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In this episode, Todd Lemay, owner of TerrainHopperUSA, joins the crew to talk about building a business that changes lives, right here in Arizona.
As anyone living in Arizona can tell you – it’s a beautiful state with thousands of opportunities to get outside and explore. Unfortunately, there are many people who need to use wheelchairs, walkers, or other supports. Hiking and exploring outdoors can be a significant challenge to them – and their families who don’t want to leave them behind. Todd Lemay wasn’t satisfied with the status quo. His product, TerrainHopper, is a unique wheelchair with the capabilities of an ATV, unlocking parks, hikes, fishing, and host of outdoor activities for the mobility-impaired. He is growing his company and the reach of the TerrainHopper brand with the purpose of making off-road mobility accessible to all.
Todd shares the story of TerrainHopper, the challenges and wins they’ve experienced, and the advantages of growing the business right in our great state of Arizona.
Learn more about TerrainHopper over on their website: https://www.terrainhopperusa.com/
Contact: Mike Jones mike@resoundcreative.com Todd Lemay: tlemay@terrainhopperusa.com
Discuss at https://www.facebook.com/azbrandcast/
The show is recorded at the Resound offices in ever-sunny Tempe, Arizona (the 48th – and best state of them all).
Show Transcript
Mike Jones:
This is the AZ Brandcast where we explore Arizona’s brand and the brands that make Arizona. I’m Mike Jones.
Mike Jones:
Today I am super excited to have joining me, Todd Lemay, owner of Terrain Hopper. Terrain Hopper is a company on a mission to make off-road mobility accessible to all. Particularly with their line of motorized wheelchairs that have the capability of an ATV. I’ve actually seen some video of these products, they are really cool, and I encourage everyone, we’ll share the website later, but you got to check these out. On a podcast, audio, you’re not going to be able to get the full experience, and I’ll let Todd really jump in and explain more. But Terrain Hopper is a brand that’s quickly being recognized across Arizona and across the United States for their very innovative products and their deep social purpose. And I’m really excited to have Todd on today. So Todd, thank you so much for coming on the AZ Brandcast, and I’m really excited about our conversation that we’re about to have. So I just want to start with the basics. If you could just share a little bit with our listeners about who is Terrain Hopper, what are your products, what do you guys do?
Todd Lemay:
Well, thank you Mike, for having me on your podcast. This is really exciting for me. Terrain Hopper is a Tempe, Arizona-based manufacturing company, and we design and manufacture off-road mobility vehicles for individuals who have mobility challenges. Those mobility challenges could be something as complex as they need a wheelchair to get around, or they use a walker, or they use crutches, or it could be something where they just have a bad knee and they can’t do a two mile hike or a three mile hike. And so, our product caters to a broad range of individual mobility challenges. And our goal is to, through our products, make accessible areas that would not be normally accessible to those people. And those areas can include hiking trails, they can include beaches, pretty much anywhere that either a normal wheelchair could never go because it would get stuck, or that maybe someone who has a mobility challenge, whether it’s bad knee, bad hip or whatever, they wouldn’t be able to go on the long hiking trails.
Mike Jones:
Yeah. And I think what’s really interesting too, you’ve shared in the past, when we’ve talked about the product, just the impact, not only of that individual, to their inability with their kind of current setup they’ve got to getting places, getting out, doing things, seeing things, seeing places that maybe they wouldn’t be able to, using the Terrain Hopper product, but even just the impact on family and friends too. Right?
Todd Lemay:
Yes.
Mike Jones:
Maybe explain a little bit more on that as well. I think that’s a really interesting part of the kind of whole product and what you’re doing to change people’s lives.
Todd Lemay:
Yeah. One of the things that we’ve found is if you have a family member who is unable to, for whatever reason, walk on the beach, or unable to go on a hike in Sedona or whatever, then that limits the entire family. Because certainly the family isn’t going to leave that one person behind and go on a hiking trail or walk on the beach. And so, that mobility challenge for that one individual becomes limiting for the entire family. And so, with something like the Terrain Hopper, that not only opens the doors and gives the freedom to the individual who needs it, but it gives the freedom to their entire family. And my wife and I, a couple of years ago, for our… I think it was our 18th anniversary. We went up to Sedona and brought a Terrain Hopper with us, and we decided that we were going to do the Bell Rock Loop.
