[Cousin Jack]

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Here I was, walking on snowshoes with the best wife in the world, in one of the best parts of the country, healthy and warm, but kind of half-bitching........ Why? Because the snow was soft and I sank in too far, and because the existing X-country ski track was too narrow for our snowshoes.....

And then......

We come down to the snowpark where our car is. There's also "beaucoup"pickup trucks hooked up to snowmobile trailers in the lot. After years of hassle, snowmobiliers and skiers and snowshoers have come to an uneasy truce: They take one side of Blewett Pass and we take the other....works for all of us........

Anyway......

I noticed this kid covering up his snowmobile that he's apparently just loaded, and the first irrational thought that flitted through my mind was "Damn, that snowmoble guyis damn short!" And then I looked a little closer and saw that the kid was in a wheelchair. In a wheelchair and out there snowmobiling......! "Damn me," I thought to myself. "That kid has nothing but bright, shining balls of brass, and he makes me ashamed of myself!" He didn't look like he needed or wanted any help, either.

I resolve that if I ever get a parapalegic type injury, God Forbid, that I havethe courage to scrape up hisgumption, that I go and get me a flatbedGoldwing trike -- something I can wheel myself right up on -- and go out riding even more than I do now! Heck, I might even get me one of them noisy snowmobiles!

What a kid........ Bless him.

 

[UbarW]

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yup, CJ... every time I start whining about how bad I have it, life puts someone out there that has bigger challenges than I, and I have no choice but to admit I have it pretty good...

 

[4evermetric]

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Cousin Jack wrote:

Anyway......

I noticed this kid covering up his snowmobile that he's apparently just loaded, and the first irrational thought that flitted through my mind was "Damn, that snowmoble guyis damn short!" And then I looked a little closer and saw that the kid was in a wheelchair. In a wheelchair and out there snowmobiling......! "Damn me," I thought to myself. "That kid has nothing but bright, shining balls of brass, and he makes me ashamed of myself!" He didn't look like he needed or wanted any help, either.

I always ask anyway. Maybe that is bad form, but wheelchair folks don't seem to mind a courtious "Can I give you a hand with that?"

 

[AZgl1800]

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I also make it a point to ask if they wish to have assistance. They have the option of saying "no".

 

[sandcastcb750]

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There is guy in town that rides a 1976 Goldwing. The fact that he rides a Goldwing is not impressive, as much as he has NO LEGS!

Anyway, this guy is a great mechanic and welder, He put an ATV front end on the Goldwing and rides it as a reverse trike. He straps his wheelchair on the 'Wing and flies through town.

I told him he should consider making some of these bikes for other people.

 

[Oregonwinger]

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How about Wheels on that other spot? Quite a story behind him.

Hey Ubarw !!! When's it gonna quit raining up there? Seems like it's been pouring like that all day ! :cheeky1: :cheeky1:

 

[Cousin Jack]

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sandcastcb750 wrote:

There is guy in town that rides a 1976 Goldwing. The fact that he rides a Goldwing is not impressive, as much as he has NO LEGS!

Anyway, this guy is a great mechanic and welder, He put an ATV front end on the Goldwing and rides it as a reverse trike. He straps his wheelchair on the 'Wing and flies through town.

I told him he should consider making some of these bikes for other people.

Right.... and don't forget the famous Dave Barr, who rode his 1200 cc Shovelhead Harley (!!!!!) around the world with no legs! Good lawd, I mean.... it's tough enough to ride a Harley around the world under any circumstances, let alone ride one with no legs!

Mr. Barr was under no illusions, however. In his books he refers to his Harley as that "greasy old S.O.B.!"

:cheeky1::cheeky1::cheeky1::cheeky1::cheeky1::cheeky1::cheeky1::cheeky1:

he had to rebuild it four or five times!

 

[Rabbit]

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Check this out CJ I got it good will not complain ever again.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MslbhDZoniY

 

[Cousin Jack]

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Rabbit wrote:

Check this out CJ I got it good will not complain ever again.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MslbhDZoniY

Took three tries, but I finally got it watched....... I am without words, and you know how that is unprecedented..... What a man; what a soul..........

 

[TitaniumWing]

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Here's another amazing person to make you appreciate life. The audio is Chinese so unless fluent, you can mute that, but not needed anyhow, the video says it all:

Click here: http://www.elegantbay.com/main/amazingwoman.htm

 

[lostinflorida]

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I tried so many times to get my first #1 son in law (now an x-s-i-l) to understand the idea of "only by the grace of God."

So many of us whine and cry to ourselves about how bad we have it. (Myself included)

If we just open our eyes we'll see that we are all so rich. I don't mean wealthy, I mean rich.

We have friends, family, most of us have pretty good health and so many other things we take for granted.

