ROLL BOLDLY Happy New Year 2022

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BY GEOFF BABB

I know that Fall Roll Boldly newsletter was just two short holiday months ago but I wanted to share a few things that have happened since then:

We had a white Christmas in Bend and a peaceful walk with friends along the Deschutes River. 

Geoff and Yvonne Babb enjoy a White Christmas in the AdvenChair hiking wheelchair along the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon.

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Elizabeth Ruiz of Scripps News Service produced a very nice follow-up video to one that she had done a year ago. I particularly like this one because it includes Patrik Nabulek and Anne Trehue as they share their experiences and visions with their AdvenChair. Thank you for telling our story Elizabeth!

Patrik Nabulek in the AdvenChair adventure wheelchair with his mother, Anne Trehue

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Jule Gilfillen of Oregon Public Broadcasting told the story of the Advenchair on Oregon Field Guide. Marcia Volk of Smithrock.com provided the background on the filming of the Adventure Wheelchair at Smith Rock State Park. 

The really neat backstory is that Jule and I discovered early on that her dad, Warren “Mr. Gil” Gilfillen, interviewed me for my first position with Multnomah County, Oregon, (Portland) Outdoor School 40 years ago. This job was not only the impetus for wanting to use the AdvenChair to give kids with disabilities the opportunity to fully participate in outdoor school, but it also allowed me to meet my wife of now 36 years!

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Adventure Wheelchair filming for Oregon Field Guide for Oregon Public Broadcasting

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I am grateful that we were able to help Robert and Nelly Kapen to knock Machu Picchu off their bucket list. Travel to Peru with this compilation by Cam Davis and blog and videos by “Team Kapen”.

Robert Kapen going along the treacherous steep path up Machu Picchu in the AdvenChair.

Team Kapen the AdvenChair adventure wheelchair in Machu Picchu

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I am thankful for the financial support of Mark Meyers and his family toward an update to the AdvenChair brochure.

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I am ever so grateful for the incredible work of the AdvenChair Leadership Team consisting of Jack Arnold, Dave Green, Brian Leininger, John Hunsaker, Amy Kazmier, and Brian Tandy, and office support of Lizzie Schneider.

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And finally, many thanks to the Backcountry Information Center staff at Grand Canyon National Park for our permit to camp on the Bright Angel Trail for Grand AdvenChair 2 in April 2022.

Thanks to so many for so much!

Geoff Babb, AdvenChairman

Thank you for supporting our adventure!
AdvenChair.com

ROLL BOLDLY Fall 2021

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Oregon Field Guide films the AdvenChair at Smith Rock State Park for its “Adventure Wheelchair’ on Oregon Public Broadcasting.

BY GEOFF BABB

Just when we all thought it was safe to take our masks off and venture outside again...Along came the second half of 2021, which was especially challenging for the AdvenChair team and me personally.

Not only did the world get hit with a COVID variant that was nastier than the original:

• AdvenChair’s Demo Days were all but wiped out by wildfire smoke and poor air quality.

• The Portland Parkinson's Cycling Fair was canceled by heat dome (a new extreme weather event) and Destination Rehab’s SOAR Day did not go as planned.

• I ended up spending two stints in the hospital to untwist my colon.

But the past six months have been far from tragedy and disappointment. We had numerous rewarding demo and orientation hikes. We delivered almost all of our first production run of 10 AdvenChairs and watched them go off to Machu Picchu in Peru (see below), an outdoor school in Oregon, and other amazing places. And we had a trifecta of videographers tell our story in three unique ways for KTVZ News, Central Oregon Daily, and OPB’s Oregon Field Guide (see our press library)

Yes, these are turbulent, yet exciting, times to be sure. But we're making steady progress and learning a ton along the way. And most importantly, we are now accepting orders for Production Run #2 in 2022. So we begin the next exciting stage of our journey.

But first, it’s the perfect time of year to say how grateful I am for all of the team and family members, doctors and nurses, firefighters and frontline COVID-fighters, and all people who love the outdoors for their dedication, perseverance and support.

Onward! (Or as our Peruvian amigos say, Adelante!)

—Geoff Babb, AdvenChairman

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AdvenChair knocks Machu Picchu off the bucket list.

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Team Kapen at Machu Picchu with the AdvenChair

So much for starting slowly and gradually picking up speed. Less than three months off the assembly line, one of the first ten AdvenChairs ever made has already explored one of the eight wonders of the world.

“We wanted to make an all-terrain chair that would enable people with disabilities and physical challenges to roll boldly into wild places and achieve important milestones with the help of family and friends,” said Geoff Babb, AdvenChairman and Founder of AdvenChair. “Team Kapen wasted no time in doing just that.”

“Team Kapen” is spearheaded by 33-year-old Robert Kapen, who survived a brain stem stroke at the early age of 23, and his wife Nelly, who was born and raised in Peru. Their venture to the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu in August was a dream come true for both of them. Nelly finally got to see her country’s most famous landmark. And Robert finally found a vehicle that could quench his burning desire to explore off the beaten path with minimal limitations.

After struggling to engage with the wilderness in his regular wheelchair, the couple from southern California discovered AdvenChair with its durable and nimble mountain-bike inspired design. With their proposed family trip to Machu Picchu just a few weeks away, they took a side trip to Bend on a visit to the Northwest and did an extensive test drive of the AdvenChair and got well acquainted with Geoff and Yvonne Babb.

Robert Kapen going along the treacherous steep path up Machu Picchu in the AdvenChair.

As a fellow brain stem stroke survivor and outdoor lover, Robert Kapen found a kindred spirit in Geoff Babb, and was immediately drawn to AdvenChair’s mountain bike components and safety features, like brakes, wheels and tires, and handlebars.

“When my other chair needed to be lifted over obstacles, people would jump in and start accidentally ripping off parts,” said Robert. “They’d say, ‘Oops, hope you don’t need that.’ But on our first excursions with AdvenChair, if we needed help, they immediately knew where to grab. I felt much safer in this chair with all the belts, shocks and handlebars.”

With the help of Team Kapen’s fundraising efforts, purchasing an AdvenChair and taking it almost directly to Peru was a no-brainer.
“Having just this one chair was so convenient in terms of space, durability, and safety,” said Nelly. “The AdvenChair held up to everything we threw at it, from taking it apart and putting it together, transferring in and out of vehicles. But most importantly, climbing the trail at extreme altitude couldn’t have been easier. "

The ancient Incans obviously didn’t design the trails to the remote Andes city with AdvenChair in mind. Nor did the modern trains and taxis in Cuzco for that matter. But with a little ingenuity and perseverance, Nelly and her family were able to maneuver Robert through airports, on to shuttle buses and trains in its wheelchair mode. Then after making the easy switch to all-terrain mode on the big day, the team was able to use the slightly wider and safer return path to reach Machu Picchu.

“We couldn’t have done this trip without AdvenChair,” said Robert. “I feel so blessed, grateful, and loved that the people I call my community stepped up and faithfully gave money. The only way I know to truly thank them and God for the awesome providence they bestowed on me is to use the chair continually and spread God’s message of love, peace, and grace everywhere I travel.”
You can’t ask for a better testimonial than that. To see Team Kapen’s photo-packed account of their Machu Picchu expedition check out their Instagram reels below and then visit the blogpost on our website.

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Lights. Camera. AdvenChair!

Geoff Babb from Central Oregon Daily News Shevlin Park video

A busy summer on the trails has thrust AdvenChair into the spotlight in the past few weeks. Not one. Not two. But three different news and lifestyle programs have done feature stories about AdvenChair recently.

In August, KTVZ’s Leslie Cano reported on how the mountain bike circuit course surrounding The Loge in Bend is the perfect place for people to check out the AdvenChair and take free demo rides into the nearby wilderness. The scheduled Demo Days got off to a bit of a rocky start with smoky skies coming earlier than usual last summer. But you can bet the AdvenChair team will be out offering more rides as soon as the trails clear next spring. Check out the video here.

On a brisk morning in September, storyteller Eric Lindstrom of Central Oregon Daily News met the AdvenChair and Oregon Adaptive Sports crews for a hike through Shevlin Park. With the enthusiastic Kim O’Kelley-Leigh along for the ride, Lindstrom shared about the healing and rejuvenating power of being outdoors, and how AdvenChair is an absolute game changer for people with mobility challenges, offering them a better quality of life. View the Central Oregon Daily News video here.

Also this summer, AdvenChair’s unique and uplifting story caught the attention of Jule Gilfillan, a producer with Oregon Public Broadcasting’s long-running Oregon Field Guide program. A crew from OPB joined Geoff and Bend college student Isaac Shannon for a spirited trek through Smith Rock State Park in August and the seven-minute video segment premiered on Thursday, November 11 at 8:30 pm. Check out the short teaser video here, then click below for the full episode.

As a side note, Geoff and Jule made an important connection right away: Jule’s dad, Warren Gilfillen (aka Mr. Gil), had interviewed Geoff for his first job with Multnomah Outdoor School in 1981. This was not only the beginning of his connection to outdoor education but was where he met his future wife Yvonne.)