Todd Lemay:
And so we took the Terrain Hopper there and it was amazing just in the entrance of the park where they had all the different maps and things like that, it was amazing how many people were standing there, and some of them were older, some of them were obviously not able to do the Bell Rock Loop. But the comment that they made was, “Oh, where do I get one of those, because I want to go out on the Bell Rock Loop? I want to go out on the trail.” And there were people there that had brought their grandparents or their older parents, and none of them could go do that because of someone’s limitation. And so, we were able to go out and we were out there for a number of hours. We did the entire loop and had a nice picnic out there and and it was great. And so, our goal is to try to make all of those areas more accessible for everyone and really open up things for mobility challenged individuals and their families.
Mike Jones:
Yeah. That’s fantastic. Obviously on a podcast, audio-based podcast, it’s really hard to kind of visualize maybe the product. Can you just kind of describe it a little bit and give our listeners an idea of what is it, how does it work? I think you could maybe think in your head like ATV plus wheelchair.
Todd Lemay:
Right, right.
Mike Jones:
That’s kind of how I’ve heard it described.
Todd Lemay:
That’s actually the perfect description. It’s kind of half wheelchair, half ATV. And so, it’s got standard dirt bike tires, it’s four wheel drive. It’s all electric and an individual would sit in it in the same type of position that you’d be sitting in a normal chair or a normal wheelchair. You’re not reclined back, or you don’t have to straddle anything, or whatever. So you’re able to sit there like you would normally sit in a chair, and there’s two different ways that you can control the Terrain Hopper. You can control it, we do have handlebars. And so, if you have the use of your arms and hands, you can drive it with the handlebars. If you don’t have a lot of control and a lot of strength in your arms, you can drive the whole thing with a standard wheelchair joystick.
Todd Lemay:
And so, we’ve designed it so that to maximize the number of people who can drive the chair. We do have… One of our customers that we set up where he can drive it with his chin because he’s unable to use his hands or arms at all. And so, he goes out on the beach with his kids, his kids ride on the back, and they just have a blast. And we also do have the ability… Because some parents, they might have a child where they might not… It might be a really young child and might not necessarily trust them with this type of vehicle.
Mike Jones:
I can think of a lot of vehicles, I wouldn’t trust my children with.
Todd Lemay:
Right, right. And so, we do have five and six-year-olds that use it. And of course, one five-year-old might have a lot more ability than another five-year-old. And so we do have the ability for the parents to drive it for them. And so, they can walk behind them or walk alongside them and use a joystick. So that way, they’re still able to go out and do those things. And then, we also have a kill switch that we can install. So that if, when you’re just getting your child to learn how to use it, maybe don’t trust them quite… And maybe it’s not a child, maybe it’s a grandparent.
Mike Jones:
Yeah. No, it could be anybody.
Todd Lemay:
You just don’t trust-
Mike Jones:
I can think of a handful of people I would want a kill switch in their cars.
Todd Lemay:
Right, right.
Mike Jones:
I could imagine the Terrain Hopper.
Todd Lemay:
That’s a good idea. I think you’ve just created another business here. So someone out there can go ahead and run with it; kill switches in cars for the passengers.
Mike Jones:
Yeah, that’s a business I don’t really want to get into. I feel like the liability could be-
Todd Lemay:
Right, right. And so, having that kill switch certainly gives the people a little bit of confidence that, okay, if they’re doing something they shouldn’t be doing, they can push a button and the machine will stop and they can reset it. So, we’ve done a lot of things to really make it as accessible as we can. And it is four wheel drive. It is electric. The US Justice Department considers it an OPDMD, which stands for Other Power Driven Mobility Device. And as part of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was signed, I think it’s almost 30 years ago, which is kind of crazy, a mobility challenged individual can take the Terrain Hopper anywhere a pedestrian is allowed to walk. And so, even if it says, “No motorized vehicles,” if it’s being used by a mobility challenged individual, they can take it on the beach, they can take it in the parks, and that type of thing.
Mike Jones:
That’s awesome. Just switching gears a little bit, tell me a little bit about how you got into this business, kind of maybe your story, and how that kind of led to Terrain Hopper.
