For the first 10 years after by accident I traveled extensively. Atlanta and Chicago for demonstrations. New York for the war and Washington DC for lobbying (antiwar demonstrations). Indiana. Texas. Arizona. Hawaii. Northern Cal and Vegas more times than I can remember. A couple epic, Multi-month road trips throughout Mexico. All of this taught me a few things:
#1 I'm glad I traveled a lot when I did because the older I get the more fragile I feel and the more difficult it seems to be. #2 the effort it requires from our family and attendants is huge, draining and can't be overestimated or underappreciated. #3 physically and emotionally traveling by air lines is the most taxing form of travel, promising more drama and trauma than anything else I've tried. #4 though many airline staffers are well-intentioned they are terribly/dangerously undertrained to help us get on and off the airplane safely #5 our wheelchairs are treated even worse #6 every time I've had a disastrous breakdown with my equipment I have somehow found brilliant mechanics that have patched my tech back together. (the gold medal goes to a back alley handyman/ repairman in Mexico City who reconstructed an entire electrical motor that had been shattered by cobblestones and a crashing motorcycle. He did this in one day (and would only accept $20 for the work). He fabricated multiple parts from scratch. He reconstructed the aluminum housing from the remaining shards, by freehand welding, which, by the way is completely impossible to do with aluminum. When I got home, my local rehab technician installed the replacement motor from Germany. When it fell apart a year later-- I was young and I freely admit abusing my equipment – – the tech installed the "Mexico motor" while we waited for yet another replacement from Germany. When that replacement went kaput I went back to the Mexico motor and it lasted another six years until I gave it away to a Mexican charity.) #7 if I could fly on a plane while in my own wheelchair, tied down the same way I am tied down in a bus or train, I would travel the world. On Fri, Nov 14, 2014 at 11:39 AM, Thomas E. Cusack <tecn...@sbcglobal.net> wrote: > well, got back from a college reunion a week ago and looked back on what > the airlines can do > to a power 'chair.i use a Braun Triwheeler (like the one Ralph Braun used) > and > left Chicago and the device worked perfectly. Got to Phoenix and somehow > the > gorillas in baggage tried to plug the batteries into the charging jack > they blew a fuse in the controller. Now who/where am i to go to get this > dinosaur fixed???? They even offered to fly my backup device to take the > place of the broken one. Well the accessible van rental co. (Stan Nystrom > from Performance Mobility) took one of my many calls and said, 'Hey our > techs are pretty good, let's have them look at it'. Well he came to the > airport picked up my wife, me and the broken device. We got to his store in > Mesa, his techs took it apart, found the blown fuse, fixed it and I was on > my way to the reunion. Stan really came thru for me but travel with my > TriWheeler is getting cut way back! > Tom C > C6/7 45 years >