“Getting featured on Oregon Field Guide, as well as locally on Central Oregon Daily and KTVZ News recently is very rewarding for us,” said Geoff. “People are starting to take notice and frequently know who we are when they see us in Central Oregon. Hopefully, it will be the same way when we venture into other parts of the Northwest next year.”

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Rolling into production 2022. Order your AdvenChair now.

Like most popular hikes in the Cascades or any other mountain range, 2021 has had its share of ups and downs. But as we approach the summit, we definitely like the view from where we are and can’t wait to see what lies ahead in 2022. We already know that AdvenChairs from our first production run will be exploring trails from Canada to New Zealand; and plans are in the works to take on the famous Camino de Santiago in Spain and the Bright Angel Trail to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

The question is, where will you take your AdvenChair when the next fleet arrives next summer? We are now taking orders for our second production run and suggest you place your order soon. We know the holidays are approaching and budgets are tight. But this is a great time of year for fundraising. And flexible payment plans are available. To order an Advenchair for yourself, your loved one or your organization, visit advenchair.com/products. Please contact us directly if you have any questions at info@advenchair.com.

Until next time, keep on rolling boldly.

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ROLL BOLDLY Summer 2021

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AdvenChairman of The Onward Project, LLC and the visionary of the AdvenChair, Geoff Babb.

BY GEOFF BABB

As I watched the assembly of the first production run of AdvenChairs – about 12 months and a brutal pandemic later than initially anticipated – I am so thankful for all the incredible help and support that we have received so far to bring the project to this point. 

We were in the HeliLadder shop, generously donated by owners Dale and Susie Neubauer. Over the course of a week, the team of 20 volunteers was led by design engineer Jack Arnold and included a highly skilled group of production and mechanical engineers, as well as bike, auto and motorcycle mechanics, and a computer programmer. In other words, people who pay attention to detail. 

When I started this letter, we had sold five chairs, but just today a check came in for chair number six and the first installment for number seven is in the mail. Now the buyer of chair number eight is committed to a point where we can put a “sold” tag on it. We now have two chairs left to sell! Order yours now to buy at the original introductory price of $9,950.

We're excited that an AdvenChair was rented by an outdoor school operated by Campfire, meeting our goals of reaching the rental, environmental education, and youth camp audiences.

And we are honored to have our story told by Oregon Field Guide, during the upcoming season of this long-running program on Oregon Public Broadcasting.

We have a busy summer of events ahead, including opportunities to demo and rent AdvenChair (read on for details) and we hope to see many of you out there soon.

Yet, for all of our accomplishments over the past tumultuous year, I think that Scarlett’s smile in the photo above shows why we’ve worked so hard to get where we are today. Thank you all for your support.

Onward!

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AdvenChair Makes Happier Campers

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Scarlett is a happy camper in the AdvenChair all-terrain wheelchair

Songs and skits around the campfire. Laughing with friends in the cabins. Wearing wood-cookie name tags with our camp name.  We all have our favorite memories from outdoor school. But for Scarlett, a 5th grader from an elementary school near Eugene, Oregon, just being able to experience outdoor school with her classmates was a special memory in and of itself. And it’s all thanks to AdvenChair. 

Scarlett’s standard wheelchair would not have negotiated the trails at Camp Wilani Outdoor School near Veneta, Oregon. So her school rented an AdvenChair for the week. Executive Director, Elissa Kobrin, took advantage of Measure 99 funding through the Oregon State University Extension Service Outdoor School Program to pay for it. Measure 99 is funded by the Oregon Lottery and provides $22 million annually to support Outdoor Schools in the state.

“What an amazing opportunity AdvenChair gave this 5th grader!” said Gina Huckins, Scarlett’s teacher. “Scarlett was able to access so many new experiences and learning opportunities that wouldn't have been available to her with her regular wheelchair. Thank you, AdvenChair, for allowing her to have the experience of a lifetime!” 

Campfire Wilani Council, which provides the facility and staff for the school, was so impressed with the AdvenChair that it applied for, and received, additional Measure 99 funding to purchase a chair to use in their year-round youth programs. 

Said Kobrin:  “We are so grateful to receive the funding from OSU Extension so that we will be able to offer an AdvenChair to those needing help for years to come.” 

For more information about the OSU Extension Service Outdoor School Program,  contact outdoorschool@oregonstate.edu. The AdvenChair will be available for weekly rental by outdoor schools in the fall of 2021. Contact info@advenchair.com for more information.

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Wild Places Here We Come!

Have you seen the reports on social media? Hikers in the forests of Oregon have been catching fleeting glimpses of a mysterious fast-moving object. It leaves very distinct tracks on the dirt trails. But rather than being dark, lumbering and apelike, it’s bright orange, streamlined and extremely agile. 

It’s called the AdvenChair, of course. It’s the missing link that allows people with mobility challenges to explore the wilderness off the beaten path. And now it can be revealed that there is not just one AdvenChair roaming the terrain, but a whole fleet of them! And soon, they will frequently be seen on trails in the Pacific Northwest and well beyond. 

The first ten AdvenChairs have been meticulously assembled by our team of 20 volunteers, led by Design Engineer Jack Arnold; and eight of them are being delivered to their proud new owners. 

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The privilege of purchasing the very first AdvenChair goes to Jason deVries of Portland, Oregon. You may remember, Jason originally planned to use his AdvenChair to take his dad, Vern, who has Parkinson’s Disease, on hikes into the Cascades, including his favorite outing to Marion Lakes. Unfortunately, Vern’s health took a turn for the worse over the past year and he may not be able to venture far from the Veteran’s Home in Lebanon, Oregon, where he lives. So Jason plans to offer the AdvenChair to everyone at the Veteran’s Home. He is working closely with the director of activities to make sure the staff is trained to use it, so other veterans can enjoy it as well.

Here’s what Jason had to say about purchasing the first AdvenChair:

“It’s really an honor, knowing the great person Geoff [Babb] is, his passion for adventure, and his vision to help assist people in getting outdoors. It’s even more of an honor after having had the opportunity to meet some of the team working on getting these out into the world when I picked up my dad’s AdvenChair.”
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Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales, Florida is a public garden that has 250,000 visitors annually. Their purchase of an AdvenChair comes at an important time as the garden is ramping up its mobility efforts for visitors. It will also give AdvenChair great exposure on the East Coast. 

“We have just purchased more electric carts and wheelchairs, and the AdvenChair will provide great access off the pathed paths on to mulched and gravel trails,” said David Price, Executive Director of the Gardens.  
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The Trehu-Nabelek family from Corvallis, Oregon was able to test drive an AdvenChair before placing their order. Patrik has muscular dystrophy and uses a power chair for his daily activities, which include teaching mathematics at Oregon State University. He has big plans for his AdvenChair – a cross-country trip to Maine and a Christmas-time visit to New Zealand. We can't wait to see pictures from those trips!
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And speaking of international travel, Floyd McGregor's pilgrimage in an AdvenChair on the Camino de Santiago in Spain, delayed by the pandemic, is now back on the calendar for June 2022. Floyd suffers from myositis and his journey is meant to raise awareness of this muscle-wasting disease. Once he completes the trip he will donate the AdvenChair to another would-be Camino pilgrim. Floyd's need to change his body position frequently when in the AdvenChair inspired the design of the upper footrest option. 

"Sometimes our goals are broadsided by no fault of our own, but the goal never dies,“ said Floyd. “A pandemic may delay us, yet our determination will keep us going.“

If you would like to help Floyd reach his goal, he has started a GoFundMe campaign to fund his chair: https://gofund.me. We wish him "buen Camino!"
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April Katz, Executive Director of The AIROW Project (Accessible Inclusive Recreation of Whatcom) in Bellingham, Washington is raising money to purchase an AdvenChair for her program. If you are interested in helping this young adaptive recreation program continue to grow contact https://airowproject.com/support-us.

It’s exciting to think that the AdvenChair will be used by young and old from Bellingham to Florida, and internationally in Spain and New Zealand!    

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AdvenChair Takes a Hike with Oregon Field Guide

After being featured on OPB Radio and NPR, AdvenChair is in the midst of completing the trifecta – a full seven-minute segment on the upcoming season of Oregon Field Guide. 

Earlier this month, OPB Executive Producer Jule Gilfillan and videographer Stephani Gordon visited the HeliLadder headquarters to film the assembly of our new fleet of AdvenChairs. They also conducted extensive interviews with Geoff and Yvonne Babb, AdvenChair user Isaac Shannon, and Design Engineer Jack Arnold. When the recent scorching temperatures drop back to normal, OFG will return to film the AdvenChair team on a hike at Smith Rock State Park. 

“We couldn’t be more honored or excited to get some attention from such a wonderful Oregon institution,” said AdvenChairman Geoff Babb. “I can’t wait until October or November to see how it turns out.”

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Come See How We Roll

After a long COVID winter that seemed to last a whole year, summer is finally here and the trails are calling. To get you out there, we’re offering several opportunities to check out  AdvenChair in Central Oregon this summer.

In collaboration with Cog Wild and LOGE Camp Bend, we will host three Demo Days where the AdvenChair team will explain and demonstrate how to use the chair on the LOGE Camp skills course and on the adjacent Rimrock trail system. 