Todd Lemay:
Sure, sure. I was born with an affliction called osteogenesis imperfecta, which is basically you have brittle bones. If you remember that movie Unbreakable, I think it was Samuel L. Jackson, he had my affliction. Or I have his affliction. And so-
Mike Jones:
He’s getting a little older now.
Todd Lemay:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I’ve had about 75, 80 broken bones throughout my life. And so, I grew up in Maine and as you might imagine, Maine is not the most accessible place for people in a wheelchair. You’ve got snow and you’ve got ice and things like that. And so, I moved out to… I actually grew up about 15 minutes from the beach. And so, my entire childhood, me going on the beach, consisted of either the end of the parking lot was the end of the road for me because wheelchairs do not work well in the soft sand, or someone had to carry me out onto the beach and wherever they set me is wherever I would end up staying.
Todd Lemay:
So, I moved out here to Arizona in ’92, went to ASU, got an accounting degree, and did that for a number of years. And then, I started an IT company, did that for even more years. And then I decided to do something different, something a little bit more rewarding. And the whole time in the back of my mind was, “I really want to get out on the beach. I really want to go hiking. I really want to go all these different places that I can’t go with my normal wheelchair.” And so, I ended up purchasing a Terrain Hopper, which at the time was only being made in the United Kingdom. And so, I ended up purchasing one, they shipped one here. It took me about a year and a half to convince them because they weren’t shipping internationally.
Todd Lemay:
I think they were afraid that I was going to call them and have a service request or I was going to have a warranty issue or whatever. And so, I ended up signing away the warranty… I wanted it so bad.
Mike Jones:
Yeah, I can imagine.
Todd Lemay:
And so I ended up getting it and I had it shipped to Maine because I was going to be spending a few weeks there. And I said, “What better place to have my first interaction on the beach then in the summer in Maine?” And so, my first time out on the beach with my wife was really great. We were able to hold hands, go along the beach. And I wasn’t stuck where someone put me. If I wanted to go over there, if I wanted to go a mile down and just go along the water by myself, it was very, very liberating. It was very exciting. And everywhere I turned, people were, “Oh my God, that is amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it.” And they’re taking pictures of me and kind of felt like a little mini celebrity.
Todd Lemay:
And so, then I decided maybe we should… There’s obviously a market here in the US and maybe we should see if we can start manufacturing them here. And so, I worked with the guys in the UK and bought the rights for the US market back in 2017, and we’ve been manufacturing them here in Tempe since 2018. So we ship all over the country. We ship the Canada and we’ve even shipped to Mexico.
Mike Jones:
That’s awesome. I didn’t realize… I should’ve known. I should’ve done my homework. I didn’t realize you were actually shipping outside the US too. That’s awesome.
Todd Lemay:
Yeah. Yeah. Our counterparts in the UK, they handle the European market and the Asian market and we handle North America basically.
Mike Jones:
That’s awesome. Well, I think that leads into a great question here of just you’re based here in Arizona, what has made just being here… Maybe there’s advantages, there’s been maybe challenges. What’s been the experience growing a business here in Arizona?
Todd Lemay:
Well, I think there’s a lot of advantages for this type of business here in Arizona, especially in the Phoenix area. Being an outdoor product, we can pretty much test it year around. We can have people come and do test drives year round, maybe August at three in the afternoon might not be the best time to come and test drive.
Mike Jones:
Well, at Flagstaff.
Todd Lemay:
Right, right, right, right. And so, and that’s a good point as well, is that, if we want to go into a colder environment or a snowier environment, we can just drive a couple hours north in the winter, and we’ve got all the different climates and all the different environments around here. And so, it really allows us to test our product and to go out and show it off in a lot of different environments here in Arizona. And being that it is Phoenix and Tempe our big cities, we even have people fly in just to test our product. Because we’ve had people come in from Hawaii and Florida and the Northeast and so it’s definitely a destination spot for people. And some people, they’ll work their vacation around coming here so they can test drive the Terrain Hopper. So Arizona has been great for us and the parks, the state parks department, because there’s over 30 state parks here in Arizona, they have been very receptive and accommodating and they’re excited about the Terrain Hoppers. And so, we’ve got a lot of support here in Arizona.
