Feature Stories

Mindy Alexander has amassed a large online following in her mission to break down barriers surrounding children with special needs. When her youngest daughter Emsley was born with cerebral palsy, Mindy chose to go public, sharing an intimate look at her family’s daily life. By using her Instagram account @mindyalexander, she highlights what she calls “inchstones” that celebrate small, meaningful physical improvements and daily wins with Emsley’s complex medical needs. Participating as a family, especially on vacation, is important to her. Learn how the AdvenChair opened up the rugged canyon and trails of Smith Rock to Emsley and her family on their AdvenTour.

In addition to returning to Smith Rock State Park, Benham Falls and Shevlin Park, AdvenTours ventured to the shoreline of Crater Lake, climbed to the panoramic summit of Tumalo Mountain, and meandered along the tumbling waters of Paulina Creek and Tumalo Creek. What’s more, our guest riders this year hailed from far beyond the Central Oregon region with explorers, writers and influencers visiting from four countries outside of the United States  – Canada, Great Britain, The Netherlands, and Australia.

Since the beginning of the decade, AdvenChair has proven itself more than capable of handling some of the most challenging terrain on the planet – reaching the depths of the Grand Canyon, scaling the heights of Machu Picchu, and navigating the crazy cobblestone streets of the Camino de Fatima in Portugal to name a few. Recently, AdvenChairman Geoff Babb and his wife Yvonne took the versatile all-terrain vehicle on another unprecedented journey:  to the urban jungle of Beijing and some of its unique natural and human-made surroundings.

See the video: "I am officially a hiker." – Hannah

In September, we were one of many partners who made this Tumalo mountain AdvenTour hike possible for Hannah Crutchfield, winner of an awesome giveaway hosted by Wheel the World and Visit Central Oregon to promote Oregon's new "Accessibility Verified" status!  

Dear Geoff—I want to share a few photos and a little about my AdvenChair experience last weekend. My family stayed in Sunriver, visited the Newberry National Volcanic Monument Saturday, and browsed in Bend on Sunday. I’ve been back in St. Paul long enough to do some show and tell with several friends. Their initial reactions to seeing me in the AdvenChair? “Wow!  And “where did you find that?!” And “it looks like it was made for you!” 

Which is how it felt.

In its relatively brief period of existence, AdvenChair has made some seemingly impossible physical endeavors quite doable for people with disabilities – reaching Machu Picchu and venturing to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to name a couple. But now, thanks to an intrepid youth group from St. Stephens Catholic Church in Renton, Washington, it can add a life-changing spiritual sojourn to its list of accomplishments as well.     

They say no person is an island. That’s especially true when that person needs something that doesn’t exist yet to make his or her life better, and then invents something that not only fulfills the need, but benefits those immediately around him, and countless other people in similar circumstances in different parts of the planet.  Clearly that’s the case with Geoff Babb and his AdvenChair invention that had a ripple effect on dozens of people who journeyed with him to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back two years ago. And recently, the story of that journey inspired another couple so much, it moved them to create a 48-minute documentary film called DREAM BOLDLY. 

What do you get when you combine AdvenChair, the leader in all-terrain wheelchairs, with Wanderlust Tours, Central Oregon’s leader in guided all-terrain adventures? You get AdvenTours, outings that allow people with disabilities to explore Central Oregon’s most iconic places with expert guidance.

For more than 60 years, Oregon’s outdoor schools have offered life-changing educational experiences, allowing 5th and 6th-graders to immerse themselves in hands-on science projects in the wild. For children with disabilities, however, trails and rugged terrain have always made participation an uphill battle, if not utterly impossible. But thanks to AdvenChair, the pathways to outdoor learning are now wide open for every student at the Northwest Outdoor Science School (NWOSS).    

There may be no way to truly replicate the arduous 4,000-foot elevation change in tackling the Grand Canyon’s Bright Angel Trail to the Colorado River and back. But some of the training missions the AdvenChair team has taken on over the past few weeks come pretty close.

People are disabled in countless different ways, so there are a few practical tips that will apply to everyone. Yet a few key things can improve your experience. Here are a few featured in this great article from Outside Online.

So much for starting slowly and gradually picking up speed. Less than three months off the assembly line, one of the first ten AdvenChairs ever made has already explored one of the eight wonders of the world.

The scouting report called for plowed, packed snow on the service road that serves as the Canal Trail along the Deschutes River. The fresh snow from the night before should give good traction, a good “joggable” surface, similar conditions to a trip a few years ago.

My wife, Yvonne often refers to the AdvenChair as the “community chair” because so many people are involved with it, whether designing it, telling the story, or on the trail, where it takes a team to push, pull, and/or maneuver the chair. This was the case last week on a hike at Smith Rock State Park.

As we drove home from the Grand Canyon, through the Great Basin desert, I had plenty of time to reflect on the past year, particularly the last four months, and how my crazy idea of the Grand Advenchair had affected not only me and my family, but a much greater circle of people as well.

Amy, Yvonne, and I arrived back in Bend tonight after 3 days of driving from the Grand Canyon, exhausted but excited (most everyone else flew home Friday). I wanted to write a quick update, and then it’s off to a shower and bed.

One of my earliest and profound memories from the hospital following my stroke was when I was still in the ICU, dealing with a lot of pain, and not fully aware of what had happened to me and what was next. The nurse came in, tuned my bed toward the window, opened the curtains, and said “you have a lot of friends.”

When I survived a brain-stem stroke in 2005, I had to completely change how I looked at the world, approached adventures, and accessed wild places. While this has probably been the hardest challenge I have dealt with in my life, it has also been one of the most rewarding because my family and friends have made the outdoors possible for me.

The weather for the 2016 Pole Pedal Paddle relay in Bend, Ore. ranked in “the top 5 worst days” in the 40-year-history of the event and still attracted nearly 3,000 racers. Oregon Adaptive Sports (OAS) fielded 4 teams of racers in the Adaptive division for the 6th straight year. The Can Do Crew, No Boundaries, True Grit, and Onward! all showed up ready to race, rain or shine.

A lone clarinet player sat under the Augusta Street Bridge as we completed our last stroll on the River Walk. We had been in San Antonio for the Association for Fire Ecology’s 6th International Fire Congress and the quiet jazz melody lilting over the river was a calming send off from a very busy, energetic, and enjoyable week.

Bruce Cockburn was on my mind as I watched the sunrise from my hospital bed. I was on day five of my two week meditative retreat in early October that was the result of a “bad” urinary tract infection that was “everywhere”, and I had survived into another day.

As many of you know, Geoff caught a nasty little infection from which he is still recovering. Friday (Sept. 25th) he came down with the chills and by Saturday was struggling to make transfers even with Dennis and Yvonne's help.

“Sticky” Steve Morrison was up from Florida and we were eager to show him some of our Oregon beauty. Shepard Smith and Kirsten Nugent had brought Sticky to Bend from Corvallis and had wanted to see Smith Rock State Park (“to see the old homestead”) Friday before heading back to the Willamette Valley.