“The skills course loops and meander around the entire LOGE Camp property,” notes David Green, a frequent AdvenChair “mule”. “The variety of rock gardens, tight turns, and ramps provide the ideal proving ground for new AdvenChair riders and family members. And a short hike on the Rimrock trail offers a satisfying real-world experience.”

Demo Days take place Saturdays, July 10, August 7, and September 11.  And if that whets your appetite for a longer hike along the Rimrock and Deschutes River trails, AdvenChairs will be available for half-day (4-hour) rentals, also at Cog Wild, on each of the following Sundays – July 11, August 8, and September 12, 

To reserve your place for a free Demo Day ride, register at advenchair.com/demo-days. To rent an AdvenChair for $75/four hours, register at advenchair.com/rental-days.

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Also this summer, Oregon Adaptive Sports (OAS) will be offering free Community Hiking Days with AdvenChairs on four different Tuesdays (July 13 & 27, and August 10 & 24). OAS staff members will lead groups along some of Central Oregon’s favorite trails, including the Deschutes River Trail and Shevlin Park, from approximately 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. For more information, visit oregonadaptivesports.org/events/.
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And last but not least, you can check out AdvenChair at SOAR 2021, Destination Rehab’s special all-day event at the Bend Pavilion, Saturday, July 31 starting at 9:00 am. It’s designed to benefit individuals who have conditions such as stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and Parkinson's disease.

“SOAR is an exciting day of wellness, sport, and outdoor activities specifically created for people with physical challenges and disabilities,” said Taylor Kopecky of Destination Rehab. “We encourage everyone to bring their family and friends for a free lunch and all kinds of activities”

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All of these events are subject to weather and healthy outdoor conditions. Extreme heat, thunderstorms, or smoke may cause cancellations on short notice. For up-to-date information, email info@advenchair.com.

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Just Say "Yes" to Life

Just Say “Yes” to Life, a new book for stroke survivors and their families and caregivers, will be published in summer 2021 by Stroke Awareness Oregon in Bend. The book features stories of 23 stroke survivors from all over the U.S., ranging in ages from 17 to 71. Written to give solace to current survivors, the stories in Just Say “Yes” to Life detail how each person coped physically, emotionally, and psychologically in the aftermath of stroke.

The book will be available on Amazon in print (ISBN: 978-1-7372450-0-1), digital, and audio forms. https://strokeawarenessoregon.org/  

Kerry Chaput tells Geoff Babb's story in “Rolling Boldly”.

Rolling Boldly—Geoff Babb

by Kerry Chaput

Geoff Babb will tell you that he didn’t suffer a stroke. He will tell you he survived one. 

In 2005 Geoff was active in his career as a Bureau of Land Management fire ecologist, and an avid outdoorsman. He scaled rocks and hiked mountain peaks. His world revolved around connecting with nature and people, whether it be fighting wildfires or adventuring with his family through the Pacific Northwest’s stunning landscapes. He was an active father of twin boys, Cory and Emory, and a devoted husband to his wife, Yvonne.

On November 10, 2005, he had a headache and vomiting that lasted hours. Thinking it was simply dehydration, he monitored his symptoms and didn’t think too much of it. But twelve hours later the headache still persisted, and his speech started slurring. They knew it was time for a trip to the hospital.

“Things started to go downhill,” he said. “At one point I couldn’t hold my breath for more than a few seconds. They prepared to put me under to give me a breathing tube. I was getting pretty scared by then.” He was nervous about leaving his family, or not being what they needed. By 10pm he couldn’t move his left side, and by noon the next day, he was on a respirator.

When Yvonne visited him in the ICU the next day, the only thing he could do was blink his eyes. She kept her support positive, but he was fighting a lung infection, so she had to face the fear that he might not make it. Geoff could move his eyebrows and make minimal motions of his head, and so they began to learn new ways to communicate with each other. He started visualizing climbing Sisters mountain near his home in central Oregon, dreaming of the progress he hoped to make. Yvonne liked to think of his stroke as “just one more mountain to climb.”

Days were measured in centimeters of movement, tubes, surgeries, and needles. They learned right away to rejoice in every ounce of improvement, a twitch of a smile, a raise of an eyebrow. His circle of friends and family held the family up, showering them with support. Less than two weeks into his recovery, his firefighter friends hosted a barbeque in the hospital parking lot. The nurses were able to get him in a chair and wheel him to the window, where fifty people below cheered for him. Yvonne propped up his elbow so he could wave back. People continued to show up for their family in so many ways, and it gave them both the strength to keep fighting.

He was convinced that he needed to get out of the hospital. Even the rehabilitation facility didn’t feel right. “I wanted to be home. I felt that my progress would be better there.” While at rehab, he opted out of the power wheelchair, choosing instead to stay in a manual wheelchair, against the advice from some healthcare professionals. It was more work, and painstaking at times. But Geoff needed to feel the movement in his body. He soon discovered another benefit of the manual chair. “I found that moving slower, I was able to connect with people in the hospital. Those brief but deep connections with people were meaningful. I wouldn’t have had those moments if I used the power chair like the therapists wanted me to.”

Geoff returned home, and he and Yvonne faced new challenges. The progress Geoff was hoping for at home didn’t come. “A new body required a new response,” he said. Yvonne remembered that Geoff was so motivated that he wanted to exercise all the time, and over time that eventually began to wear on her. “I was the morning, afternoon, and night shift,” she said. “He once said, ‘if you could stretch me more,’ and I cut him off and said, ‘no, I can’t do more.’” She took baby steps towards a more balanced life for herself by leaning on her support group, and making time for walks with friends, and occasionally biking to work. She learned how to let family and friends assist Geoff with his two-hour nighttime routine so she could get a night off. Geoff was thankful, and his gratitude and patience helped her move forward. 

His family faced another mountain to climb once he came home. “You become aware of all the barriers in the world when you are in a wheelchair,” Yvonne said. They were all on a new journey and learned as they went. One day Yvonne had a heart to heart with one of their sons, Cory, who was thirteen at the time. “I wanted to explain to him that things were going to be different. He said to me, ‘How? My dad is still my dad.’ That gave me strength.” Moreover, his sons lifted Geoff when he would fall and jumped at any opportunity to help their dad.

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As soon as he could, Geoff turned to the place that always restored him. Nature. Even sitting in his yard and taking in the fresh air and the views reset his frame of mind. The breeze, the clear air, and the quiet sounds of nature helped settle his worries and refocus him. He decided that nothing was going to stop him from returning to work and getting connected again with nature.

To his delight, his colleagues at the fire camp, whom he calls his summer family, approached him and asked how they could help get him back out in the field the next fire season. They set to work building a yurt with a ramp and access to a special ADA bathroom. The next season, he was out in the field again, creating plans to fight local wildfires. “These men would work sixteen-hour days and then help Geoff with his clothes and bathing,” Yvonne said. “ It brought me to tears.”

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Along the rushing Deschutes River in central Oregon lies a trail that Geoff has traversed many times. It’s a special place where pine trees gather, and black lava rock splits the river. Views of waterfalls and the meandering water create a hiker’s paradise.  Geoff wasn’t about to let a stroke stop him from experiencing that again. He knew he needed a wheelchair that could get him into the outdoors. A dream was born. To create a wheelchair that would take him anywhere he desired.

Geoff enlisted the help of his friend Dale, a helicopter mechanic, to modify his regular wheelchair with more rugged tires, a detachable front wheel, handbrakes, and a harness. He called it the “Advenchair 1.0.” With help from friends and family, he hit the trail in his new wheelchair.

Unable to maneuver AdvenChair 1.0 over a difficult patch of rocks, his hiking partners lowered him to the ground, where he experienced the sensation that he remembered from rock climbing. “We had some great adventures in my original ‘AdvenChair,’” said Geoff, “all of which prepared us for a trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon in 2016 … more or less.” After a broken axle on the Bright Angel Trail less than two miles down into the Grand Canyon, nature showed Geoff once again not what he couldn’t do, but what he could work towards. The wheelchairs available were not going to cut it, but Geoff wasn’t about to give up. It was back to the drawing board. “Each setback is a gift,” Geoff said. It provides another opportunity for improvement.

It was time to get creative. Pulling from the creativity he never realized was inside of him, he began to work on the design of an all-terrain wheelchair. He needed something sturdy that could stand up to the rugged terrain of his favorite hiking trails. He knew that his biggest obstacle was not his stroke, but the equipment available to him. He worked with a CAD designer and Yvonne and Dale to create the next version of the AdvenChair, one that could take him back out to the therapeutic power of nature. He believed that with the right chair, nothing was off limits.

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On November 10, 2017, it all came to a grinding halt when he experienced another stroke, on the other side of his brainstem. Twelve years to the day of his initial incident, he was back in the hospital, fighting through another stroke. Yvonne remembered the doctors shocking his heart to stabilize his atrial fibrillation. “As they’re shocking him with the paddles, I was cheering him from behind the curtain in between sobs.”

