes on the surface of the black water.

From there, the group heads to a longer boardwalk and sandy beach overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. The view across the waterway is crystal clear.

"I always tell people that this is the most beautiful spot in all of Virginia," says Landers, looking back as the group reluctantly leaves.

The ride back from the 6-mile tour is quick and easy. Everyone agrees they feel completely comfortable with their Segway PTs.

"I enjoyed it more than I thought I was going to," Beers said.