I know that I could have it alot worse and thank God that I don't.

 

[Winger77]

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Reminds me of the year before (2007) I was riding back home going pass a cousin's house and he was out watching his horses. Another fella in a wheelchair was there also. I stopped to say hello to Frank ( my cousin ) and the fella (Tom) was really checking out the bike. Kept telling me how nice it was,,,,,,,, I could see it coming,,,,,,,, and it did. He asked if I would take him for a ride. He had 2 artifical legs from the knee (or a little higher) down. What could I say??

Ya think you can get on? Hell ya!!!!! he says. So I began to help him on and he hands me one of his legs. Gets on, takes the leg back and ready to go. We went for about a 10 mile jawnt and he was the happest guy on earth. Had to stop by his buddies so they could see.

I should get back over there to see him this coming season.

 

[sandcastcb750]

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This guy on the Goldwing can move really fast, faster than most of us. I don't mean on the "wing. He is like the guy in the video.

 

[4evermetric]

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Winger77 wrote:

Reminds me of the year before (2007) I was riding back home going pass a cousin's house and he was out watching his horses. Another fella in a wheelchair was there also. I stopped to say hello to Frank ( my cousin ) and the fella (Tom) was really checking out the bike. Kept telling me how nice it was,,,,,,,, I could see it coming,,,,,,,, and it did. He asked if I would take him for a ride. He had 2 artifical legs from the knee (or a little higher) down. What could I say??

Ya think you can get on? Hell ya!!!!! he says. So I began to help him on and he hands me one of his legs. Gets on, takes the leg back and ready to go. We went for about a 10 mile jawnt and he was the happest guy on earth. Had to stop by his buddies so they could see.

I should get back over there to see him this coming season.

That boy should get himself a trike with hand controls.

 

[UbarW]

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Cousin Jack wrote:

Rabbit wrote:

Check this out CJ I got it good will not complain ever again.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MslbhDZoniY

Took three tries, but I finally got it watched....... I am without words, and you know how that is unprecedented..... What a man; what a soul..........

:shock:I sure feel small, all of a sudden...

 

[AZgl1800]

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I've been blessed with mostly good health all my life, except for a bad spine and allergies to everything.

I can't stand still, it hurts too much. But as long as I keep walking, it don't hurt. But compared to the guy in the video, I've got it good.

 

[Wildcat]

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I kinda grew up with a reality check. Dad lost his left leg above the knee in 1972. He successfully ran a grain farm until he retired in 2003. I think water skiing was the only thing he was never able to do that he had done before losing the leg...............but he did try a few times :shock: Nov 2007 he broke his leg in 3 places (one compound break) out quadding in the desert mountains near Mesa, AZ. Once some help arrived and they got the quad off him he rode it out 9 miles to the truck before he could be taken to the hospital!!!!! He had a similar incident snowmobiling in 1997 or so, broken collar bone, compound, on the right (throttle) side and rode the sled out about 10 miles.

My son, he was born legally blind, and now at 25 works full time at a food bank and runs the warehouse there. He has his own apartment and up until a year ago was living on his own. Now he has a girlfriend and they have a car which has made life easier. His eyesight is 10% of normal yet he quads and snowmobiles and does many other things that make me cringe (including riding a bike in a large city). Yup we worry, same as we did with dad, but that kid lives a more fulfilling life than many folks I know!

Dad passed on last summer and I now have the aforementioned quad. I have managed to get myself in some awful situations some times whilst out having fun. I look at what others less capable do, then just buckle down and get er done! Having grown up and been around "handicapped" individuals all my life probably gives me a slightly different outlook on reality but then most that know me think I am a little "different" (ie twisted) anyway :jumper::jumper::jumper:

 

[HogansWing]

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Another amazing example.



[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvxc8S5ybS4[/url]

 

[oldmisterbill]

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In 1978 I was unhooking a trailer(I drove semis for years) it was in Massachusetts in early march.Another driver slid on the ice crushung ny uper body between his trailer and mine (10 inches sholder to sholder)My collar bones snapped along with a bunch of ribe-sternum -and my back was damaged badly.A year and a half later I returned to work(the Dr.s said I'd never work again) God gave 28 more years to work and be productive,(a great gift from my GOD)I have always been in pain and many times handled freight on my hands and knees while in recovery.Now & then I would start to get on a pity pot,then I would see someone who has much bigger obsticals to overcome and realize that I am truley blessed. My obsticals are minor.We are all blessed if we just open our eyes!!!
I have beat cancer, heart attacks4 ecoli infections (my immune system is not working well(Drs believe agent orange related)after being told I was terminal,and have many health problems- but I and all of you are blessed.

I'm proud & lucky to be an American!!