He had to relearn how to swallow, how to speak, and use his right hand. Severe muscle spasms required a pump implanted in his stomach. His body once again fought infection after infection through months in the hospital. People like to joke with him, telling him to avoid November 10 like it’s jinxed. He says it’s the opposite. “I say it’s a day to celebrate. Celebrate the things I’ve overcome and the gift of discovering what I’m capable of.” 

Because of his physical limitations, Geoff had to retire. Leaving a decades long career meant having to redefine his identity. He had to say goodbye to his summer family. Instead of focusing on what he’d lost, he put all his energy into his new dream of improving the AdvenChair.

With his newly-regained entrepreneurial spirit, he went back to work on the chair with the CAD designer and Yvonne and Dale. The new chair, the AdvenChair 2.0, was revised and improved, tested and improved again. The team finally created a prototype that passed all the tests. It’s an all-terrain wheelchair with an adjustable sit-ski seat, adjustable handlebars, 27.5-inch mountain bike wheels, and fitted with high-grade aluminum mountain bike components throughout, scheduled for rollout in summer 2021. It will be the first of its kind in the world. 

Geoff knew that the AdvenChair 2.0 could take him over rocks and along streams, through the Grand Canyon and camping in the forests. What he began to realize, is that it could give others that gift, too. He connected with people on hospice and families with terminally-ill children, all longing for the gift of family time in nature. When he could, he also joined the boards of Healing Reins Therapeutic Riding Center and Oregon Adaptive Sports, both in Bend. When the second stroke took away his career, it gave him the gift of purpose, one that now belonged to helping others.

It’s been fifteen years of rolling boldly for Geoff Babb, and he has no plans to slow down. Beyond the Grand Canyon, Geoff and Yvonne plan to climb the Great Wall of China and hike the Camino de Santiago, a five-hundred-mile trek through Spain’s fifteen regions. 

“Retiring was an end, but it was also a beginning. It was a chance to focus on a new adventure. I never imagined myself creating something like this, but I soon discovered how much I wanted to make a difference.” Geoff committed to his new purpose, and now he loves connecting with others who want to enjoy nature with their families. He likes to quote J. K. Rowling, who wrote: “Fate shoved you through an unexpected door, and you lit the way for others.”

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What helped Geoff and his family through?

On the day Geoff went to the hospital after his first stroke, a community began to form around him, Yvonne, and the boys. Friends near and far sent messages and gifts and words of encouragement. Over time, they organized themselves into teams, some of which helped at home, and others which helped get Geoff back outside. “Our lives have become so rich because of the people around us,” Geoff said. “I realized that not only did we need help, but people needed to help us. People have gifts to offer, and our whole journey has been about accepting those gifts.” The community of people supporting Geoff and Yvonne and their sons only grows larger with time.

Geoff’s strokes challenged him and his family in ways they never thought possible. But it also brightened their lives in unexpected ways. “It’s brought us closer as a family.”

Geoff’s AdvenChair is taking him on physical journeys to all corners of the world, but it has also taken him on a spiritual journey. Through his stroke recovery he not only discovered a motivation to share his gifts with others, but that our physical bodies are no match for the amazing capability of our minds.

It's Hard to Have a Bad Day in an Incredible Place

As we drove home from the Grand Canyon, through the Great Basin desert, I had plenty of time to reflect on the past year, particularly the last four months, and how my crazy idea of the Grand Advenchair had affected not only me and my family, but a much greater circle of people as well. This trip started out as a way to challenge myself and team both physically and mentally in a beautiful, yet demanding place, but clearly was much more. It wasn’t just about me. We all challenged and stretched ourselves.

A group of family and friends rose to the task, training on local trails and upgrading and modifying my wheelchair. The preparations were honestly as rewarding as the trip itself with lots of brain-storming, evaluation, testing, modifications, and re-testing. The time on the trail required team work, cooperation, and communication. We are literally writing the manual on how to build and operate a wheelchair on rugged trails. We’ve not only beefed up the wheelchair and made it more ergonomically efficient to pull, push, and maneuver, but also created a system for working as a team to reach difficult places. We’ve created something akin to mountain biking and mountaineering. Had we not actually gone to the Grand Canyon the six training days and time spent modifying the AdvenChair itself made for a hugely successful summer. Breaking down on the trail exposed a critical weak spot in the chair but at the same time confirmed the strength, resilience, and determination of the team.

Ahead of the trip Chris Biggs from Central Oregon Daily interviewed me on our last training hike. She did an excellent job of telling my story and motivation for this trip. Thank you Chris!
http://zolomedia.com/bend-mans-mission-give-physically-challenged-people-access-nature/
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​In prior blogs I wrote about the team and greater community that have grown from this idea. The “team” consists of not just those of us who ventured into the Grand Canyon, but also some key individuals who worked on the chair or helped us prepare for the trip. The immediate “community” is those people, businesses, and organizations that supported and encouraged us with donations of money or goods, or shared help and advice. The greater community is perhaps the one we really hadn’t expected. They are the ones that we met in the campground or along the trail. Or the people that told us how inspiring it was to see a wheelchair on the trail. Or the people that carried our packs and the broken wheelchair up the hill. Or the campground neighbors with a disabled son who called us “heroes”. It made us all feel good to know that we had touched others.

No doubt it was really disappointing to have to admit defeat and get help back up the hill. But it really wasn’t defeat because we DID make it 2 miles into the canyon, our contingency plan DID work, the team responded to the challenge incredibly well, no one got hurt, we all learned a lot and had a great time. It’s hard to have a bad day in an incredible place with great people. We all left with very positive memories and a desire to complete the trip.

Dale and Susie Neubauer of Blue Moon Designs couldn’t make the trip but were (are) vital parts of the Onward Project. Dale is a helicopter mechanic with meticulous attention to safety and detail. Building the bomb-proof AdvenChair seemingly has become his mission. Susie has supported us all along, but without her help packing and organizing we wouldn’t have got on the road in time.

Dave Taylor from NuMotion and Gary Crosswhite with Sagebrush Cycles provided important wheelchair and bike parts, tinkering, and advice. Dave Zimmerman designed workouts to prepare me for the canyon, and with Brian Tandy, were regular members of the Pilot Butte training group.

Fourteen of us traveled to Arizona. Recent foot surgery prevented Barb Scott from going into the canyon but she filled the vital role of Base Camp Manager, creating menus and shopping lists and maintaining order in camp. Amy Kazmier used her Helitack firefighting experience as our Load Master, coordinating between the team and the mule wranglers to organize and load the 26 duffels that carried our food and gear down into the canyon and back out. She was also a great traveling companion for our long road trip.

Oregon Adaptive Sports was instrumental by supporting Pat Addabbo and Matt Eitel to be part of the Grand Advenchair. Besides many great pictures, Pat has provided important insight and leadership throughout the whole process. Matt’s strength and mechanical skills were key, but his laugh was huge!

Tom Zell did all of the pre-trip grocery shopping and was a fountain of knowledge about Grand Canyon history and lore. Heicke Williams was always steady and cheerful but it was her Native American wisdom with a German accent that we’ll remember the most. Matt Eschelbach joined us late, adding strength, humor, and the peace of mind that comes with having an emergency room doctor on the team.

Adam Peterson was with me in 2010 when we looked over the rim and agreed that someday we would go down into the canyon. We really appreciated his strength, calmness, and mechanical skills. Patty Caballero packed a lot of enthusiasm and energy into a small package, giving us both physical and emotional boosts when we needed it. Dennis Fiore has been with us on many other AdvenChair trips and he always has great experience and insight to share.

I’m proud of my sons Cory and Emory, especially for their leadership when we broke down and needed to switch our thinking from going down to getting me and the chair back uphill. Cory worked confidently with the other mechanics to devise a creative repair and Emory organized the climbing team and made sure I had a tarp over-head for the impending storm. And I’m most grateful to my wife Yvonne, for without her support and energy I couldn’t even imagine things like the Grand Advenchair.

​The trail may have broken the chair but it only strengthened our team and community. Whether from the team, park rangers or hikers on the trail, or folks we met along the way, the comments were all about “next time”. Now that we know the weak point in the system we’ll keep working on the bomb-proof wheel chair and we’ll be back. Onward!

Photo credits: Pat Addabbo, Cory Babb, Emory Babb, Yvonne Babb, Patty Caballero, Matt Eschelbach, Dennis Fiore, Amy Kazmier, Barb Scott, and Heicke Williams.

It Was a Grand AdvenChair Indeed!

Amy, Yvonne, and I arrived back in Bend tonight after 3 days of driving from the Grand Canyon, exhausted but excited (most everyone else flew home Friday). I wanted to write a quick update, and then it’s off to a shower and bed.

Despite our extensive prep and training, the infamous Bright Angel trail water bars may have broken the axle on my wheelchair at around 2 miles into the canyon but it brought out the best of us. I wasn’t hurt, it wasn’t an emergency, and team worked wonderfully to do a field repair and get me back up to the rim. My time on that trail was over but 8 of our 13 team members did make it down to Bright Angel campground and spend a night before climbing back out. Between pulls on the whiskey bottle, the campfire conversation on our last night centered around building the bomb-proof expedition chair and planning our next trip to the Big Ditch.

