Van Go

Joe and I are back from our trip to California. We had a good trip and met receptive audiences and wonderful hosts. But, let's be clear, these are not vacations. We lectured and travelled and then lectured and travelled right through the week. The one day off in the week was spent primarily in the car getting from one part of the state to the other. Both of us, when we got on the plane, commented on the fact that as 'old boys' we're doing OK. We can still do these kind of gruelling schedules and even enjoy them!

But, that's off topic. Yes, we can still do them. But as we travelled we began to talk about an upcoming trip of several days. This time we're going to be on the eastern seaboard so we typically rent a wheelchair van and take the power chair. As we discussed the upcoming trip and realized that on this particular trip, I didn't miss having the power chair. Not once really.

Typically having the powerchair is better for me, because I have more access and for Joe because he has less work to do, what with not having to push me around. However, this trip Joe pushed me only once or twice and only for a few feet each time. I've got much more strength in my push and I have increased my endurance significantly. Our conversation about the next trip really centred on how much the wheelchair van costs versus a car and if the expense was still worth the benefit that we got from the powerchair.

In the end we decided to give it a go without the powerchair, that I'd simply rely on my own strength for the trip. We noted that there are some things I will not be able to do and that we'd have to use the car a little more than we would otherwise, but that we'd try it and see how it went.

So we landed last night and we were tired. I got up this morning to discover our Internet was down and that I couldn't access the YouTube trainers that I use for weight training. It was the perfect excuse. Then I thought about the upcoming trip. I dug out an old exercise program, 'wheelchair aerobics' and put that in the DVD player and did that for about half an hour. It wasn't the same as the training but it was something.

The interesting thing about this whole journey of getting stronger, has been the questions I don't get and the question I get all the time. I am constantly asked if I've lost weight. I'm never asked about the distance I can push myself or about my ability to push uphill, or about my skill at getting through doors. I've been asked why I haven't written about my 'diet' and my 'weightloss' program. Well, here it is, my goal has been to get stronger. My goal has been to increase my independence when using the manual chair. That's what I'm doing.

That's what I'm happy about.

Well, except in the morning when the weights stare at me, the cheese danish call out to me, in lightly accented English, and lethargy pulls me to the big comfy chair in the front room, then, I'm not so incredibly eager.