I just bought and used my first all-terrain wheelchair

“Watch out for that Heidi Brown,” my dad likes to say. “She’ll keep you on your toes.”

It’s true. If there’s one thing my mom excels at (and there are many), it’s coming up with the most exquisite of curveballs. See our last-minute trip to Pensacola, Florida, last December to buy a recreational vehicle (RV), or my unexpected return to school.

You’d think that, after the 29 years of my life, we’d know how to go with the flow. But she still manages to catch us off guard.

Several weeks ago, my mom started talking about an all-terrain wheelchair that would allow me to participate in all sorts of outdoor activities, despite my SMA. It wasn’t the first time she’d floated the idea, so I dismissed it as one of her dreams — ones that somehow, against all odds, become reality.

The thing about my mom is that once she puts her mind to something, she almost always gets it. She has a drive and inner motivation that I’ve never seen before. So I knew, deep down, that we’d be getting an all-terrain wheelchair in the near future.

I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon.

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All the stars aligned

It didn’t take her long to find a gently used Extreme X8 power wheelchair with all the features I’d need. The only problem was that we’d have to drive all the way to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to pick it up.

Of course, thanks to the RV, that wasn’t really a problem at all.

We’d just returned from a five-day trip to the North Shore in Minnesota. We were exhausted and not at all ready to head out again. But there was a note of excitement in the air as well. After all, that’s why we bought the RV in the first place — to follow our whims.

My mom worked some magic to get approval to purchase the Extreme X8 to facilitate breaking into accessible-travel blogging. Less than 24 hours after receiving approval, we were planning a trip to pick it up. Three days later, on an unremarkable Tuesday in September, we said goodbye to our cats and set off on an adventure.

In pursuit of mobility

We had to be back home by the following Tuesday, so we had about seven days to drive the approximately 2,655 miles from Minneapolis to Myrtle Beach and back again.

“Watch out for that Heidi Brown,” my dad said repeatedly on the way there, using my mom’s maiden name. “She’ll keep you on your toes.”

Brianna and her father, Rick Albers, at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. (Photo by Heidi Albers)

It was a grueling three days of travel, but we made it to our destination in one piece. We stayed the weekend at Huntington Beach State Park, a muggy little piece of swamp and oceanfront in nearby Murrells Inlet. We were decidedly not on vacation, but we still took the time to enjoy ourselves. My dad couldn’t stop raving about the Extreme X8 — it was going to change our lives, he said with gusto; it was going to change everything.

Unconvinced though I was, I couldn’t deny my parents a walk on the beach. The Extreme X8’s seating was clearly designed for an adult male, but we made do with several carefully positioned hand towels. My dad drove me to the beach, where a boardwalk and sand dunes were the only things standing between me and the Atlantic Ocean.

The dunes would’ve stopped my Permobil in its tracks. The Extreme X8, on the other hand, took them like a champ, bouncing with a grace one can only attribute to its giant, dune-buggy wheels. Then I was on the beach, closer to the ocean than I’ve maybe ever been, waves crashing in a frenzy of whitecaps and sea foam.

OK, I thought giddily. I’m a believer now.

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