Skyline Drive

Summer 2015-

One of Kellisa's few benefits from being disabled is her Golden Access Passport. It allows us to enter National Parks without having to pay the entry fee and campsites are 50% off. 

We entered the park on Skyline Drive, a road that runs along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains for 110 miles, the entire length of Shenandoah National Park. We would drive from the beginning to mile marker 43 and backtrack to exit the park at mile 32. 

The speed limit is only 35mph and the girls enjoyed the ride with the windows down. We were in and above the clouds which Laurel likened to looking out airplane windows. 

FOX NEWS Health

Hopefully the post headline doesn't turn away readers because of their negative feelings towards FOX NEWS because this has nothing to do with politics.

In December 2015, I came across an article about providing a "disabled" elderly man equal access to a golf course in Massachusetts. I couldn't believe the article tied in to the disabled community. The golfer was in his 70s and had trouble walking on a golf course. I don't want to sound mean, but that is not the same as being fully disabled, at least in my opinion. I wrote a response to the article online expressing a few things that Kellisa deals with every single day in every day life. I hit send and moved on feeling satisfied to fight another fight for kids like Kellisa.

To my surprise, I received a reply back from Melinda Carstensen with an offer to be interviewed for a possible article on FOX NEWS Health. I was thrilled to have this platform and the opportunity to reach so many readers. I did not hesitate in accepting the offer.

I prepared myself to talk about the struggles of the disabled community and tell some of our stories of discrimination. The interview lasted 90 minutes and we covered many topics. I had no idea how the completed feature would turn out. We appreciate the opportunity to be covered on FOX NEWS Health.

You can find the article here.

The Big Move

WOW...it's been over 10 months since we've posted to our website. We're truly amazed at how many people still view our site, even without current posts. In fact, we had two of our three busiest months ever during our "hiatus". In looking over the statistics, we have gained a huge following in Israel, Russia, and Germany. Those three countries add up to almost as many views as the United States. In fact, we have followers from all 6 inhabited continents! We thank everyone for stopping by our site.

August 11, 2015 was the date of our last post and a lot has happened. Instead of our usual adventures, although we've had a few, we've been living one gigantic adventure for the past 9 months. Last September, I was offered a new position with my company, but it would require relocating to Sacramento, CA. With a little thought, we jumped at the opportunity.

Very long story short...it's not easy moving 3,000 miles across the country with our kids, plus Lisa had to find a new job (which happened very fast) and we had a house to sell (lots of drama involved in the process) and we had to find a new house. We found a house that backs up to a conservation area with a salmon run and tons of wildlife. Our dream house has a beautiful paved path running directly behind as it winds through the ravine and we enjoy amazing views while observing wildlife. We were always traveling across the country with a ton of gear for our vacations and now the things we love and enjoy are literally out our back door.

We closed on the house on June 2nd and we are slowly finding a new normal after living in a hotel for so long (Lisa since January, Laurel since February, and Kellisa & Chris since March) and it was a one room with one bed hotel room. Fortunately, the room had a sofa for Laurel and a large closet that doubled as Kellisa's bedroom. The experience probably brought us a little closer (too close!) and we can definitely proclaim that we are not a family meant for "tiny house" living!

Even though our lives have been extra stressful and full of anxiety, we did manage to have a few outdoor adventures along the way and now that we are settling in a little, we plan to get the blog caught up and current as we plan many new adventures!

Thanks again!

Laurel's States Visited

Laurel added Maine and New Hampshire during Kellisa's Sweet 16 Birthday Weekend and North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas during our end of the summer trip. This brings Laurel's states visited total to 40. Outside of the four states in the northeast, the other six are pretty well spread out at this point. If all goes as planned, Laurel will visit and hike in all 50 shortly before her 8th birthday in June 2017.

Kellisa's States Visited

With a long 2,300 mile road trip across the northern United States this summer, Kellisa has now visited 47 of our United States. Kellisa crossed off seven new states and we pushiked in 9 different states on our trip. It's probably not surprising that she still needs Alaska and Hawaii, but she still needs Iowa. We've been all around Iowa, but never crossed into that elusive state.  

2016 Wolfson Children's Challenge

Kellisa- January 2009

Yesterday, we received a phone call to tell us that someone at Wolfson Children's Hospital nominated Kellisa and she was chosen as 1 of 55 children to share their stories at the 2016 Wolfson Children's Challenge. We accepted without hesitation. We don't know all the details yet, but Kellisa has a photo shoot scheduled for August 22nd. We will update as we find out more information.

Pushiking Definitions w/Pictures

We just completed a series of posts defining pushiking with lots of cool pictures on 3Wheels Blazing. You can click on the rating under each picture to see the full post.

                                  ADA Easy             ADA Challenging           Obstacles             Inclines/Declines            Extreme

The Kate Steinle Law

Kate Steinle

A father and daughter are out for a walk when she is killed for no reason by an illegal immigrant felon who should have been behind bars. Her last words, "Dad, please help me". Kate was only 32 years old and she worked for the Challenged Athletes Foundation. As a father, this story breaks my heart and as human, I am outraged that this scum was allowed to walk free to kill in a sanctuary city- San Francisco. 

Please support Kate's Law 

3Wheels Blazing

Please check out (and sign up for email updates) our new website: 3Wheels Blazing. Kellisa's Path will continue as it has without any changes. 3Wheels Blazing is dedicated to our project of pushiking in all 50 states in only 366 days. The format will be slightly different. We will be experimenting by posting many short blog posts with a picture or two. Each short post can stand alone while still fitting into the overall flow of the complex project. Once we start, in the next week or two, we hope to post at least once every weekday until the completion of the project. Since we will have extra photos, those will be posted on Kellisa's Path.

Mackworth Island Trail

Falmouth, ME

May 23, 2015

Kellisa (and the rest of us) really enjoyed a nice birthday hike around the perimeter of Mackworth Island, just outside Portland. Besides a few little hills and some roots, the trail was fairly easy to navigate with a regular wheelchair.

TRAILS

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