One of
our all-time favorite places to explore and we tried to start each year off
with a visit. January 1, 2009, was no different and it would set the pace for
what would become Kellisa's most adventurous year by far.
Kellisa
had outgrown even the largest baby jog strollers, and we broke two frames on a
jog stroller made for special needs children. We needed a new solution and
after many hours of research, we purchased a WIKE. The chair looks awesome and
offers a ton of weather protection; however, it is not built for rugged trails.
We still have it and it has its uses; it's just not an all-around mobility
device for our needs.
We had to
go to southern Florida for a funeral in the middle of January which allowed us
the opportunity to visit the Everglades over a beautiful weekend when the
mosquitoes were mostly under control. Kellisa loves observing many alligators
and enjoyed the many miles of trail we explored.
Kellisa
added "bike rider" to her list of hobbies when she received this
trike as a gift from a generous retired couple.
It
had been a dream for several years to attempt the 26.2-mile Bataan Memorial
Death March at White Sands Missile Range just outside of Las Cruces, New
Mexico. I finally got enough nerve and registered for the 2009 event. The march
was the first Sunday of Kellisa's spring break week, so we decided to make it a
family trip. We spent a day sightseeing in El Paso before the march. Lisa and
Kellisa were awesome supporters during and after my completion of my first
Bataan Memorial Death March. Lisa had to return to work the day after the
march. Kellisa and I stayed the rest of the week to explore three national
parks- Guadalupe Mountains, Carlsbad Caverns, and Big Bend.
El Paso
Kellisa Bowling
We
started the summer with a long weekend trip to New England with the goal of
reaching four state highpoints. Kellisa and I flew to Manchester and a few
hours later we were at the base of Mount Washington, a mountain known for its
fierce weather. You can hike, drive, or take a cog railroad to the top. Since
Kellisa loves trains, the cog railroad was the obvious choice. All the routes
to the summit stop just short of a rocky scramble to the actual highpoint. I
wheeled Kellisa as close as possible and carried her the rest of the way.
Lisa and
I had completed the process to be approved as foster parents with the intention
to adopt. We spent most evenings searching the many galleries of foster
children waiting to find their "Forever Family". Even though we were
fairly specific in the type of child we were looking for, we were still
submitting on multiple children most weeks without any success. It was hard not
to feel attached after looking at a child's picture and reading their profile
and feeling like you'd be a perfect match.
After
months of submitting on dozens of children, we got our first response. We
submitted on a boy from Oregon and our family was chosen along with another
family for consideration. I had to pull off to the side of the road for three
hours after our Appalachian Trail hike in Vermont to participate in a
conference call with Lisa (back in Jacksonville) and the social worker assigned
to our family in Oregon. We had to confirm we were still interested and provide
additional information before the worker explained the next steps. We couldn't
help but get excited at the idea of having a little brother for Kellisa.
If
selected, we would have to drop everything and fly to Oregon for a week to
start the process of adding this boy to our family. We were advised that it
would probably be easier if Kellisa wasn't there in the beginning. Since
Kellisa is not a normal child, it wasn't easy coming up with a plan, but we
did. (Thanks Aunt Jo!)
Mount Greylock, the highpoint of Massachusetts was next on our itinerary. We
had to pull over for a couple of hours so I could have a conference call with
Lisa and our representative in Oregon.
Next
was a drive to Jerimoth Hill, the top of Rhode Island. We arrived in a light rain,
and it was getting dark. A little wet, we were excited to reach our 2nd summit
of the day.
Because
we didn't spend an afternoon hiking to the top of Vermont, we had a few free
hours at the end of our trip. A brochure at our hotel pointed us towards Block
Island. We went mainly for the high-speed ferry to/from the island, but we were
surprised to find hills, cliffs, and wildlife as we walked around the island.
It turned out to be a true highlight of the trip.
A date
was set for a week later for the three-person panel to choose the forever
family for the Oregon boy. We did not have to be present for the meeting, and
our social worker represented us and called as soon as a family was chosen. The
worker didn't hesitate to break the news, we were the "back-up"
family. The decision was made by a three-person panel. Each family received one
vote for selection and the third was on the fence. Both families were strong
possibilities in his mind. However, the other family had two teenage sons and
the deciding voter thought they could be more of an influence on the boy than
Kellisa. We were devastated. Our agent tried to offer a glimmer of home by
explaining that we would automatically be chosen if for some reason the first
placement didn't work. That bit of information didn't lessen the devastation.
We spent a peaceful and quiet 4th of July holiday weekend deep in the Okefenokee Swamp far from exploding fireworks.