I’ll share more stories and pictures soon, but in the meantime, thank you for all of your support!

The Grand AdvenChair—A Team Effort

One of my earliest and profound memories from the hospital following my stroke was when I was still in the ICU, dealing with a lot of pain, and not fully aware of what had happened to me and what was next. The nurse came in, tuned my bed toward the window, opened the curtains, and said “you have a lot of friends.” Gathered in the parking lot on a cold, snowy, late November Central Oregon day were close to 100 friends who had come to a barbeque fund raiser for me. With Yvonne’s help I waved and thought “Wow, there are a lot of people pulling for me. This is really a team effort and I need to do my part and work hard.” (I could only “think” this because I couldn’t talk at the time)

There will be 12 (maybe more) on the team that goes to the Grand Canyon with me but the “team” really is much bigger when the 40 or more people who have donated toward the Grand Advenchair are counted. Thank you all for the response so far! It means a lot to know that so many people are behind us! One donor said it so well “None of us gets down the road by our own steam alone. None of us. We all rely on the kindness of strangers and the generosity of friends.”

We’ve exceed our initial goal of $3,000 but will keep the campaign going through the trip to continue to raise money to support the development of the next prototypes of the Advenchair so that others can get off the road, on to the trail, and into the wild. Visit https://www.gofundme.com/2dg5g9g

The team and I are preparing by working out, and testing and improving the chair. Though we obviously can’t reproduce the “Big Ditch”, we do have some awesome trails in Central Oregon to train on. One key team member (who unfortunately can’t make the trip) is a helicopter mechanic with a high level of detail, and always asks “What can go wrong here?” We’ve picked some rougher, more technical trails to test ourselves and the chair for the “What if?” scenario. We’ve refined our terminology and procedures and practiced things like backing down a too-steep trail, climbing stairs and water bars, and picking our line through rocky stretches. We’re basically writing the manual!

Comments from a friend:
Geoff
You’re f*cking crazy. As always.
So are your friends. What a bad ass plan.
Enjoy the brutal trip. Y'all gonna laugh your asses off and swear at each other. So much fun.
Looking forward to the reports
Enjoy buddy!

Thanks again and stay tuned for more updates.

​Onward!

The Grand AdvenChair

In September I’ll be traveling by wheelchair into the Grand Canyon, an expedition we call the “Grand Advenchair”. I’m hoping that you can help us.
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When I survived a brain-stem stroke in 2005, I had to completely change how I looked at the world, approached adventures, and accessed wild places. While this has probably been the hardest challenge I have dealt with in my life, it has also been one of the most rewarding because my family and friends have made the outdoors possible for me.

Using a wheelchair has not dimmed my pursuit of challenges; it’s only made me change the ways that I experience them. This outlook on life led me to begin The Onward Project with the mission to encourage people with physical and life challenges to explore and enjoy wild places, whether in the Grand Canyon or the local park.

The Grand Advenchair team will consist of a hard-core group of family and friends who have been training for this trip. They are wildland firefighters, mountain bikers, backcountry skiers, and outdoor leaders and enthusiasts. Oregon Adaptive Sports will provide critical staff and logistical support and film and produce a video documenting the 3-day expedition.

Early-on it became obvious that a standard, skinny-tired wheelchair was not going to allow me to get to the places I wanted to go. For over 8 years I’ve worked to create and refine a wheelchair that gets me off the road, on the trail, and into the wild. The AdvenChair is now ready: mountain bike tires, a larger front wheel, handlebars and disk brakes that allow control by the “driver”, and a towing system. This is not your grandfather’s wheelchair! My ultimate goal is to design and produce AdvenChairs to allow others with mobility challenges to access their own wild places and nurture their souls.

We will descend into the canyon via the South Kaibab Trail, dropping 5,000 ft over 7 miles to the Colorado River, and after a rest day climb back out on the 10 mile Bright Angel Trail.

Your support will help cover expedition costs within Grand Canyon National Park including food, permits and camping fees, and pack mules to haul gear in and out of the canyon, production of a video and limited travel costs. Any amount we raise beyond our $3,000 goal for trip expenses will go toward developing and promoting the next prototype of the AdvenChair.

Thank you for your support.

Onward! ​

Please consider making a gift to support the Grand Advenchair at one of these levels:
_____ $500 Condor - help with production costs of a video documenting the Grand Advenchair.
_____ $250 Big Horn Sheep – help defray travel costs of team members
_____ $150 Mule – sponsor one of the pack mules we will use to haul our gear.
_____ $50 Ringtail Cat – cover the costs of camping permits and fees.
_____ $15 Canyon Wren – food for 1 person for a day.
_____ Other

Visit GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/2dg5g9g to contribute.

The AdvenChair on the Bozeman Trail, Montana.

The wild requires that we learn the terrain, nod to all the plants and animals and birds, ford the streams and cross the tides, and tell a good story when we get home. -- Gary Snyder

Moving Ahead Without Fear

The weather for the 2016 Pole Pedal Paddle relay in Bend, Ore. ranked in “the top 5 worst days” in the 40-year-history of the event and still attracted nearly 3,000 racers. Oregon Adaptive Sports (OAS) fielded 4 teams of racers in the Adaptive division for the 6th straight year. The Can Do Crew, No Boundaries, True Grit, and Onward! all showed up ready to race, rain or shine. It's only fitting for this inspiring group of challenged athletes that the first team out of the date was Onward! - moving forward - and the last OAS finisher across the line was Greg Dauntless - without fear - racing for True Grit.

The alpine and Nordic skiers found the 3 inches of new snow fast and fun but the bikers had a wet and cold 22 mile ride down into town. Fortunately, it had stopped raining by the time the runners hit the trail along the Deschutes River. The river was calm, but crowded for the paddlers. The weather hardly bothered the sprinters finishing off the race at the Les Schwab Amphitheater. Minutes after the group picture the rain returned but the downpour couldn’t dampen the smiles of the more than 40 racers and support crew. The slide show below says it all.

Final results: 1) No Boundaries, 2) Onward!, 3) Can Do Crew, 4) True Grit.

The racers are grateful for the support of NuMotion, Fratzke Commercial Real Estate, Therapeutic Associates, Knife River, Bend Dental Group, Century Insurance Group, Dana Signs, and New York City Subs for helping make the Pole Pedal Paddle another legendary year.

A big thanks to the OAS staff and volunteers who make this all possible!
​
Photo credits: Pat Addabbo, Yvonne Babb, Carl Backstrom, Renae Gibbons, Jessica Hamm, C J Johnson, Missy Peterson, Jill Pfankuch, and Kellie Standish.

​Calm Amidst the (Fire) Storm

A lone clarinet player sat under the Augusta Street Bridge as we completed our last stroll on the River Walk. We had been in San Antonio for the Association for Fire Ecology’s 6th International Fire Congress and the quiet jazz melody lilting over the river was a calming send off from a very busy, energetic, and enjoyable week. I had worked for the past two years with the conference steering committee to pull this off and even last minute uncertainty about U.S. Forest Service participation couldn’t prevent a successful event attended by over 600. With a huge amount of behind the scenes work, especially by our hard-working co-directors, AFE has been organizing high quality events like this that bring together fire researchers, managers, and students for 15 years.

Conferences are also important for keeping the “Fire Family” together. It’s really gratifying to see friends I’ve known since 1988, as well as colleagues from around the country and world (Spain and Mexico). Even the workshop on fire effects I organized included students from Ghana and The Netherlands.

I couldn’t attend conferences without help and am always grateful that Yvonne can travel as my caregiver. After the meetings were over on Friday we took our own field trip to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center near Austin and decompressed from a busy week. Yvonne is very much a part of the Fire Family, helping with registration, taking in presentations, and even managing to get away from the conference and fit in a day of birding with an old friend.

Downtown San Antonio is built around the River Walk, a section of the San Antonio River that was channelized in the early 1900’s for flood control, and later developed into an entertainment district. While narrower than the irrigation canals here in Central Oregon and moving slower than a “lazy river” at a water park, the Paseo del Rio reminded me of EPCOT at Disney World with all the colors, smells, and music of all the restaurants and hotels. Once we figured out where the elevators and ramps were to access the river walk with my wheelchair from the streets above, we rapidly learned why this was such a popular destination.

The memory of the peaceful musician was important to us mere hours later at the San Antonio airport after learning that we would miss our Denver to Redmond flight to get home that evening. Jazz helped us see the brighter side of spending another night in San Antonio - compliments of United Airlines.

Despite the short drive to La Quinta our cab driver was impatient with us, possibly because he wanted to get back into the queue at the airport to collect fares greater than the measly $12 that our trip provided. We shook our heads as he drove off, but felt compassion for him as we tried to imagine the struggles he faced and the battles he was fighting that we knew nothing about.

​After dropping our luggage in our room we navigated extremely busy streets and narrow sidewalks to use our United food vouchers at Applebee’s (what a step down after a week of great food), crossing over and under an incredible interchange of 12 lanes. While pop dance music blared in the restaurant I closed my eyes and smiled, thanking the clarinet player under the bridge for the image of solitude that we needed six hours later.

