Travel - Part 1

Get on the Road

Many people's road in retirement, at least in America, is exactly that: getting on the road! But travel can be extremely challenging when you have a disability, and such has been my plight. Before my Parkinson's and dysphagia disruption in May 2023, we traveled often to see family and friends; especially in Wisconsin (WI) where my husband and I both hail. However, the rehab process and infections throughout all of 2023 brought too many risks for me to travel. Plus, the in-home therapy care I received for most of the fall of 2023 required that I be homebound.  

Trip #1 Wisconsin

Finally, in February 2024, no longer saddled with homebound status, we mustered some courage and booked a mad dash trip to Appleton, WI by car. We defied all odds and packed our Ford Edge to the ceiling with meds, easy-to-eat soups and pudding, a foldable lightweight wheelchair, and other items needed for a person with dysphasia. I didn’t have my G-tube inserted yet, so eating was always a long laborious task with special foods. Chris had to take a photo of the packing arrangement, to repeat it between stops. We drove a thousand-mile round trip over a three-day weekend to attend one-year and 90-year birthday celebrations in Chris' family. And on the way back we stopped in western WI to see my sister, brother-in-law, and a few other relatives on my side.

Accessibility

We learned really quick on "that" road the value of one word: accessibility. I admit, before wheelchair days I too complained about the long ramp that needed to be added to a business or the sidewalk that was out of commission for a couple weeks as ramps were added at street crossings. But in my condition, we found these transformations liberating. The problem is that many places have zero accessibility; including hotel rooms that claim such. A typical hotel booking would include this exchange: "We need a handicapped-accessible room with grab bars in the bathroom, 36" doorways, and if possible, a roll-in shower and lower bed." The answer was often, "Oh yes, absolutely it has those features." Upon arrival and lugging all our stuff to the room we’d find a room with a doorbell. Nothing else. Did I say travel is difficult when you have a disability? Apparently, at some point in American history, all disabled people were hard of hearing. 

Lessons Learned

That trip was humbling for both of us, but the Bible does remind me to humble myself under the mighty hand of God (1 Peter 5:6), to have any opportunity for being exalted by God . . . in His timing . . .  later. I had to have strong arms lift me and my wheelchair into places and my eating and drinking were sloppy and difficult. But the trip was a learning exercise and I am a teacher after all, so we studied. As it turned out, there were lots of challenges but our relatives were super understanding and gracious. We studied our notes and looked into a possible "Travel Part 2" while our brains were still numb with learning. Chris was a trooper through all this, although I did hear him mutter on an interstate when trying to remember which rest area or gas station brand had family bathrooms something like, "What if we sold our beautiful sanctuary (home) and bought one of those Mercedes vans that have a bathroom and shower built in?”