Mike Jones:
That’s awesome. That’s really great to hear. As you’ve kind of scaled the company and obviously the brand throughout North America, what have been some of the challenges and successes that you’ve had to encounter or go through over the years?
Todd Lemay:
Well, I think that the biggest challenge that we had in the beginning and it still continues to be a challenge, letting people know that we exist.
Mike Jones:
Yes.
Todd Lemay:
And letting people know that these are available, let them know what they can do, let them know that they’re available here. And so, that’s been our biggest challenge. And so, we’ve used social media… And everyone knows somebody that has a mobility challenge. And so, through our social media, through doing some direct advertising campaigns, to some disability related nonprofit organizations, like Make-a-Wish or United Cerebral Palsy or Paralyzed Veterans of America, and a bunch of different organizations like that, we’ve certainly gotten the word out, and that’s helped us with our sales. We’ve had a bunch of nonprofit organizations that have purchased Terrain Hoppers so that they can have them for their constituents to use and borrow.
Todd Lemay:
So that’s probably our biggest challenge is just letting people know that we exist and letting them know our capabilities, because we have a lot of potential customers that call and say, “Well, I could never drive that because it doesn’t have a joystick.” And it’s like, “Well, we have that as an option.” And so, putting all the videos out there on our YouTube page and on our other social media platforms to show people that even if you are paralyzed from the neck down, you can still drive the Terrain Hopper. And so, that’s been a challenge, but I think we are slowly overcoming that.
Mike Jones:
Yeah. Sometimes it’s just the hard kind of grunt work of consistently telling that story in multiple places, learning where are the best places to tell it. And it just takes time.
Todd Lemay:
Right. And one of the other challenges-
Mike Jones:
And then it starts to build some momentum.
Todd Lemay:
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, one of the other challenges that we’ve had is, the Terrain Hopper, because it’s considered an adaptive mobility vehicle, it’s not really considered a necessity, unfortunately, by insurance companies. And so, insurance companies… It’s very rare that an insurance company will cover the cost of a Terrain Hopper or any other type of adaptive recreation equipment. They will cover the cost of wheelchairs and things like that. And so, that’s been a challenge because it’s almost always private pay. And so, that’s why we work with nonprofits because not everyone can afford to purchase a Terrain Hopper. And we also set up a foundation called Hoppers for Heroes. And so, what we do there is we work with individuals and other nonprofit organizations to try to augment the cost of a Terrain Hopper by providing grants. And so, those grants can be up to $5,000 or more, to help cover some of the costs for a Terrain Hopper.
Todd Lemay:
And so, we have people set up GoFundMe pages, a number of different things. And a lot of the success of a campaign like that is based on telling your story and how many people you can reach on your own social media platform. And so, we’ve had people who have opened a GoFundMe campaign and months will go by and they don’t have a lot of traction. We have other people that will do a GoFundMe campaign and their entire Terrain Hopper is funded in a week. So it really depends on… And also, there’s a lot of great companies out there that are willing to help sponsor Terrain Hoppers for an employee or for an individual. That’s been something that is certainly exciting to have that program set up now.
Mike Jones:
That’s really cool. No, that’s very cool. Because I imagine there’s so many people probably that would benefit so much from the product and to be able to have different ways that they can get some financial help getting to that point.
Todd Lemay:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Yeah.
Mike Jones:
That’s awesome. Yeah. I would imagine… We talked about this a little bit before the podcast, just this market isn’t probably a super saturated market? I wouldn’t imagine that there’s a bunch of competitors. I’m sure there’s somebody out there doing something, but probably not a super saturated market. And one of the challenges I’ve seen with markets that are kind of newer or less known is, what you just said of, how do you work through that process with customers who are like, “Wow, this is maybe just a luxury,” or, “I’m not really sure I need this.” Working through that, as you educate them about the product and about the benefits of what it can do, how have you seen being able to kind of cut through and say, “Hey, this is something beyond just, well maybe,” or, “I don’t even understand it.” Right? That’s probably another issue.