After a few hours of fitful sleep the taxi picked us up at 4:30 a.m. to take us back to the airport. Once we were finally headed north the flights were smooth and uneventful and clear skies, the snow-covered peaks of the Three Sisters, and Casper the Talking Dog welcomed us home.

Born Again - A Worldview Re-imagined by a Brain-Stem Stroke

“Sun’s up, uh huh, looks ok. The world survives into another day…”

Bruce Cockburn was on my mind as I watched the sunrise from my hospital bed. I was on day five of my two week meditative retreat in early October that was the result of a “bad” urinary tract infection that was “everywhere”, and I had survived into another day. I called it a “retreat” because once the doctors told me what was causing my 103.5 degree fever I knew that I would need a Zen-like approach to overcome it. No TV. No cell phone. Just being present with my body.
The first couple of days my mantra was “gather and purge” as I focused my thoughts on collecting the infection and expelling it. After a very long night of cold sweats and spasms the doctor ordered a change in treatment that finally brought some comfort. I devoured an omelet for lunch, my first solid food in four days and slept soundly through the afternoon.
The mantra for the next three days was “rest and heal”, followed by the “strengthen” phase of seven days in rehab to get me ready to go home.
The irony (or not) of this hospital visit is that it was just a month short of my “Tenth Second Birthday”, the time I celebrate surviving my brain-stem stroke on November 10, 2005. This time was different though. I smiled through my pain as I patted the CT scanner with my knuckles, celebrating a “win” over the machine simply because I held my breath for five seconds of the scan. In my first encounter a decade ago I couldn’t hold my breath for more than a few seconds, one of several things that scared me on my last long night in the hospital.
This time though, not only did I know the hospital routine, knew a lot of staff, which really made for a light, comfortable, and healing environment. Mostly we just picked up the storyline from where we left it off years ago and I don’t know how many times I heard “I’m sorry you’re here, but it sure is nice to see you”. I think I gave them as much energy as they gave me. My doctor even arranged for me to have the best room in the rehab unit.
I was reminded of how grateful I am to have survived the “neurological insult” of my brain-stem stroke that so few people do. This was made obvious when I rolled up to the table for my first meal in the rehab dining room. Of the six men sitting there (all of us in wheelchairs), only two could talk, all affected by strokes or traumatic brain injuries. I was in the non-speaking group my last time there.
My week-long stay in rehab consisted of three hours of therapy a day and brought my energy and strength almost back up to pre-infection levels. I checked out of the hospital in time to have lunch with Yvonne and attend my Leadership Bend class that afternoon. Two days later, to celebrate my “first” birthday, I enjoyed a seven mile “advenchair” with family and friends on the Deschutes River Trail – followed by lots of sleep!
So November 10th is always big for me and my family. We celebrate the day “life shoved us through an unexpected door” and put us all on a new path full of adventures and rich experiences.

“I had another dream about lions at the door, but they weren’t half as frightening as they were before….” ---- Wondering Where the Lions Are, Bruce Cockburn

The Downsides to the Upsides of a Stroke

As many of you know, Geoff caught a nasty little infection from which he is still recovering. Friday (Sept. 25th) he came down with the chills and by Saturday was struggling to make transfers even with Dennis and Yvonne's help.

Once checked into the emergency room, the doctors made a rapid diagnosis and started treatment immediately. Of course, that still meant a week of cold sweats and hospital food, but on Thursday (Oct. 1st) he transferred down to rehab. A decade later, many of his previous nurses and therapists are still at St. Charles and this adventure brought many of them back into Geoff's room (a blog with some of these stories sure to come later).

Anyway, I am told that he hopes to return home this coming Thursday (Oct. 8th) so go visit him now for the gown pics!

Just kidding... clearly he is back in real clothes.

A Wizard, A Weasel, and a Badass Wheelchair

“Sticky” Steve Morrison was up from Florida and we were eager to show him some of our Oregon beauty. Shepard Smith and Kirsten Nugent had brought Sticky to Bend from Corvallis and had wanted to see Smith Rock State Park (“to see the old homestead”) Friday before heading back to the Willamette Valley. That was the chance we had been looking for to take the AdvenChair, now outfitted with disc brakes and a towing system, down and back up the steep trail to the Crooked River.

The brakes held me perfectly as Yvonne piloted me down the hill (Sticky and Shep followed holding webbing as a redundant system should Yvonne slip). Safely at the river, we took the wide path downstream until we found a good lunch spot. Then came the real test; could we get back up the hill? Sure enough, with Shep, Yvonne, and Kirsten pulling and Sticky pushing, the team grunted me (with a couple of rest stops) to the top, aided by the 50 yards of concrete walkway poured over the steepest crux pitch. We were ecstatic about the hike and bought ice cream in Terrebonne to celebrate!

Sticky (he’s a bee keeper) had flown into Medford so we volunteered to drive him back Saturday and to take him to Crater Lake National Park. We crested the hill to the rim, pulled into the first viewing spot, and looked down upon Crater Lake. It was brisk and windy and the gray swirling clouds prevented us from seeing the shoreline hundreds of feet below, much less the east side of the lake. But there where brief breaks in the clouds, enough to let us see the sun, the lake below and Wizard Island sitting within it, giving us hope that by the time we got on the trail the clouds would open up and reveal the entire lake.

Yes, indeed, by the time we had gone about a mile on the Garfield Peak trail the sky opened up to reveal the entire lake and its famous blue water. There were many wildflowers blooming in the meadow below and the sun was brilliant, working in concert with the fast moving clouds to create intriguing shadows on the multi-colored Wizard Island and rim of the caldera. We sat in silence and took it all in.

I’ve been really pleased with how my modifications to the AdvenChair have come along but I got the biggest chuckle as we were preparing for the trail. We had parked outside the Crater Lake Lodge next to about 20 motorcycles, and as the Rip City Riders mounted their machines and the silence was broken by idling Harleys, 3 riders came over to the van, looked at the chair, and said “that’s badass!”
We just grinned as they roared off.

After leaving Sticky at the airport we broke up the 4 hour trip home with some great BBQ from a road-side stand in Union Creek and a quiet walk through the meadow on the south side of Diamond Lake. It was a long day, but seeing Mt. Thielsen shrouded in clouds and watching a weasel watch us on the trail confirmed that it had been a pretty wonderful visit with great friends.

Father's Day Means Stream Crossings and Snapchat

This year for Father's Day we took Geoff out to Camp Sherman and walked and rolled along the Metolius River. We were supposed to be testing out the new pull bars, but ended up working mostly on our small-wooden-bridge-crossing skills. Our route started at the fish hatchery and followed the river upstream toward Black Butte to the South before turning around and heading back the same way we came.


The trail was predominantly wide single-track with some minor to moderate rocks, roots, and other obstacles in the path. However, as we quickly discovered, there are three stream crossings at the beginning of the trail, making six total crossings for the day! I have been using Snapchat to share my adventures with the world and so I grabbed a stranger to film our secondcrossing of the day (above). [Snapchat allows the user to send pics or short videos up to ten seconds long, which is why the video cuts off before our dismount. I promise it was perfect though!]


Using only the two person team (one pusher, one puller), we managed to cross all six bridges without incident. Previously, we had crossed a small log bridge at Shevlin Park (LINK), but only once, in one direction, and with a third person assisting. Using the Freewheel and one of the two large mountain bike wheels, we were able to successfully cross bridges that were otherwise too narrow for a wheelchair and thus frequently limit mobility and access to the wilderness for wheelchair users.


We discovered that the pusher needs to have the upper-body strength to hold the rider's weight over the wheels on the bridge and that because of the sketchy footing of the stream bed for the puller, they are mostly a support and mount/dismount role. I do not believe we could have crossed without the second person supporting from below unless the rider were considerably smaller: a child, a smaller man, etc. Additionally, the person supporting may have to walk through a running stream and get their feet wet. The weather was perfect for Father's Day this year, but this may be a factor in colder weather or when the streams are running higher.


In the end, it was one of our best adventures yet and a wonderful day with the family! We spent quality time and put the chair and the team through their paces. The pull bars worked as expected and the chair performed excellently as well.


Happy Father's Day, Dad! Next time i'll push a little harder and we'll dump you out of the chair again ;) you know, for science!

The Unspoken Goals

My trainer Dave and I have an agreement to not talk about ADLs.

“Too clinical” I say,

“Let’s do workouts for skiing or riding instead, they’re more fun.”

ADL, or Activity of Daily Living, is an important goal for physical and occupational therapists to help folks regain everyday functions like balancing, reaching, standing, walking, showering, or going to the bathroom; to name just a few things that most people do mindlessly, many times throughout the day.

My stroke in 2005 left me with quadriparesis, or weakness in all 4 limbs. I have sensation in both feet and hands and can stand if I have something to pull on and hold. My legs are strong but hard to move when all the muscles fire at once – a phenomenon we call muscle “tone” or “toning.” To quiet the tone, I have a titanium, hockey-puck-sized, pump implanted under my skin that feeds a muscle relaxant directly into my spinal fluid. My toes are gripped most of the day, especially when I stand (Die Hard parlance – “make fists with your toes”). The muscles on the inside of the right calf want to contract, pulling the foot to an almost 90 degree angle, further complicating the act of standing. I wear a below-the-knee-to-tip-of-my-toes brace to alleviate that (and a size 12 6E shoe to accommodate the brace).