By
coincidence, we had planned our summer vacation for August in Oregon. We had a
cabin booked in Crater Lake National Park for months. We were going to spend a
week in the Portland area before driving to Crater Lake. Two months had passed
between losing our little Oregon boy and our vacation. I had given up hope of
adopting a child. Lisa still had hope.
We had an
amazing 10 days in the beautiful state of Oregon.
The
Cleetwood Cove Trail is the only legal access to the shores of Crater Lake. I
knew if we were traveling across the country that we would want to hike down to
the lake, enjoy the boat tour, and take a swim in the blue waters. I called
ahead to talk to a ranger about the trail conditions because the website states
something about wheeled devices not being allowed on the trail. The ranger told
me that strollers and wheelchairs are not allowed on the trail. I tried
explaining our experience and that I needed help in planning our hike. I was
advised that we could be arrested if we attempted the trail. We not only
attempted the trail, but we completed the hike to the bottom and back up to the
rim without incident or any arrests.
By 2016, the park advises that the Cleetwood Cove Trail is not recommended for
wheelchairs. In our minds, that's a long way from not allowed with a threat of
being arrested. One huge victory and I'd like to think we played a role.
*** To use the fewest frequent flyer points as possible, we drove down to Sacramento for our return flight to Jacksonville. We at dinner at Joe's Crab Shack in downtown along the river. I remember liking what I saw and would have never guessed that we would be living in the Sacramento metro area less than 6 years later. ***
Kellisa
had a few days left to her summer vacation. We were on a pretty good high
pointing roll, so we decided to knock off a couple of the remaining highpoints
in the Southeast. We flew to Nashville before driving to the highpoint of
Mississippi. After reaching the top of the "Magnolia State", we drove
to Cheaha State Park, home to the highest point in Alabama before flying home
from Birmingham.
The Jacksonville Miracle League (Fall)
Halloween
I
turned on my computer one day to see on my home page that Miley Cyrus (aka
Hannah Montana) was going out on tour. At this point, Miley was still
appropriate for Kellisa's age group. I did a quick search and was disappointed
that she wasn't playing Jacksonville on this tour. Her Chicago date jumped out
at me because I knew we had a long weekend scheduled for Chicago and her
concert was two days after we were scheduled to leave. I realized that the
tickets were going on sale in only 8 minutes, and I knew all her shows would be
sold out in a few minutes. I didn't have time to check with Lisa or see what
our flight options would be before I tried getting tickets. I
knew from past experience that it would be nearly impossible to get
tickets anyway. My very first click at exactly 10am went through and in a
matter of a few more seconds, we were the happy owners of three seats on an
aisle in the 8th row.
Jaguars Home
Game in December
Kellisa
was on her Christmas break from school, and I had a couple of vacation days to
use or I would lose them. We had a good year highpointing and we decided to
keep up with that theme. We flew to Philadelphia and I was concerned at what we
saw as soon as we wheeled off the plane. The airport was in full panic mode. I
didn't check the weather before we left but quickly learned that a historic
blizzard was about to hit the Mid-Atlantic.
As soon
as we got in our rental SUV, we headed to Ebright Azimuth, the summit of Delaware,
which some consider one of the most dangerous highpoints to reach because you
have to cross a very busy intersection to reach the geological marker. Besides
cars, we were now dodging the impending snowstorm.
After
our successful ascent of Delaware, we drove towards the highpoint of New
Jersey, very simply named, "High Point". The first wave of snow was falling,
and the temperature was dropping swiftly as we reached the top of the Garden
State the following morning.
We
left New Jersey and drove towards Mount Davis in Pennsylvania as the blizzard
started to really intensify. As we drove near the Flight 93 National Memorial, there was
a small break in the snow, but not the plunging temperatures. Kellisa wheeled
through deep snow using brute force to position herself in front of an American
flag and placed her hand over her hard. My tears of pride froze to my
cheek.
The
record snowfall for the region ended overnight and we were still holding out
hope to reach the top of Mount Davis and maybe even Backbone Mountain in
Maryland too. We drove as close to the highpoint of Pennsylvania as possible
and were turned away by country roads with huge snow drifts not yet
plowed.
So, we
did the next best thing. We stopped at an old-time ma and pop hardware store
because we saw plastic sleds through the window. Kellisa picked an orange snow sled,
and she absolutely loved her first time sledding in a hotel parking lot in
Pennsylvania followed by a second day of snow sledding in what would become New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia in 2020.
With
thousands of flights canceled, I was worried we wouldn't make it home on our
flight. This was significant since we were scheduled to arrive home late on
December 23rd. This meant any cancellation would make us late for Christmas Eve
and possibly Christmas day. I knew and holiday tradition missed would
significantly erode Lisa's overwhelming support for our adventures. We only had
one option. We pointed the rental SUV towards home and started driving.
We made it home for Christmas:
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