As a 52-year-old husband and father of three, traveling and spending time with my family are two of my favorite things, but my L3 paraplegia combined with the COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on how I enjoy both. Planning a family road trip seemed like the perfect way to do something fun and new while being safe.

With that in mind, last summer my family and I set off from our suburban Chicago home on an epic road trip to experience some of the beautiful and historic sites of the East Coast. We took part in some serious off-road adventures over 3,000 miles and 12 days of action-packed activities. After outdoor fun in Ellenville, New York, we devoured clam chowder and lobster rolls in Boston, Massachusetts, and took in the scenic views and history at Cape Elizabeth and Portland, Maine. Then we explored breathtaking Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Off-Road Adventures in NY

The first leg of our trip from Chicago to Ellenville, New York, was the longest of our whole journey. Ellenville is home to Northeast Off-Road Adventures, an off-road driving school tucked away on 75 acres of pristine private property in the Catskills Mountains. When I stumbled on NORA and saw their adaptive program — Specialized Outdoor Adaptive Recreation — on YouTube, I knew I had to visit.

I had never experienced driving a vehicle off-road before, either as a passenger or a driver, so watching people learn to traverse the most extreme terrain had me itching to get behind the wheel of NORA’s four-wheel drive Jeep CJ-5 equipped with hand controls. NORA will tailor a program for you depending upon your comfort level and budget.

Before you can go off-roading, you must take NORA’s Off-Road Classroom Course, which consists of watching an hour-plus video of classroom instruction and introduction to off-roading. An instructor will take you on a preliminary trial to get used to the hand controls before going up the mountains. As another safety point, the adaptive Jeep is equipped with a passenger-side braking system so the instructor can apply the brakes just in case of a sticky situation. My instructor had to step on the brakes at least twice on my trip! Still, rolling over fallen trees and maneuvering and climbing over large boulders and rocks was an adrenaline rush.

If you’re interested in riding roughshod in smaller, adaptive vehicles, SOAR is an authorized dealer for the Action Track Chair and the GRIT Freedom Chair. They offer on-site off-road obstacle courses where you can try out these awesome chairs on woodland dirt trails and rugged terrain. SOAR also hosts air gun marksmanship, off-road ride-a-longs and much more. I had never been to a place that offers so many unique hands-on accessible adventures in one place. My kids won’t forget hiking in the trails with the Action Track Chair and the GRIT Freedom Chair while each NORA Team member carried a can of bear spray in case of a chance encounter. Thankfully, we did not run into any bears.

NORA can also offer recommendations on hotels, places to eat and things to see. We stayed at the Honor’s Haven Hotel, an older hotel that was not the best for wheelchair accessibility. The two accessible rooms were already booked, but the staff was very willing to address the needs of my family and me.

Crabs, Lobsters and Ducks

Next up was a 3.5-hour ride to Boston in search of the best bowl of New England clam chowder and their world-famous lobster rolls. During stops at Faneuil Hall and the Quincy Marketplace, I learned a lot about clam chowder while talking to locals and people on the street and by observing which restaurants had the longest lines. I enjoyed my favorite bowl of clam chowder at the Union Oyster House. The Cheers bar was a close second, and the Barking Crab House finished third. Do not even ask for a bowl of Manhattan clam chowder or the locals will kick you all the way to Rhode Island.

While in Boston, we unexpectedly experienced our first tropical storm. Her name was Elsa, and she dumped over 4 inches of rain in less than a day. It is not fun pushing a wheelchair in pouring rain and through endless puddles, but you have to make the best of it, or it is a wasted day. Thank goodness I packed our rain gear, and my driving lessons from NORA paid off while navigating in the torrential rains.

Befitting the rain, one tourist trap not to miss in Boston is the Duck Tour. A Duck is an accessible amphibious military vehicle that can travel on both land and sea and can accommodate up to two wheelchairs. It is a fun way to see the city and learn about Boston’s history. My family loved this tour, as we saw the historic sites and made a real splash into the Chesapeake River.