My left hand is closed, if not clenched, fingernails digging into my palm, most of the day. Lefty (my left arm/fist unit) generally rests in a guarded position on my lap. The right hand is the “good” one – the index and middle fingers and the thumb work, but the other 2 fingers prefer to stay bent. I can lift the right elbow about 6 inches without too much effort. Yvonne must help me roll over and help make any adjustments during the night, and get in and out of bed, as well as help me shower (see my 3/4/15 blog).

I don’t complain because it’s a lot better than the alternative: fewer than 10 percent of the people that have brain-stem strokes survive them, and very few of those survivors are candidates for rehab.

Each day I am thankful for the mobility and intellectual acuity that I have maintained, and each day I begin my decathlon of ADLs in the same way: sitting on the side of the bed, eating breakfast, and reading the paper. Rather than casually sipping coffee, munching on Yvonne’s homemade granola, and perusing the news all at once, each individual movement requires concentration and balance.

To reach for the bowl of granola I must stretch my right arm and get my two good fingers and thumb to hold the spoon. Then I stretch my right arm to put the spoon back. Meanwhile, Lefty sits on the corner of the newspaper waiting for Righty to slowly sort through the pages, clench the desired page, and then stretch and turn to the chosen section. This action is more challenging than eating because the paper refuses to fold without several tries. Then I can turn my attention to the coffee. The right arm stretches out; two fingers clasp the handle, and slowly move the cup to my mouth. Each sip of coffee tests my balance as my body wants to fall to the left when my right arm folds up from my side.

Sometimes I tip over, back onto the bed, prompting the call for help “The piper is down!” as Yvonne rushes back in to right me.

From the bed it’s a coordinated (or sometimes not) dance/transfer with Yvonne into my wheelchair before heading to the bathroom. Two transfers later – on and off the pot – I’m at the sink shaving, brushing my teeth, and taking my daily meds. This all requires reaching – to the faucet, tooth brush and paste, and hair brush. Again, mindless, thoughtless, effortless movements for most, but when I can’t lift my elbow above the shoulder and when reaching causes my body to stubbornly extend in the exact opposite direction, this part of my decathlon also requires focus, patience, and frequently a few Mulligans.

So each Thursday when Dave puts me through the paces of pull-ups, planks, squats, reaching while standing, and balancing on my knees (“knee chi”), we agree that it’s to help with that week’s ski or riding lesson, but we know that it’s really about the daily ADL decathlon.

Sure, the planks help my core strength and the squats help me post in the stirrups, while the simulated ski movements help me with my reach and turns on the mountain.

But we both know that it is the incrementally easier transfers and reach to the light switch each morning that really make me smile and push me through another set of simulated turns or rides.

"Grit" or "What Keeps Us Grinning"

As I sit on the side of the bed every morning waiting for my body to come to equilibrium with the world, I scan my news sources looking for information, insight, and hopefully, inspiration. This was a pretty interesting week. At this time of the year it’s impossible to escape March Madness, but a story by Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post caught my attention and pulled me away from college basketball.

Jenkins asked, “What is it about student athletes that make them successful?”

She cites Angela Lee Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania who describes “grit” as “the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term goals,” and how it “enables you to be in an uncomfortable place for a good part of your day and get up the next day and do it all over again,”

“Huh”, I thought, “that describes a lot of us with physical, emotional, or mental challenges.” We’re in an uncomfortable place most, or maybe even all of our days, and yet, we just get up and hit it again the next day.

I saw my friend Laurie Turner at work the other day. Laurie has Stage 4 breast cancer, but if you couldn’t tell from the hats she wears every day you wouldn’t have any idea that she’s 5 weeks into chemo therapy with surgery and radiation ahead of her. Laurie has never lost her big smile and I often hear her laugh from far down the hallway. She is still a regular at Cross-Fit, giving herself a pass on some things, but also turning out new personal bests.

Duckworth’s research is about kids being persistent and overcoming challenges to be successful in school and life, but I would describe Laurie as “gritty” too. She has the mindset of deliberate practice to work hard every day and beat her cancer. There is no doubt that Duckworth would call Laurie a “paragon of grit.” (See Duckworth’s TEDtalk)

Wednesday’s OregonLive ran an article about Bill Johnson, an Alpine skier who won a gold medal at the 1984 Salt Lake City Olympics. At 40, Johnson attempted a comeback but a high-speed crash left him with a traumatic brain injury. Ten years later he had a stroke and now, at 55 he’s in an assisted living facility with a badly deteriorating body. On his birthday he was surrounded by friends and received video messages from younger skiers that he has influenced. He has a hard time talking because he is constantly coughing and choking, but wakes up with a positive attitude, and my guess is that he is certainly “gritty” too, because, if he could, I think he’d still like one more race.

That Bill Johnson and Laurie Turner maintain positive attitudes is in part at least, a testament to the family and friends that have stuck with them. When I read stories like this I’m so grateful to be able to work and go on field trips like the one I helped organize recently near Sisters, Ore. with the help of so many good friends and colleagues, like Doug Johnson. I’m grateful always for my wife Yvonne, who just like everyone else, puts my pants on one leg at a time. That’s how the phrase goes, right?

Jenkins article got me thinking about “grit” and the many people in my life and who I have encountered in my journey who embody that notion. There is no more long-term goal than recovery and healing and so kudos to those of you all who, like me, wake up each morning uncomfortable, but grin and greet the world anyway.

Thanks y’all!

Reminiscing and Reconnecting

Road to Nowhere

well we know where we're goin'
but we don't know where we've been
and we know what we're knowin'
but we can't say what we've seen
and we're not little children
and we know what we want
and the future is certain
give us time to work it out

We're on a road to nowhere
Come on inside
Takin' that ride to nowhere
We'll take that ride

I'm feelin' okay this mornin'
And you know,
We're on the road to paradise
Here we go, here we go


--- David Byrne

We’re back home now from a 10 day work and play trip to Arizona. I was asked to help organize a fire workshop for extension agents and the idea of Tucson in March was too much to pass up. But, as we often do, we added some vacation time on either side of the meeting. This trip was especially fun because we were able to reminisce about our first trip to the Grand Canyon when, as newlyweds in 1985, we stopped there on our way to the unknown and excitement of our first permanent job with The Nature Conservancy. Traveling south from Washington we listened to The Talking Heads and wondered what we were getting ourselves into. All these years later we still sing “we’re on a road to nowhere” as the road to paradise unfolds in front of us.

For the first time on a plane trip, we took two wheelchairs; my lighter, more comfortable everyday chair, and the AdvenChair, which is much better on hills and trails. We think we were quite a sight in the airport with Yvonne pushing me in the red chair, and me pushing the AdvenChair with the duffel bag on top. We were pretty happy with how efficient it was, and that United didn’t charge us to check a second chair (although we did hit a sliding door and push it out of its track).

After flying to Tucson we drove north to Phoenix where we met Merle and Nate Harlan at a Thai restaurant. Merle and Yvonne were teachers at the Waldorf School of Bend, and Nate was one of Yvonne’s students. After coffee at Yvonne’s Café (despite the name it was actually pretty disappointing) we visited the Desert Botanical Gardens where things were just starting to bloom. From there we drove 4 hours up to Grand Canyon Village and Tom Zell and Clover Earl’s place. After a great breakfast – 1 of several killer meals Tom cooked - (he founded Zell’s Café in Portland) we rolled several miles on the South Rim Trail through patches of snow, under clear blue skies. Someone described it as “glorious.”

On our way through Flagstaff we had a quick drive-by visit with Rob and Amy Waltz. I stayed in the car while we chatted in the driveway for a half hour before heading south again. Monday, we slept in before meeting 2 old friends from that early ‘80s era at an ancient pueblo site. I worked with Rod Hoibakk and Nina Verzoni early in my Forest Service career but hadn’t seen them in years. They had both moved around themselves and had lost contact with each other until I invited them to meet us for a hike. They’ve lived for 4 years 8 miles apart in rural Arizona without knowing they were neighbors!

The workshop that got us to “the Old Pueblo” was a nice little 3 day affair to help extension agents learn how they can better inform their particular audience how to prepare their homes for wildland fire. Despite recent surgery to repair a broken collarbone, Mark Apel drove 2 hours from Bisbee to see us (thanks Mark!). A highlight for me was talking with Bob Mutch, one of the early pioneers of fire ecology who was a big influence on me 30 years ago. For being close to 80 he is still incredibly passionate about both the natural role of fire, and how people can live safely in fire-prone environments.

Wednesday night we had dinner with Tom and Debbie Collazo, who by offering us jobs at Ramsey Canyon Nature Preserve set us on our original road to nowhere; David Mount and Jendy Hall, who put me up in Tucson when Yvonne and the week-old boys were in the hospital, later offering dresser drawers as Cory and Emory’s first cribs; and Junardi Armstrong, who we have known since those Tucson days.

