California – Embarking

The Challenge

I am on a road in retirement that began prematurely as medically approved disability leave from my school teaching job about four years ago. The road has had all sorts of adventures discussed in previous blogs. I finally undertook some serious actual pavement travel this summer to the tune of not one but two, two-thousand-mile auto round trips; always with a nagging anxiety in tow related to future air travel; could I do that? When I was healthy, walking, talking, and eating without any aids whatsoever, air travel was invigorating and fun. Now air travel loomed as even more frightening because it was becoming apparent that it was definitely possible. Air travel was now in my vocabulary; a challenge with daunting logistics and untold hazards to navigate compared to car travel. I’ll admit I was afraid. 

Soothing Words Fears Assuaged

One of the worst things a person can do with fear is keep it inside and not speak to anyone about it. So I spoke to my oldest son. I’m not even sure how we got on to the subject or how the conversation unfolded and developed. I only know that I found soothing words that catalyzed a glimmer of hope and a spark of excitement for air travel. With God's help, I could do it. I could get on an airplane and travel the skies again. We had canceled and rescheduled a particular B&B on the northern California coast three times over three years. It was near a barely noticeable city called Elk. My son’s soothing words, whatever they were, led me to a verse in the book of Deuteronomy 31 that says “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you.” There’s more to that verse, but that was enough. How often, I have applied only half of that verse. I would pray at home or at church and sense God’s presence there; but then hasten off on my own; alone. Now, it was as if God was walking in front of me waving his hand for me to come along saying, “What are you worried about, I’m coming with you; you know, 'the Lord your God who goes WITH you.'" I decided then to get moving and do this thing. He travels with me. Fears assuaged

Angel on the Phone

The reality of air travel for a disabled person started to attack my new confidence once we began planning. Traveling with all my medical supplies, my walker (for maneuvering in the B&B), my lightweight aluminum foldable wheelchair, wheelchair cushion, suitcases, and Chris, ended up being a ton more than I anticipated; especially given aircraft restrictions. We prepared all of our fears and questions and Chris called the airlines ready to hear a response that would basically assure us that we were two naive travelers heading headlong into the bowels of hell itself, thinking we could pull this off. But as Chris spoke to the airline booking agent on the phone, I could hear angel music in the background. I’m joking, but the relief on his face was calming because one by one the airline angel on the other end countered our wayward fears with experience, methods, and processes that make disability travel completely doable. I overheard Chris' conversation, “I have traveled over a million miles for my day job and don’t ever remember seeing a wheelchair like that.” The agent was describing how they would put me in a skinny airplane wheelchair and cart me right to my seat. They also explained that my airline reservation would be stamped disability, and we’d receive assistance throughout the entire airline experience. We reviewed the entire trip with the airline phone angel and all connections and flight durations seemed to check out for my medical needs. We used tickets still valid from previously canceled flights and booked the trip for September.  

Gate Angel

We landed in San Fran on a Friday night after a great flight and were the last ones to exit the plane in the skinny wheelchair transfer thing. In the jetway, an airport worker wearing a company baseball cap and blue medical gloves, who I'll call Gate Angel, helped Chris plop me into my lightweight wheelchair and Chris grabbed the three carry-on bags. After leaving the jetway and entering the airport, Gate Angel then asked us if we wanted help all the way to baggage claim. Chris’s backpack carryon had about 30 pounds of medical supplies so he immediately said yes. At baggage claim, the only bags or people left were ours, and us, respectively (skinny wheelchair thing, remember?). No problem, we were ecstatic to be flying and relieved we made it to San Fran via Fargo and Dallas with a trailer load of luggage and without any incidents. 

Plane, Train, and Automobile

The gear was the next issue. I am in my wheelchair, Chris is pushing, and Gate Angel had just loaded all the luggage, my walker, and Chris’ 30-lb pack on one of those baggage-carrying carts. Again, there was that inner voice, “Hey, I’m going with you, don’t sweat it.” Chris and I looked at each other and had one of those moments where no words were spoken but a conversation was had. "How in God’s green earth are we going to get from here (baggage claim) to the AirTrain and then to the car rental complex 7 miles down the track with just you and I lugging all this stuff and pushing a wheelchair?" Before we could communicate any response to those thoughts Gate Angel, still with us, broke the silence and offered to push our baggage cart, to the AirTrain and then onward directly to our car at the rental complex. In disbelief and bubbling with gratitude, we humbly accepted his offer and in what seemed like no time at all we were at the car rental place. We selected a car that I could actually climb into from my wheelchair and by the time Chris had loaded me into the shotgun seat, Gate Angel had everything loaded from trunk to front seats, floorboard to ceiling full (economy compact . . . Chris's idea). Chris tipped him and he was gone. We fired up the car, brought up the address for our hotel and I stopped Chris and asked him if he ever got the guy's name. Chris said he wasn't sure, but he thought he said his name was Gabriel.