From there it was on to the famous Paul Revere House and the historic “Midnight Ride” trail. We also toured the wheelchair accessible Boston Tea Party Museum and got to toss tea into Boston Harbor aboard a full-scale replica of an 18th century ship.

As with any big city, Boston has accessibility issues, like broken cobblestone streets, a lack of curb cuts and restaurants with difficult or no accessible entrances. Make sure you bring your disability-parking placard because parking is a challenge and expensive.

The Maine Attraction

On top of crossing off bucket-list items and sightseeing, road trips are a great excuse to visit family and relatives that you do not get to see often enough. Since some of my relatives live just outside Portland, Maine, we made the 2.5-hour drive from Boston to Cape Elizabeth. The town is known for its historic lighthouses and beautiful shore-side parks, and Fort Williams Park didn’t disappoint in either regard. Located in Portland Harbor on Casco Bay, it’s home to Portland Head Lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse in Maine, built in 1791. The park offers some breathtaking ocean views and is mostly wheelchair accessible with a few challenging areas to travel. The people there are extremely nice and helpful. I asked two complete strangers to help me wheel down to the beach and back so I could experience the ocean up close with my family.

Portland, Maine, was voted the coziest city in America and is a fun city to visit with fabulous restaurants and microbreweries and some of the freshest seafood around. If you have some extra time, take the accessible ferry ride to Peaks Island, home to the Fifth Maine Regiment Museum, tiny shops and restaurants, and the “World’s First and Only Umbrella Cover Museum.”

Wheelchairs and umbrellas do not mix well, and the museum is not wheelchair accessible, but the curator was more than willing to tell me what is inside and bring out some of her most coveted umbrella covers for me to see. As you wait to catch the ferry ride back, you must try their famous Red Snapper Hot Dogs, known for their bright red neon color. They will give the Chicago hot dogs a run for their money, but remember, NO ketchup please!

Where the Sun Rises

The last leg of our road trip was a three-hour drive northeast to Bar Harbor, Maine, to explore Acadia National Park. With a stunning mix of rocky beaches and granite peaks, it’s obvious why Acadia is one of the most visited national parks in America.

I highly recommend stopping at the Visitor Center for information on accessibility and park maps. The Island Explorer shuttle bus is free, wheelchair accessible, and will transport you to many of the park destinations and local communities, but not all bus stops are wheelchair accessible. The most wheelchair-accessible trail is Jordan’s Pond. However, the trail is not fully accessible all the way around and can be challenging in some areas, but does offer some beautiful mountain views.

Other sites to check out are Thunder Hole, Ocean Path, Sandy Beach and Echo Lake. Wheelchair accessibility varies, but they all are very scenic. Acadia also has over 45 miles of rustic carriage roads to explore. John D. Rockefeller originally built these roads to travel by horse and carriage. Most consist of crushed gravel and are somewhat wheelchair accessible, if not ideal for handcycling.

Another great way to explore Acadia is by kayak. My wife and I called several kayak outfitters to see if they could accommodate my disability. Unfortunately many said, “No.” Finally we found Coastal Kayaking Tours. The staff was superb to work with and very accommodating.

Due to the high and low ocean tides, Coastal Kayaking changed our kayaking launch site location to make it easier and safer for me to transfer from my wheelchair into and out of the sea kayaks. Once again, it was a good thing I learned some off-roading at NORA because I got to use those skills and drive right onto the sandy beach to get to the launch site.

The 2.5 hour guided kayaking tour was an amazing experience. I can now say my family and I kayaked in the Atlantic Ocean. We reveled in gorgeous mountain views of Frenchman Bay and Porcupine Island and abundant wildlife, including bald eagles, osprey, blue herons, harbor seals and porpoises. Finding accessible accommodations in the area was difficult, but I finally found a wheelchair accessible room at the Bluenose Inn, a short drive from downtown Bar Harbor.

After 10 days of adventure, it was time again to load up the minivan and head for home. We made one last stop to see family in Syracuse, New York (585 miles and 10 hours). With my daughter looking at colleges, we got a tour of Syracuse University and enjoyed a wonderful home-cooked meal before heading out for the long drive home (680 miles and over 11 hours) with plenty of time to plan our next family road trip.