On Thursday we got a cook’s tour of the new Laboratory of Tree Ring Research at the University of Arizona from Margaret Evans. She is now Doctor Evans but we first knew her as a 15 year-old at Hancock Field Station, the science camp where we worked the summer before our wedding. That night we attended a lecture by Gary Nabhan, an ethnobotanist that Yvonne has followed for years.

Friday found us just a few miles from Mexico when we visited Greg Nolan, who I fought fire with on the La Grande Hotshot crew. He took us to the Buenos Aires Wildlife Refuge where we rolled by ponds and through cottonwoods and hackberries.

Saturday morning, before we closed our loop by heading to the airport, we spent some much needed quiet time in the oak woodlands of Madera Canyon, listening to the birds and wind in the trees. Oak woodlands, or encinal, are special places to us; we lived in them and I studied their fire ecology for my Master’s thesis. The Emory Oak, in particular, is an important part of the encinal. Growing in poor, rocky soils and a hot, dry, almost unforgivable climate, it must also live with frequent fires, which it either resists with its thick bark, or by sprouting new stems. I really admire this tree because it is incredibly tough, resilient, and long-lived; a true survivor. How prophetic that we named our son, Emory, after the tree.

By midnight we were home to our dog Casper and happy to fall asleep in the paradise of our own bed. Here we go, here we go...

Meditating: Step By Painful Step

Running With Cancer: "A Wake Up Call AND Blessing"

In November of 2013, after my good friend Susan Zimmerman told us that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, I told her that we would be with her and Dave (her husband) through the entire journey.

"Some journeys are not planned and may not always be enjoyable, but nonetheless, off you go. You (and Dave) are about to go to physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional places that you probably can’t even imagine but we know that you two will travel the unmapped territory as true warriors: with love, courage, grace, compassion, and humor. The unknowns are no doubt scary, but I’m sure as many, or more, wonderful things await you. I don’t know anyone better suited for such an adventure as you and Dave.”

Susan and Dave have indeed been on an adventure and she has been the model of strength, courage, and grace. Dave too has been a model of compassion and encouragement. Often (but not always) Susan would have her trademark big smile as she told us of her trials with (and after) her day long chemotherapy and radiation treatments. We’d also hear about their latest “warrior training” session, one of which they rode their motorcycles into the nearby national forest, stripped down to running clothes, ran 8 to 10 miles on a trail, and then rode home where Susan created some sort of wonderful, healthy dinner (she’s a personal chef).

For this month’s inspiration profile Jake interviewed Susan and learned about how “knowledge and acceptance” set her free to experience her unexpected adventure in a positive light. Read the full interview here.

An Inspired First Day Back On the Hill

The skies were gray and dreary when Ed and I left Bend, but by the time we were a few miles out of town we broke through the inversion and it was clear that it would be a bluebird day on Mt. Bachelor. It’s been a pretty poor snow year in Oregon (some resorts haven’t even opened yet, and may not open at all) and this week has been quite warm – so I looked forward to spring skiing conditions with clear skies and a temp around 40 degrees. We would have to stay on the groomed runs (groomers) because I knew everything else would be icy and jarring.

Ed, a retired former colleague of mine at the BLM, has a mid-week pass and was more than happy to take me up on a Thursday for my first day of the year. In Bend it’s pretty common for people to play hooky from work for part or all of a day to go skiing – lucky me!

I've skied with Oregon Adaptive Sports (OAS); a great program for people with disabilities, for 8 y ears and t he gang is like my winter family that recharges me. In my time with OAS it has grown from an all volunteer program that literally drafted instructors out of the parking lot to an outstanding organization with professional leadership and well-trained volunteers.

Today I was with Ryan and Henry, both who I had ridden with last year, and a new volunteer named Mark. Ryan was my “bucket assist,” meaning he skied behind me, steering and braking when needed, but mostly acting as my back-up plan in case I lost control of the bi-ski. Henry and Mark were there to help get me onto the lift, keep other skiers from running into me, block traffic at intersections, and are good company.

The crew grabbed the new light blue, Dutch Bros. Coffee Co. bi-ski and transferred me out of my wheel chair and into the bucket seat. At the base of the hill I coached Ryan and Henry through the pr ocess of relaxing my left hand– through a thick leather mitten – enough to slide it over the grip of th e outrigger (think a short arm crutch with a ski on the end), and then secure it with Velcro straps (see photos, including some from last year showing the entire ski with bucket assist). With me strapped into th e bucket, feet secured, and outriggers and helmet on, we hit the slopes of Sunrise Lift.

The first run of the year is about the skier and bucket assist getting (re)acquainted and in sync with each other. Together we weigh more than 400 pounds and can rapidly generate speed, so communication, familiarity, and trust are critical – as well as these guys being strong and skilled skiers! The trust part is incredibly importan t because Ryan (and all my other bucketeers) really let me do most of the steering, but we both go down together, so it’s nice to have someone put their trust and safety in me rather than the other way around! (Some of the trust, no doubt, comes from the fact that Ryan and I are both wildland firefighters)

After several runs we headed back in for lunch. I had some equipment issues so we decided to call it a day. I had skied well, picking up right where I left off last year, and made a good team with Ryan. All in all, it was a great first day.

I had gone up to the mountain inspired by Chris Devlin-Young and fellow OAS skier Ravi Drugan, the gold and bronze medalists in the Mono Ski X at the recent X-Games. I’ve known Ravi for several years and it was fun to see the local boy do well. He done us proud!

In his post-race interview fifty three year old Devlin-Young thanked his wife for letting him get out and ”do crazy things,” his ski maker and his crew. He finished by saying “...it gives an opportunity for the world to see that people with disabilities can do some pretty amazing things and whether you start with a disability as a kid, or you’re later in years you can still get out and have a lot of fun.”

Well said Chris!

Epic AdvenChairing

The Onward Team heading out along the Shevlin Loop Trail on Sunday.

Epic is how I’d describe Sunday. When our planned day of skiing at Mt. Bachelor was scrubbed because of poor conditions, we went advenchairing at Shevlin Park. On a sunny 45 degree day Yvonne, Emory, and Robin (with help from Casper) pushed and pulled me around the 6 mile Shevlin Loop Trail along Tumalo Creek on the west side of Bend. Advenchairing is what we call taking my chair off the beaten path and it is our connection to nature and outdoor adventures.

Shevlin Park is a place that my wife Yvonne and I often go because she can easily push me on the paved road and packed gravel trail in the park’s upper and lower sections. With my son Emory and good friend Robin though, we had the horsepower to try the more difficult middle portion of the trail that had eluded us. My off-road wheelchair, which we call the Advenchair, has been constantly evolving, with the intention of being as ergonomically efficient as possible for the pusher and puller. A friend had recently mounted a mountain bike handle bar that gave the pusher a higher, wider, and horizontal grip. We were also testing a towing system using 7 foot copper tubes attached to a hip belt. The results were better than any of us had expected: with the puller providing 80% of the power, the pusher could focus on steering and maneuvering over and around roots and rocks. Emory and Robin powered up steep inclines and deftly navigated some pretty technical spots.

As we came down a particularly steep and rocky stretch I looked downhill to see that the trail crossed the creek by way of a log. We pondered fording the narrow, but fast, waters, as well as me getting out of the chair and scooching across on my butt (turning around really wasn't something we considered – Onward!), and finally decided to straddle the flat-topped log with the chair’s axle. Before we knew it we were across and high fiving!

After lunch and the steepest climb of the day we had an unexpected test of the equipment when Emory misjudged a rock and laid me over on my left side, with me looking down at the creek below. With Emory and Robin’s strength, and Yvonne’s quick reaction from behind, I was stabilized and quickly upright again. The handle bar gave Emory great control as he broke my fall and was strong and solid as he pulled to right me. The seat belt held me so well that I really didn't need to readjust my position. We did all agree that a helmet would be a good idea next time.

“To inspire, encourage, and enable outdoor adventures for people of all physical abilities”….this website and blog are my way sharing my journey since my stroke, and how my family, especially my wife Yvonne has treated it as an adventure.

Onward is the motivational expression I latched onto several years ago and The Onward Project has grown from that simple, yet strong word (I once asked a Spanish colleague for a translation and he replied “adelante…go forward; move ahead. Sounds kind of Che Guevara-esque doesn’t it” Francisco said). We often meet or see people that inspire us, particularly if they have an obvious challenge, and we’d say “that’s an Onward person.” So my hope is that through sharing my story and those of others (such a Karri Vanderbom), people will look at the challenges that life throws at us as adventures, rather than obstacles that can’t be surmounted.

I’m launching The Onward Project website now because MLK weekend has a special spot on my calendar. I was released from the hospital on January 12, 2006 (unfortunately I didn't receive walking papers) and because the following weekend was a holiday, Robin drove up from Chico to visit. He has continued the annual visit and over the years it became a ski day at Mt. Bachelor, but after yesterday it may destined for more advenchairing!

This is indeed a project and we will certainly learn and grow as we go. Big thanks to Tashia Davis and Emory Babb for building the website for me, and Jake Stein for writing the profile of Karri Vanderbom. Onward!