I had already played my best hand in the game of travel adventure one-upmanship--getting trapped on a cross-Canada rail trip; scooting out of a Guatemalan caldera as the volcano erupted jets of steam; back-paddling frantically when I found myself between a towering moose and her calf.
I burrowed further into the overstuffed hotel sofa for a night of Aussie storytelling and sat back satisfied just to be along for the ride.
To my right, Tony was telling the story of his hitchhiking walkabout across the entire continent.
One of his adventures included being dropped off at a waystation in a particularly lonely stretch of Australian desert only to discover that it was closed and abandoned. He was still carrying his walking stick. It was almost as willowy as fly fishing rod and fitted with a shock absorbing spring. Tony used it to punctuate his sentences. He wielded it with all the familiarity of a shepherd and his sheleighleigh. He said he preferred it to the usual white cane that stigmatized him as blind.
To my left, almost dancing his wheelchair with pent-up energy, Justin recounted his adventures along the northern coast of Western Australia.
Justin was developing a spit of land as an eco-camp. Getting there was the challenge--over sand, across a tidal flat with treacherous mud, fording a stream. His solution was a six-wheeled amphibious vehicle that sounded more like it required an aircraft pilot's license in his hands.
The beer got warmer and the stories wilder but the tall tale telling went on for hours.
That night I resolved to look into others who were pushing the limits of their disabilities through adventure travel. Here are links to a few stories that only scratch the surface of what some people are doing:
Erik Weihenmeyer http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...
Michael McGrath http://www.e-bility.com/articles/pole2po... http://www.e-bility.com/articles/southpo...
Mark Theobald http://www.sit-on-topkayaking.com/Articl... http://www.disabledadventurers.com/
Hilary Lister http://www.rollingrains.com/archives/000...
Dave Player http://www.rollingrains.com/archives/000...
Caroline Walsh http://www.rollingrains.com/archives/000...
Gordon Rattray http://www.e-bility.com/articles/ethiopi...
Gerrard Gosens http://www.everestnews.com/stories2005/q...
Danny Winters http://www.rollingrains.com/archives/000...
Jesse Owens http://www.anchoragepress.com/archives/d...
Matt King http://www.thekinglink.com/
Dana Bowman http://www.danabowman.com/home/aopaalm3-...
Theron Wright http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/trav...
Polly Vacher http://www.toreachforthesky.org/realpeop... http://www.worldwings.org/
Michael Miller http://www.tigermountainparagliding.com/...
Tom McCurdy http://www.e-bility.com/articles/apr00.s...
Casey Pieretti http://www.joeclark.org/caseypieretti.ht...
John de Frayssinet http://www.bdfa.net/johndef/blameitonthe...
So, pioneer a new sport. Go climb a mountain. Uncover a new frontier.
And add your name to this list!
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