Author: Adam

I'm Adam from gogoadam.com

Nawlins

I spent several days early this past April in the city of New Orleans, one of my favorite places in the southern United States. I stayed at an AirBnB for the first time and this was also the first time I was able to explore more of the city outside of the French Quarter and Bourbon street. Since I was visiting with two of my male friends, I was able to get assistance to visit a lot of otherwise inaccessible places. But most of all I ate some of the best meals of my entire life. I legitimately feel like you could eat three meals a day at different restaurants and spend months in New Orleans without getting bored.

Entrance to Louie Armstrong Park at night.
Entrance to Louie Armstrong Park at night.

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Trip to Alcatraz

In late 2016 I took a trip out to the San Francisco Bay area – a real home away from home. I spent two years living in the Bay and wanted to visit a few old friends. The highlight of the trip was getting to go out to Alcatraz Island, home of Alcatraz Prison, and now a United States National Park. Despite some buildings being almost a century old, Alcatraz is amazingly accessible to explore and it was one of my favorite travel adventure yet.

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My first 360 degree video

I recently bought a Samsung Gear 360 camera. Got it used off Amazon for under $150. It’s not waterproof like the GoPro’s and the picture quality isn’t as nice, but other than that it’s pretty amazing technology for the price.

To test it out I attached it to a selfie stick and then strapped the selfie stick on to the front of my handcycle. It gives a nice over the head view of everything around me, but it’s not very stable and looks kind of silly. I might try some sort of clamp-on system to improve the stability.

Here’s a short handcycle trip I took around my neighborhood recently. You should be able to pan around as you play the video to see all around me. I even tried it out using my Google Cardboard headset and it looks surprisingly nice even without being formatted for a headset.

Indian River Fishing

Went fishing with my dad in the Indian River near the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. The area is gorgeous Florida at its finest. Manatees are everywhere you look and the ocean brings and endless variety of fish to catch. I’m not revealing our exact area because its relatively isolated and we’d like to keep it that way 🙂

Rode my handcycle through Hollywood Beach, Florida

Last weekend I visited Hollywood Beach, Florida. I rode my hand-cycle up and down the 3 mile (one direction) beach boardwalk on a gorgeous Saturday morning. I had never visited Hollywood Beach before, but it instantly reminded me of “The Strand” along the beaches of Los Angeles. There’s an endless parade of smoothie stands, beach shops, tiki bars, and smiling, happy people. Also Margarittaville!

There is lots of public parking at the parks that are on both ends of the boardwalk. Best of all, the beaches offer direct access from sidewalk to the sand, with no ramps, dunes or other obstacles to slow someone down. If you watch my video closely you’ll also notice a few blue colored wheelchair accessible mats going out into the sand. I didn’t get a chance to get on the beach as I was tired from my biking, but I will surely return soon.

A letter to Senator Marco Rubio

Senator Rubio,

I am writing to you to express my complete opposition to any changes to our existing health care laws that could result in the weakening of community rating requirements for health care plans sold in the state of Florida.

As a life long Florida resident who was born with multiple birth defects, I have experienced every aspect of attempting to get health care in the state of Florida over the past 30 years. As a child I relied on Medicaid to help my parents pay for the hundreds of thousands of dollars of health care bills I generated.  Eventually my parents got health insurance through their work and I had full coverage through a private insurer.  Once I became an adult and began attending UCF, I was forced off my parent’s insurance and back onto Medicaid.

I began my career as an engineer, but despite making an above average salary, I was never allowed to spend my own money to purchase my own insurance until the Affordable Care Act passed. Since the ACA, I have happily spent thousands of dollars of my own money to purchase my own insurance to responsibly keep the coverage I need.

There is nothing more important to keeping people like me off Medicaid, off the government’s dollar, than allowing us to continue to purchase our own insurance coverage without facing discrimination for pre-existing conditions we were born with.

I cannot comment on any other aspects of the efforts to repeal the ACA, but I absolutely implore you to not support any future health care legislation that would drive people like myself back onto the government’s care by allowing any changes to the community rating of health care plans.  Or worse, drive us out of the state of Florida entirely, and into a state that will allow us to take care of ourselves like responsible adults.

Sincerely,

Adam

Dania Beach Pier

Last weekend I took a trip down to Miami to see Radiohead live in concert at the American Airlines arena. The concert was amazing, it was my first time seeing Radiohead, and they put on a very OK Computer heavy setlist, which happily surprised me.

The arena itself was pretty good. Its a near clone to the new Amway Center in Orlando. Handicapped parking at the arena was NOT free like it was in Orlando, but I cannot complain about anything else. Except the traffic. Downtown Miami traffic is horrid.

