TRAVEL ADVICE FROM A CAREGIVER

Heidi Johnson-Wright meets Prince Felipe of Spain

BRIEF RESPITES ON THE ROAD

By Steve Wright

Travel is my passion.

My wife, who uses a wheelchair and occasionally crutches for her mobility, shares that passion.

Traveling without my wonderful spouse of more than two decades can darn near feel like cheating.

Travel for work is different. Running off without Heidi for a writing assignment that puts food on our table is an exemption. She deals with an extra dose of regular personal care attendants, agency substitutes and parents so that I may fly off to further my journalism career.

But leisure travel, we do together – just like sharing bylines on essays, features and columns.

I know that as a practical matter, disability will deny Heidi some experiences. Her fragile joints, damaged by a three decades' worth of severe rheumatoid arthritis and dozens of surgeries, will not allow her to ride roller coaster, go white water rafting, swim against ocean currents or hike over rough terrain.

We have what I consider to be one of the healthiest care-giver/care-receiver relationships going, but I never feel quite right about dashing off to experience something that she will only encounter through my words and photographs.

Over the years, I have gotten more comfortable in taking respites on the road. Heidi is super supportive; always has been.

We plan ahead and coordinate my side trips with times, places and activities.

A late day flight out west will leave Heidi pretty exhausted and ready for an early bedtime. I am a notorious insomniac during my first night in a strange place, even if it’s a luxury suite.

It makes for a perfect fit – I help Heidi shower and dress for bed. I leave her with beverages, snacks, telephone, reacher, crutches, flashlight and television remote nearby.

While I’m out roaming the Las Vegas Strip, or exploring the depths of Manhattan, she’s tucked in bed and recharging the batteries for a fresh start.

Or, as my lawyer and author wife says, “when fatigue comes to call, I take a powder and Steve goes on a mini-adventure.”

“I recall a trip to Chicago when I needed an afternoon snooze. I got some “Zs” while Steve rode the El. It was a three-way blessing. I got some badly-needed rest, Steve got to ride Chicago’s signature train system -- which has few wheelchair-accessible stops anyway -- and my husband returned with a colorful tale of his urban safari during which he scouted several neat neighborhoods for us to explore together later,” Heidi said.

Other times, we find a fun place for Heidi to hang out while I do something that wouldn’t be appropriate for her physically. Ocean swimming is such an activity. Crashing waves and a rip current don’t blend well with arthritic joints.

When we hit Miami Beach, Heidi seeks out a favorite shaded porch on a restored Art Deco gem, while I subject other beachgoers to my untanned body in a bathing suit. When I return from thrashing about in the Atlantic, all saltwater crusted and sunburned, Heidi is curled in ceiling-fanned comfort, a nice drink in one hand and a copy of Ocean Drive in the other.\

Sometimes, an impromptu opportunity presents itself and we improvise. Death Valley comes to mind. We were driving through the Nevada Desert and decided to swing through the awesome national park.

A few spots – the Furnace Creek Visitor Center, Salt Creek, Harmony Borax Works and Zibriskie Point – are accessible. The first three are readily accessible; the path to Zibriskie is paved, but it’s steep. Trust me, I pushed Heidi in her manual chair in 100-degree-plus heat that day.

For some fool reason, I wanted to hike more in the midday sun. Not a lot, but maybe I could cover a mile or two in a half hour, then amble back to the rental car to down one of the four gallons of water we’d packed.

The sun was too intense for my fair-skinned bride and the trail was far from being barrier-free. We did some brainstorming and decided if we parked in the little bit of existing shade and rolled down the windows, it really wasn’t so bad in the car.

Heidi scoured the map and guidebooks for our after park plans, then wrote postcards for friends back home. While I was out wandering like a desert donkey, Heidi was safe in the parking lot and near enough to honk the horn if she needed me.

Heidi, like many people with disabilities, has exercise and other routines to keep herself healthy on the road. She does a few daily exercises and has a quite precise, more lengthy routine which she must complete once a week.

On longer road trips, we try to match up her stretching routine with a time for me to explore. When we were on the Big Island of Hawaii, I used her exercise time to go sea kayaking at Kona Village Resort.

I took to the Pacific so much, that I was out nearly an hour longer than I expected. It wasn’t a problem, Heidi said. When she finished her stretching, she simply took a nap, after being lulled to sleep by the same ocean breezes I felt on my back as I paddled through the waves not far from our waterfront hale.

Wright is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist, author, consultant and recipient of the Bronze Medal in the 14th Annual Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition by the Society of American Travel Writers.

Heidi Johnson-Wright meets Princess Letizia of Spain