Todd Lemay:
The need is definitely there and convincing people who need it, that they need it, is not very difficult because they know that, “Hey, I haven’t been able to get out on the beach for a long time. I haven’t been able to go on a hiking trail.” So they know that they need it. There are a number of other companies out there that make adaptive off-road mobility vehicles like we do. Those are almost entirely track style chairs.
Mike Jones:
Oh, interesting.
Todd Lemay:
Where they’re kind of like tank treads and they’re not four wheel drive, they don’t have handlebars. And so, the Terrain Hopper is certainly the only adaptive off-road mobility vehicle out there that has four wheels, that has the ability to go in 20 inches of water, that can climb the steepest hills, and that has handlebars. And I think that’s one thing that’s important to a lot of our customers, because a lot of them have use of their arms and their hands and they don’t want to, and never have had a need to use a joystick.
Todd Lemay:
And so, being able to sit in an off-road vehicle and drive it with the handlebars, like you would an ATV, is exciting for them, and is exhilarating because they feel a little bit less disabled than using a joystick. And so, we certainly do have a very unique product, and its capabilities are extreme compared to our competitors. And so, yeah, we’re excited to be in this space, and we have the best customers. They share their videos and their pictures with us almost on a weekly basis of things that they’re doing and they hadn’t been able to do before. And so, that’s really exciting for me, it’s exciting for all the guys in our production environment, where at lunchtime, we just show the pictures and videos of what their hard work has ended up in.
Mike Jones:
Well, it makes it real, right? This isn’t just sitting in a shop, making some widgets. This is we’re actually making something that changes people’s lives. Right?
Todd Lemay:
Right.
Mike Jones:
In a really positive way. I can’t imagine. I mean, I was even just a little bit getting a little choked up, hearing your story of your first experience with Terrain Hopper. And I can only imagine these stories coming in and just every one of them, like, wow, that’s such a wonderful kind of gift that you guys are giving to these people, where they have an opportunity to do stuff they’ve probably never had.
Todd Lemay:
Right. Yeah.
Mike Jones:
That’s really cool.
Todd Lemay:
We’ve had people just come out and do a test drive at our factory and we don’t have this amazing environment or view. It’s basically a dirt area in the back of our facility that’s got some hills and it’s got some curves, and maybe we have a couple of logs to drive over, but it is not unusual for someone to get in a Terrain Hopper and start driving up and down these dirt hills and start crying, because they’ve never been able to do that before. They’ve never been able to get off the pavement, and even just driving up over a curb is just amazing to them. And so, there is a lot of people that get very emotional and we get thank you letters all the time and text messages, “Look what I was able to do this weekend thanks to you guys.” And they’re out in the jungle somewhere-
Mike Jones:
That’s so awesome.
Todd Lemay:
Or they’re on a beach with their family. They get a family photo on the beach and things like that. So it is extremely rewarding and we’re certainly having a lot of fun doing what we’re doing.
Mike Jones:
I’m glad to hear that. Speaking of maybe a season of not so much fun, we’re in 2021. It’s been over 18 months of a pandemic that I don’t think this world’s seen in quite some time. And every business I’ve talked to, there’s definite challenges, maybe some new opportunities. I love just kind of hearing from anyone that comes on the show, what has the last 18 months been like? And what are some of those obstacles that you’ve had to overcome? What are some of those new opportunities that have popped up?
Todd Lemay:
Yeah. And that’s actually a great question. And I think that if you would’ve asked me this question at the beginning of the pandemic, maybe last April or May, I would have probably said, “Boy, who knows what’s going to happen? And we’ve gotten no orders for two months,” and it was looking pretty bleak there; I think for everybody.
Mike Jones:
Yep.
Todd Lemay:
But I can tell you that since June of last year, so June of 2020, we’ve had record sales.
Mike Jones:
That’s awesome to hear.
Todd Lemay:
And so, that’s been a good thing. And I think, I’ve tried to kind of put my finger on, why is that? Why have we had such an uptick in sales? And I think it’s two reasons. I think one is that our social media presence and that type of thing, maybe just started to get traction a little bit with what we’ve been doing and all the different programs that we’ve been doing. But I think more importantly, I think that a lot of people have a better appreciation now for those people who can’t go into the parks, because they’re mobility challenged. They can’t go on the beach because they’re mobility challenged. During the beginning of the pandemic, when the parks were closed and the beaches were closed and you couldn’t do those things, the normally, able-bodied individuals who were so used to being able to go and do those things whenever they wanted, could now not do those things.
