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swalker

Very helpful member
Joined
Dec 11, 2014
Messages
1,576
Reason
DX MND
Diagnosis
07/2014
Country
US
State
CO
City
Vail
I managed to become entrapped in another adventure today. I don't see how my wife ever puts up with me:)

It started with a nice sunny day and my newly repair wheelchair sitting there with a full charge. What could possibly go wrong?

I left the house and wheeled toward Vail, which is about 7 miles away. On the way I stopped and admired some geese with goslings at a beaver pond. I watched a golfer hit his ball into the same pond. I saw a friend and had a brief chat. It was great.

I made my way to the Ford Amphitheater, where I have a season pass for the upcoming Bravo concert series (it starts with Beethoven's Violin Concerto, which is one of my all time favorite pieces). I wanted to check it out and figure out how I would manage with the wheelchair. It is very well set up and I will have no problems. Mission Accomplished.

I then visited the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens and wandered through all the beautiful vegetation there. It is a wonderful place that I always enjoy.

I then made my way to Vail Village, and enjoyed the sights a bit. I noticed the gondola was running, meaning the summer season has started. I had forgotten my pass, but they issued me a replacement and up I went. New accomplishment: loading on the small gondola cab with my very large wheelchair.

On the way up, I noticed the clouds gathering, but did not worry because they were to the east and storms typically move west to east here.

I got off the gondola and went down a slope I was not sure I could get back up. No problem, because I was planning on trying to get to the other gondola about a mile away to the west via dirt road.

I was motoring happily along without a care in the world, when something hit me lightly in the back of the head. I turned the wheelchair around and was pelted in the side of the face by a small piece of hail. Hmmm

After a few minutes, I decided to put on my rain gear. The poncho softend the blow from the increasingly large hail. The sky just let loose with a tremendous hail shower, with hail the size of a dime. Not enough to cause damage, but enough to sting a bit. It also rained.

My beautiful dirt road turned to mud. A small wall of hail and water washed toward me and the chair. I was getting pretty nervous. The lightening started in earnest and I became aware of the danger I was in.

I hastened toward the other gondola and came to a point where the road was impassable by wheelchair. Admitting defeat I turned around to face the hail and made my way to the gondola I had come from.

When I eventually got there, I bypassed the steep section I had come down and tried to go a longer way around. I almost made it up the final grade when the chair spun to a stop in the mud. Fortunately, one of the lift operators saw me and was already heading my way. He gave me a bit of a push and I made it. I then headed to the lift where I waited inside the operators' room with the lift operators for the storm to clear.

I rode the gondola down and toured downtown Vail with a very muddy wheelchair. I watched a kayaker playing in Gore Creek and then caught a bus for home. I would up having the same driver who had helped me out last time.

I got home and as I tried to get the wheelchair into the house it died with a "PM Module Error" and an error code not listed in the chair's service manual. Uh Oh! I had only had my chair back from the shop for 24 hours and it was already broken again.

My wife helped and pushed the chair into the garage where we let it dry off for a bit. Fortunately, the chair powered up and I was able to get it into the house. I am hoping no permanent damage was done by the hailstorm.

Here are a few pictures to document my adventure:

1. Flowers in the Betty Ford Alpine Garden
2. Me in the Betty Ford Alpine Garden
3. Riding up the gondola
4. Me in a muddy wheelchair (the bottom should be phantom gray, not brown:))
5. A kayaker playing in Gore Creek
6. My muddy wheelchair at home

I enjoy getting out on the wheelchair, but am hoping for a bit less excitement next time. This experience also reinforces my decision to get a backup wheelchair!

Steve
 

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Steve,
You had a wonderful adventure. We embrace lessons learned and move on. Your pictures are wonderful.

Tracy
 
Omg! Just glad you are okay. I am betting you get "grounded" by your wife though.
 
Wow! I can only describe you as intrepid!

We had a scooter caught in a rainstorm and similar experience. We revived it ( as directed by the company) with a hairdryer directed into the ignition. Not sure where you would direct it on your pwc though...
 
hey steve thanks for adventure. i have a Frontier V6 on order thru VA and hope to have many similar trips. the kayaker reminds me of all the white water boating i did back when i could. thanks chally
 
It's a good thing you don't live down here near Pikes Peak... ;^)
 
Steve, When my wife was first diagnosed with ALS I new she would want to continue to run her dog in Agility as she has done for years. So I found an "all terrain" chair on ebay. It has big nobble tires on it and can go up to 9 miles per hour. Cost us about $5k and we have used the heck out of it. When we moved out to SC, we now take it on the beach and leave her good chair home. The chair is a V6 fronter and they are made in Australia, but are sold in the US. With your adventures, I would recommend looking for something like it. We have never been sorry we purchased it.
 
Maybe your wife can take a course in wheelchair repair. Or. Just beat you. Lol
 
hey dj, that's good to know about the V6 as i have one on order now. anything else you can tell me about it? one love chally
 
great fun! keep it up :)
 
Steve...you are awesome! To soldier on...I think I would have crumbled in a heap and found the nearest place that sold chocolate...

Chally...it's built in Australia...what more do you need to know...? :):)

God bless, Janelle x
 
Independencefund Dot org will give you a free all terrain chair. I am not sure if you need to be a vet or not but if so, they may know an organization that does it for non vets. I looked a little closer and it does seem to be a vet only organization
 
Also you could look at tracfab dot com
 
Steve, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your newest adventure. You always manage to solve every problem, get out every difficulty, and not allow them to deter you. You are an inspiration!
- Charlene
 
Love your sense of adventure, Steve. Do you actually drive that chair 7 miles into town?

At this rate you may need two back up chairs!
 
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