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Rolling Over ALS Tour blog


Thursday, April 24, 2008
WANTED - Dead or Alive - day 5
Today we were greeted by two of Georgia's finest...NOT! The first officer was very nice; however the second one was on a power trip and was a real JERK. I was forced to give in to the powers that be and ride in the van. Thankfully it was a very short distance to the hotel.

This wheelchair adventure has made me realize even more how our society is so busy and preoccupied with their fast paced lifestyle that whenever they are inconvenienced (for example by the guy driving down the road in a wheelchair) they get absolutely crazy. We were called all kinds of obscenities and received the "one finger wave" more times than I care to count.

Posted by Rolling Over ALS Blog at 3:26 PM 2 comments
They all sound like me - day 4
Today we entered Georgia, where they all have an "ALS Accent" without the muscle atrophy. While the traffic was not an issue, we had a lot of long, VERY long stretches of road with NOTHING on them. The flashing lights we put on the van and trailer stopped working today so before we head out tomorrow we have to check the fuses. The chairs are holding up good, with the exception of the one that has been acting up since day one. The Georgia ALSA Chapter has put us in contact with someone who can take a look at it for us, when he found out I knew Steve S he packed up his tools and left [thanks Steve ].

Posted by Rolling Over ALS Blog at 3:17 PM 0 comments
Leaving home (again) - day 3
This morning I woke up at 7:00AM so I could be ready to ride with my escorts who were to arrive at my hotel around 8:00AM. We rode up A1A then entered to old St Augustine area. This is where we were greeted by bicyclists asking what was going on then about 7 of them asked if they could ride along with us for a while. Unfortunately, not everyone was as pleasant as our tag-along bikers. One lady in a large SUV tried to cut in between the leading officer and the van Glenda was driving...the problem being I was the one in the middle of them. I thought Kevin was going to jump out of his police cruiser while it was still rolling to let this moron have it. We also had several of the passers by honk unfriendly greetings to us. We passed by the fire station I used to work at and then we stopped at a local restaurant for lunch.

After lunch we headed into Jacksonville. I thought the afternoon was never going to end. I realize now haw nice it was having the police escorts. We arrived at the hotel around 8:00PM...making for a very long 12 ½ hour day.

Posted by Rolling Over ALS Blog at 3:13 PM 0 comments
Coming home - day 2
Well our morning started out slow and uneventful. There were cars flying past us with total disregard for the vehicles in the other lane.

Around 4pm I entered St Johns County, which is my old stomping ground from my firefighting days. We received a police escort the final 21 miles to our hotel. We were within a half a mile of the hotel when the third chair started flashing that I had a low battery. I barely coasted into the parking lot of the hotel where I was surprised to see a former coworker and dear friend there to welcome me.

Posted by Rolling Over ALS Blog at 3:11 PM 0 comments
Bon Voyage - day 1
The Walk to Defeat ALS in Orlando was a huge success. I, however, didn't get to enjoy much of it with all the interviews and preparations that still had to be made to kick off the Tour. I didn't even get my team photo taken or get an official 2008 Walk to Defeat T-shirt. Oh well there is always next year.

At 12:00 we assembled the masses to have a send off. Before I left I was presented wit the "ALS Across America Award" which is given to somebody who embodies the spirit of ALS Awareness. I don't see where I did that, nor am I doing this for recognition for myself, but in front of all the press and onlookers I didn't figure I could refuse it. It was an honor to be selected out of the whole nation to receive this award. After my father-in-law said a blessing four of us (Denny N, Rhonda R, Cedric C and I)and our entourages left Blue Jacket Park on my way to Washington DC.

So we are driving along a four lane road... and we got pulled over for going too slow (I usually get pulled over for going too fast). They wanted us to ride on a sidewalk and I officially nominate Winter Park Fl as having the least wheelchair friendly sidewalks...I even got stuck! Everybody dropped off after about five miles and I was on my own. The moron cop that pulled us over offered some less traveled roads to use...all that did was get me lost! DONUT MUNCHERS!
I now understand why Permobil wouldn't give up some wheelchairs for the Tour...I have had nothing but problems with 2 of the chairs thus far. I thought Rhonda was just a bad driver when she kept weaving all over the place, but after I drove the chair, I found out it wasn't her. The other chair's battery lasts about 5 miles...I wasn't prepared for the sudden stop when it ran out of juice.

We got to the hotel about 10pm and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow...and sunburned from head (what part of it my Red Sox cap doesn't cover) to the top of my foot (my shoes were on, so it wasn't to my toes).

Till tomorrow,

Ken