This Segway tour guide wants to teach even DC natives something new

In the D.C. region, conversations often start with, “What do you do?” WTOP’s series “Working Capital” profiles the people doing the work that makes the region unique.

Sherman Outhuok grew up in Georgetown and has lived in D.C. for years. And while he spent most of his life working in the restaurant business, he decided that he wanted to do something different.

That meant transitioning to becoming a tour guide, hoping to teach guests something they didn’t know about D.C.

Ahead of an afternoon tour earlier this month, Outhuok made sure the small group was comfortable riding their Segways before they left the Capital Segway shop along Connecticut Avenue.

Participants watched a safety video and got comfortable riding the Segways, and then Outhuok gave out hand warmers and water bottles.

Then, the group left for a two-hour, 6-mile journey across the city.

Now in his second year of giving tours, Outhuok hoped to shine a light on the city’s hidden gems.

“When you’ve taught somebody a bunch of different things that they didn’t know, or some more history about D.C. culture that they didn’t understand, then that’s probably the most rewarding,” Outhuok said.

Before giving tours on his own, Outhuok shadowed a fellow tour guide as part of about three weeks of training. The key, he said, is learning as much about the city’s history as possible while making sure everyone in the group is hydrated and safe.

On his first-ever tour, Outhuok said he became so nervous that he seemingly forgot everything. He knew all of the history, but didn’t know how to tell the narrative story of it. The experience, Outhuok said, is similar to a comedian creating an act.

“The hardest part is managing your speaking with safety,” Outhuok said. “The safety is really important. You’re out here in the street, sometimes driving around through traffic and buses, and want to be on the National Mall, and you have 15 people behind you on a Segway tour. You have to be careful.”

During peak season, starting around the time of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, Outhuok said working as a tour guide is his full-time job. When he’s busiest, he’s giving three two-hour tours each day.

The route starts near the White House and stops at the Lincoln Memorial, Capitol and Tidal Basin, among other places.

In the winter, meanwhile, Outhuok spends time at the Library of Congress, “learning new history and just diving deeper into a little bit of U.S. history” to keep his tours interesting, he said.

“Some people have been to D.C. many times, and then they never know some of the history, like the .50-caliber round that hit the Lincoln Memorial back during World War II,” Outhuok said. “It’s kind of fun to point things out that people have been here for years and just never really knew.”

WTOP/Scott Gelman

WTOP/Scott Gelman

WTOP/Scott Gelman

While there are tour guides and Segway tours in multiple major American cities and others around the world, Outhuok said the things that make D.C. unique also make his job different.

“Just the fact that the White House is the only White House in the world where people want to come and check that out. Just the monuments, the size of the monuments that we have, people are just blown away by the size of the Lincoln Memorial,” Outhuok said.

By the end, Outhuok hopes he’s shown “some of the hidden spots of D.C. that nobody really sees. A lot of people don’t even know the Korean Veterans Memorial is even there, because it’s hidden behind a grove of trees.”

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