On the way back from Miami I stopped by Dania Beach, specifically near the Dania Beach Pier, and I found it to be by far the most wheelchair friendly beach in Florida yet. Here is a video of me using my lever drive chair to go directly from the parking lot to near the water. Completely flat the entire way!

After resting for a few minutes, I continued down towards the water to watch the wind surfers in action. Next time I’ll bring my wetsuit and try out the water myself.

Handicapped parking is free near the pier, but has self service kiosks for everyone else. Entrance to the pier itself is not free, but is only a few dollars for both observers and fishing. There were tons of people fishing so it looks like a great spot.

Avalon State Park

This past weekend I took my lever-drive beach chair out on the beach at Avalon State Park, near Ft. Pierce, on the eastern Atlantic coast of Florida. I’ll post more details about my chair soon, it’s still in final testing mode, but I’m very impressed with its ability to let me push myself up and down even the softest sand beach.

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The reason I went to Avalon State Park is that it seems to be the most northern Florida beach with a straight, direct pathway on to the beach from the parking lot. From my recent explorations of public beaches on the east coast, they all have a parking area that is elevated above the sand dunes, with a winding ramp down on to the sand (if there is a ramp at all). While these ramps are better than stairs, they can also be rather steep, sometimes too narrow to make a turn on, and are often covered with a layer of soft sand. The ramps are also usually about 500 feet away from the water, making it a major chore to access.

This is compared to beaches in South Florida where the roadway is often at the same level as the beach, with the water only about 100 feet away.

I didn’t get a chance to take pictures, but an image from Wikipedia shows how relatively direct the access is at Avalon State Park:

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Parking is free with a disabled placard, but is otherwise handled by a self-serve walk-up machine in the parking lot. I believe it was only $2/hour. This compares to beaches closer to Cocoa Beach that are anywhere from $15-$20 per day and are hit or miss when it comes to being free for the disabled.

The beach at Avalon is beautiful, the sand is relatively coarse, the water is aqua, and best of all, the beach was nearly empty. Outside of a few people jogging, I was the only one there. According to Google Maps, its about 240 feet from the parking lot to the water’s edge. There is a sand dune to overcome as you approach the water’s edge (or rather, when you’re trying to get back up!), but it’s of medium grade and I was able to maneuver it with some effort.

Wild dolphins in the Indian River

 

I did some fishing with my dad today. We went to the pier at the far end of the bridge over the Indian River in Melbourne Beach, Florida. We did not get any bites, but it didn’t matter, because we saw wild dolphins for the very first time!

After 25 years in Florida, I can now confirm that they exist outside of Sea World!

It was also a great place to test out my newest GoPro camera attachment. This time I put it on my FreeWheel, a great little wheelchair toy that attaches to the front of your chair and lifts the front caster wheels off the ground. It turns any wheelchair into a three wheel stabilized offroad chair. The FreeWheel is awesome because it is very light weight, easy to travel with, and let’s me go in the grass, dirt roads, and even tightly packed sand.

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It also makes a great camera location for stable filming. I’m planning some trips to Miami, Clearwater, and San Francisco (!) for later this year and I’m excited to throw my FreeWheel into my bag and take it with me.

Body boarding at New Smyrna Beach, Florida

Here’s a short clip of me swimming out in the waves at New Smyrna Beach. I attached my GoPro straight onto my cheap foam body board and enjoyed the surf.

New Smyrna has become my favorite beach to visit in Florida. Although it’s a bit of a drive from my home, it’s worth the mileage due to the great easy wheelchair access provided by parking your vehicle right on the sand. From your vehicle to the surf is about 20 feet and half of that distance is over highly compacted sand. The water is always a great temperature and there are few sand dunes to get in your way.

Parking is normally $10 per day, but is FREE for those with a disabled parking permit. Just mention it to the guard at the gate and they’ll give you a windshield sticker for future quick access.

There are a few downsides to keep in mind.

First, New Smyrna is a very popular beach in the summer. It’s always crowded. Be prepared to have to drive more than a mile along the beach before you find an empty parking spot. The good news is there is always enough room if you drive far enough from the entrance.

Second, vehicle access to the beach is CLOSED around high tide. Check the tide predictions for the day before you go and try to avoid the time two hours before or after high tide.

Third, there is almost always a strong rip tide parallel to the coast. This means if you get in the water and aren’t paying attention, you will literally be taken a mile or more down the coast. For those of in a wheelchair that struggle to get through any sand, it’s a major concern.

Despite these issues, New Smyrna is still my favorite beach. The people are always friendly, there are vendors that sell snacks, you can see crabs, sea turtles & all kinds of birds, oh and you can’t beat the accessibility.