Wheelchair Camping

10/11/2020

Wheelchair Accessible Hay Ride available in the Vancouver, Washington area.

This article is from 2017. But we just found it! This is a tremendous idea in inclusion. I sure hope they have continued to provide this great resource to their thriving farms!

The owners of Bi-Zi Farms, Bill and Peggy Zimmerman, decided they wanted to find a way to remedy the problem of accessibility, and this year they found it.

When the 105-acre Bi-Zi Farm opens on Sept. 30, it will debut its new wheelchair accessible hayride, featuring a hydraulic chairlift on the side of the wagon.

The fact that wheelchair-bound folks often weren’t able to enjoy a hayride — and in many cases, the visit through the pumpkin patch that is often coupled with it — was not lost on the owners of Bi-Zi Farm in Southwest Brush Prairie, one of the most popular fall destinations in Clark County.
“I always felt bad that so many kids in the wheelchairs, about all they could do was be in the barnyard and they couldn’t see the rest of the farm,” Bill said while taking a break to chat with The Reflector at the farm last week. “This way, even if they can’t get off at the pumpkin patch — which we’re hoping they can if it’s dry enough — at least they can get out and see the farm a little bit.”

Peggy added that they’d been looking for a way to make it work for awhile and knew it was something that had to happen.

Bill said feedback from the public has been mind-blowing since they posted a picture of the lift via Facebook on Aug. 31.

http://www.thereflector.com/news/article_42e98722-9812-11e7-8472-07a1b3104b3c.html

28/09/2020

I think I've caught my breath again from a recent trip. Sorry we haven't posted in a while. Life gets in the way of camping from time to time. Especially this year! Am I right?
So we recently had back to back Dr appointments 3 hours away on 2 consecutive days. In the plan up. We finally decided we didn't have the energy to drive back and forth both days! So we hitched up the Blue Champion Bus to our White Campmaster Toy Hauler and made it a five night trip. Camping at a KOA close to the Doctors offices as possible.
Our Campmaster Toy Hauler had damaged axles that loved shredding tires. So the month before I finally scraped together and ordered a fresh set of Dexter Axles of the exact build as the originals. So they would just be plug and play so to speak. Direct bolt on. So we get to the week prior to needing to leave. And I start calling to find out where the axles are... Needless to say the day before we had to leave they "shipped from the factory!...."
Well we were committed. and it didn't always definitely just shred tires and scuff the RV badly from slinging smoking tire bits. So we packed up. We packed up our 2 spare RV tires like always. and made the commitment to only run as fast as 63MPH and thankfully it was cooler day being September and a bit misty rain all day. So the trip was uneventful. No breaking down. And the tires never got above 120F (I carry one of them contactless temp probe gun thingies.)
And we made the Doctor appointments. And stayed in our Camper cocoon for 5 nights and had a rather pleasant experience with everything working as expected and no fussing about.
Also the trip home was thankfully uneventful. No incedents ran nice and mellow and smooth 62-63MPH Letting everyone fly around us...
Ohh I do want to add 1 thing though. Previously camping I have issues with allergies and my sinuses will dang near be swollen shut most of the summertime. So I packed a couple of ionizing air cleaners onboard the RV. And plugged those in once setup and believe it or not. My sinuses actually opened back up while we stayed isolated in our RV when we weren't in need of being out for the Doctors appt. or grocery run or fuel. I think I incorporated those other runs into the same run as the Doctors appointment runs TBH.

So I know.. Not a terribly exciting post. But due to our desire to stay included. We had 2 options to make this trip. 1 was just to drive back and forth every day. The other to drag the RV and relax a bit.

And as a follow-up The axles arrived a couple of days after getting back home. And yesterday we had them installed. It was just a couple of hours they took the old ones off and put the news ones on! So even that experience was hassle free!

How have all of you been? Anyone been out on the road recently?

29/06/2020

We are still isolating as best as possible here at home. But that doesn't mean we can't dream about camping.
I found this mainstays brand camping themed shower curtain a few days back and finally have it hanging up in all it's glory reminding us about fun times to come!
How are all of you coping?

28/05/2020

As we are still self-isolating, I figured maybe we could travel vicariously through this fun little LEGO RV Set. Unfortunately it isn't wheelchair accessible... But it was still fun to put together.
How is everyone else holding up from being away from the Wonderlust of travelling? What things are you guys doing instead?

20/04/2020

We are still self isolating here trying to stay safe. I hope and trust all of you are all safe as well.

We don't have any immediate travel plans. I thought maybe I would try to live vicariously through some of your travels, travel plans or possible travel plans once it's safe to do so again? Anyone have anything fun they are excited about coming up?

*Picture for inspiration*

09/03/2020

03/02/2020

We wish... But lots to do here unfortunately. Anyone else excited about this mostly warmer winter some of us have had?

02/02/2020

This sounds pretty good. Does anyone have any insight on this program?

Mobility Roadside Assistance™ is the first Emergency Roadside Assistance program for Mobility Challenged Drivers in the US & Canada, taking care of you, the driver, and not JUST the vehicle.

23/11/2019

It's cold and dreary outside. The camper is winterized. Didn't get much use this last season unfortunately. *cough*
Anyway, in the news today is something of a call to the disability community for inclusion. I'm hoping some will catch this message and find an inroad here to help make the world more inclusive.
So the background of the story is: A company is rolling out autonomous robots on a particular campus to do food deliveries.
A wheelchaired user crossed the street and found himself stuck in the lane of traffic due to a robot sitting in the curb cutout with no way to make the heavy critter move out of the way to gain safety from the busy street after the light turned green!
The article also goes on and discusses a few other situations that are hampering inclusion. It's a must read I think.

The needs of people with disabilities will need to be engineered into our AI-powered future.

08/11/2019

Since the RV is winterized. I guess we'll check out some Youtube vids...
This is a great short video about inclusion. It's cool in that they turned it about face for a fresh perspective.
At just slightly over 5 minutes long. It's perfect for me and my short attention span!

Description from YouTube:
This is the "Minority Effect" film which was written, shot, and edited all within 48 hours. This short film is a unique perspective of what life is like for most wheelchair users surrounded in a world of able bodied neighbors. This is a great focus on the importance of inclusion and equality for as all. Click this link, like, comment and share the film.

Special thanks:
Antonio TheRoller Quistian of endlessability.....
Chelsie Hill....
Douglas at Pants Up Easy. Www.pantsupeasy.com
and to our Film specialist Cesar "RespectMost" Perez of Most Films
https://youtu.be/uPNlXS94ce8

This is the "Minority Effect" film which was written, shot, and edited all within 48 hours. This short film is a unique perspective of what life is like for ...

26/10/2019

Somehow we missed posting what is our current setup. A few years back we finally retired the aging 2000 Ford E350 cutaway wheelchair ex-municipal bus.
It's replacement is what's seen in this photo below attached to our toy hauler we already had.
It is a more robust and newer 2007 Chevrolet C4500 cutaway Wheelchair ex-municipal bus. The driving experience is much better with the newer bus. The suspension tracks better and it has heavier duty tires and just feels more confident out on the road!
We are quickly approaching our first freeze here. Which means we have to get our toy hauler winterized and ready for the deep freeze to come.
Over the winter we are hoping to move forward with the upfit on our 40' Motor Coach. We really need that rig running by late spring so we can retire our current rig and toy hauler.
How is everyone else doing in their inclusion department? We've been terribly tired this last year and haven't travelled much. We have lots of work to do to move forward into 2020!