Todd Lemay:
And I think that a lot of people were protesting about it and things like that, but I think a lot of them realized, “Wait, this is only a temporary thing for me. This is a permanent thing for millions of people in this country. Or this is a permanent thing for my Uncle Joe or my child or whatever.” And so, I think that that situation really opened a lot of eyes to, you know what? We need to help get this person a Terrain Hopper. We need to help get this person, whatever equipment that they need to get out and experience all the things that we enjoy experiencing. And so, that’s been certainly a positive thing for us and for some of our customers.
Mike Jones:
That’s awesome. Yeah. I’m glad to hear that it hasn’t stayed in the doldrums as it did for a few minutes there.
Todd Lemay:
No. No, we used to have a 30 day waiting period, now we’re up to about 90 to a 120.
Mike Jones:
Wow.
Todd Lemay:
Because we don’t make a Terrain Hopper until it’s ordered because everything is custom made for the individual when we get it. Now, part of that increase in our lead time is not just because we have a ton of orders, which we do, but it’s because of supply chain issues.
Mike Jones:
It’s the other side of the pandemic coin.
Todd Lemay:
The other side of the coin is that we have a lot of supply chain issues. Whether it’s just lead times for motors… Lead times for motors used to be four months. Well now it’s eight months. Lead time for some of our controller box, just like some of the chips that are holding up some of the auto companies from finishing their trucks and cars, well, we have chips in some of our controllers. And so, what we used to get in three months is now eight months. And so, luckily we had stocked up on a lot of this stuff in the summer, last June, June of 2020. And so, we’re in pretty good shape and we’ve got supply chain to get us through the end of this year with production.
Todd Lemay:
And then, things will start flowing again. But we definitely have seen a slow down in getting parts. Metal prices have gone through the roof. And so, unfortunately we’ve had to raise the prices on our Terrain Hopper. A little bit, not too much. First time we’ve raised the price in three years, but the metal prices are through the roof. I mean, everything is just more expensive now. And so, those are the challenges, but we’re certainly overcoming them and we’re trying to have fun doing it.
Mike Jones:
Yeah. Good. I’m glad. All right. That’s kind of it for the serious questions. I’ve got one little less serious question to kind of wrap things up today. So we like to play a little game called name 10 things at Resound with our team. And usually it’s, you throw out a category, name 10, fill in the blank. So I’ve got that for you if you’re willing to play.
Todd Lemay:
Sure.
Mike Jones:
We’ll see if you can get to 10. If you don’t get to a full 10, that’s totally fine. But I thought it’d be fun-
Todd Lemay:
Well, has anyone ever not gotten to the full 10?
Mike Jones:
I think most people have.
Todd Lemay:
Okay, because I don’t want to be one of those people.
Mike Jones:
Sometimes we stretch it a little bit. They’ll maybe come up with… Yeah. We’ll see what happens here.
Todd Lemay:
Okay.
Mike Jones:
We’ll get to ten one way or another. So I thought, name 10 places you’d love to see people take their Terrain Hoppers.
Todd Lemay:
Oh, that’s… Okay. I would like to see someone drive their Terrain Hopper down the Bright Angel Trail to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back up-
Mike Jones:
That would be so cool.
Todd Lemay:
I would like to see… And I’m going to change your question just a little bit and I’m going to make it, where would I want to go in my Terrain Hopper?
Mike Jones:
Oh, there we go. Yeah, there we go.
Todd Lemay:
Because I know some people have been to these places. Not the Grand Canyon, no one’s ever done the Grand Canyon yet, but I would love to go to Yellowstone. I’d love to go to Yosemite. I love to go to Arches National Park.
Mike Jones:
Awesome. You’re at four now.
Todd Lemay:
Say that again?
Mike Jones:
You’re at four. Just keeping count here.
Todd Lemay:
I’m at four. Okay. I certainly would like to go to Arcadia National Park in Maine. I’d like to go to some of the parks in Colorado. I can’t think of the names, but pretty much any of the national parks. I’d love to go on a San Francisco beach. I haven’t been there with a Terrain Hopper. I love to go to Florida. Go on the beaches, in Florida with the Terrain Hopper. Am I at seven now? Am I at seven?
