Pushiking Book - Completed States

Britton Hill, FL

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Pushiking Book Update #1

 To say we are behind in the progress of writing our book would be a vast understatement. Kellisa and I need to hike at least one trail in all 50 states and write 90,000 publishable words with supporting pictures, maps, etc. by November 1, 2019. As of May 29th, we pushiked in 8 states and had just over 8,200 words written in a very rough draft.

Most of you know Kellisa and I already pushiked a trail in all 50 states by her 18th birthday and Laurel also accomplished this goal. Our book deal is to write a guidebook with some narrative non-fiction woven in our adventures. I did not view our first tour of the United States through the scope of writing a guidebook. I didn't keep the proper details and documents for a guidebook. Plus, we didn't complete every trail and sometimes we made our own trail. Not very guide worthy, in my opinion. So our second quest to pushike a trail in all 50 states started last October and due to many reasons, we are off to a very slow start.

With summer approaching fast, it was getting close to the point of not having a chance to have the book completed on time when I realized that we had a tight 7 day window between Kellisa getting out of school and Laurel's 10th birthday festivities. We actually had 8 days, but wanted to return with one day to spare just to make sure we would be back in time to celebrate Laurel's birthday. Even though Laurel was very happy to complete the original goal and is very proud of herself, she decided that she didn't want to participate on our new trail adventures.

Restoring a Little Faith in Humanity

 I know we are behind in updating the blog, but life has been busy. Our goal is to post like crazy all summer!

Those in the disabled world might agree that life is hard most of the time and often it seems like the world is against us. I don't like to complain, but I'm usually vocal about pointing out some of the discrimination and injustice we face on an all too regular basis.

While most people we encounter are probably neutral and at most guilty of staring a little. It is rare for individuals to go above and beyond to help strangers with disabilities. And when they do, they are usually "club members" themselves, because they "get it". 

I know we like to say people act like CP, Epilepsy, Hydrocephalus, "fill in your disability" is contagious because so many turn away and actively ignore. Yes, we get people who offer help like trying to hold a door open for us. While we appreciate the gesture, these people are usually in the way more than they are helping. How are we supposed to get through the door with you standing in the door holding it? And then when we say, "We've got it" and go through the door like nothing, we usually hear, "Looks like you've done this before."

Yeah, been doing this for more than 18 years! We just carried Kellisa for the first few years of her life.

So...Kellisa and I just returned from one of our epic father-daughter trips that will provide many blog posts in the near future. We often return home without our faith in humanity restored and that's OK. That's not our motivation for travel. However, this trip was different. Within a 24 hour period, we had multiple people offer help...real help!  

Marriott Hotel Not Exactly ADA Compliant

Springhill Suites - Lincolnshire, IL

ADA compliance thoughts hurting my head.

We're staying at a Marriott property and they have a shuttle van that will take you anywhere within 5 miles, but you need to give the desk 2 hours notice. I thought this was odd and asked.

I was told the shuttle van was not ADA compliant and someone complained because able bodied guests could leave anytime without notice. Guests in wheelchairs would have to wait two hours for an accessible van to arrive. Since it wasn't fair to make some guests wait 2 hours, they are now making everyone wait two hours.

Not surprisingly, most guests are not happy having to wait two hours and Marriott is getting a lot of complaints. They are now planning on buying an ADA shuttle van.

So they wouldn't do it because it was the law and the right thing to do, but are doing it to keep business travelers happy.

Airports Visited - 2018 Update

Evie 1st Flight: SAC - MDW

All Time List of Airports Visited:

Chris- 114   Kellisa- 55   Lisa- 45   Laurel- 39   Evie- 5


At the end of last year, we created a post with the number of airports we've visited. 2018 was a slow travel year for us with three trips back to Chicago as our main destination. Kellisa and Chris went on a few hiking trips which added new airports and we flew to Southern California to pick up the newest member of our family, Evie. Since Evie went on all our flights back to Chicago, she was the big winner with 5 new airports visited.

Evie: Sacramento, Oakland, Denver, Chicago- Midway, and Indianapolis. Kellisa's new airports: Spokane, Kansas City, and Little Rock. Laurel: Ontario and Indianapolis. Lisa: Ontario. Chris: Spokane.

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Rugged Access for All - Update #2 (November 2018)

Volo Bog, Illinois

 Back in November, Kellisa and I added 4 more states to our current goal of finding some of the best pushiking trails in the United States. Our plans to visit a few states in the middle of the country changed at the very last minute when I found out that I was needed in West Virginia (for my job) on the Monday before Thanksgiving. I had planned to take the entire week off, but we rearranged everything so I could take care of my work responsibilities. The family joined me on this trip and graciously waited in the hotel while I worked. All was not lost, we completed this weird loop where we pushiked in Indiana, West Virginia, Ohio, and Illinois. We also got to visit family in Ohio and spend Thanksgiving day with grandma in Chicago. All in all, November worked out extremely well.

Stats: November - RAfA Totals

States: 4 - 7

Miles Pushiked: 11.3 - 23.1

Elevation Gained: 679 - 1,513 feet

Flights: 2 - 6

Miles Flown: 3,866 - 8,136

Miles Driven: 1,539 - 2,279

Places Pushiked:

County Park- 1 (IN)

National Preserve- 1 (KS)

State Natural Area- 1 (IL)

State Nature Preserve- 1 (OH)

State Parks- 3 (AR-MO-WV)

Volo Bog State Natural Area

Illinois

November 2018

Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve

Ohio

November 2018

Beech Fork State Park

West Virginia

November 2018