Mike Jones:
You’re at nine. So you got one more.
Todd Lemay:
Wow. Okay.
Mike Jones:
They go fast.
Todd Lemay:
I think, I would really like to at some point get up into Canada because they have a bunch of beautiful parks up there.
Mike Jones:
Yep.
Todd Lemay:
And so, there’s so many places in this country to go visit. I mean, there are hundreds and hundreds of state parks and national parks and, I mean, like I mentioned earlier, there’s over 30 here in Arizona. And just being able to get all those, if you did one a week, would be a year. And then there’s multiple trails at all of those parks. And so, there’s certainly a large number of places to go visit. And I hope someday I’ll be able to at least get to those 10 on my list.
Mike Jones:
Yeah. That’s awesome. I mean, those would all be on my list too.
Todd Lemay:
Right, right.
Mike Jones:
Of just places I’d love to go visit. I don’t think there were any on that list that I’ve been to, but that’s awesome. Thank you so much for coming on today. This was, I think, a great conversation. I loved kind of hearing about your experience, the product, obviously. I think it’s just really cool and I hope that people listening get a chance to go check it out.
Todd Lemay:
I had a great time and I appreciate you having me and giving me opportunity to talk about Terrain Hopper and our challenges and our triumphs.
Mike Jones:
That’s awesome. If people want to learn more about Terrain Hopper and the company and the products that you offer, where should they go check that out?
Todd Lemay:
So they can go to terrainhopperusa.com. And if you’re local here in Arizona and you wanted to try one out, you can certainly call our factory and make an appointment. Come on down, we can get you in one to try one out. If you wanted to try one out in the wild, like we say, Ability 360 in Phoenix, they’re a nonprofit organization. They have three Terrain Hoppers, and when the weather starts getting nice here in the fall, I think every week or every other week, they pick a different park, and they have people sign up, and they can sign up to get on a Terrain Hopper for an hour and do a trail. And so, that’s certainly one way to check them out as well.
Mike Jones:
That’s awesome. That’s Ability 360?
Todd Lemay:
Ability360.org is their website, and their program is called Terrain Hopper Days.
Mike Jones:
Okay.
Todd Lemay:
And so, check it out on their website. And like I said, they’re on hiatus right now, because it’s too hot, but I think they start back up in early October.
Mike Jones:
Yep. And your website, just for our listeners, is terrainhopperusa.com?
Todd Lemay:
Correct.
Mike Jones:
So if anyone listening wants to check out a Terrain Hopper, even if you’re maybe not in need of one, I recommend just checking it out because they are really cool. And I bet there is someone that you know who would extremely benefit from at least considering a Terrain Hopper.
Todd Lemay:
Everyone knows somebody.
Mike Jones:
Everybody knows somebody. I can think of a handful of people, so I need to do my part and get the word out.
Todd Lemay:
Well, we appreciate it.
Mike Jones:
I want to thank everybody for listening to another episode of AZ Brandcast. It was so great having you, Todd, on the show, hearing about Terrain Hopper. If anyone wants to find out more about AZ Brandcast or listen to any of our other episodes, we have got tons of episodes of Arizona brand builders right here in Arizona, building great brands, building great companies, talked with a bunch of them. They’re on our website, remarkablecast.com. You can also find us on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, all your standard podcast places. And if there is a podcast directory place that you like to find your podcasts, and we’re not on there, just send me an email. Mike@resoundcreative.com or find us on the website, remarkablecast.com. Just want to thank everybody for listening to another episode. Thanks for joining us, and don’t forget, you are remarkable.
Mike Jones:
The AZ Brandcast is a project of Resound and is recorded in Tempe, Arizona with hosts Mike Jones and Chris Stadler. It’s produced and edited by Sam Peggle. Music is produced and provided by Pabrid, an Arizona based music group. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and at remarkablecast.com. If you’d like more episodes, subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever you prefer to get your podcasts. To contact the show, find out more about AZ Brandcast or to join our newsletter list to make sure you never miss another episode, check out our website at remarkablecast.com. Copyright Resound Creative Media, LLC, 2020.