Life & Work with Kristy Cook

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristy Cook.

Hi Kristy, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Our family of 5 is originally from FL and relocated to Colorado to access better medical care for our disabled son Robbie. His main diagnosis is Epilepsy from which he suffers daily seizures. Because of this condition, his neurologist referred him to Make-A-Wish and he was gifted an RV. Since receiving his wish, we have been traveling the country as much as possible, visiting National Parks, and finding wheelchair-accessible locations to enjoy.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When we started to plan our travels, we realized quickly how difficult it could be to find up-to-date information about accessibility. As a very new RV family we reached out to full-time RV families via Instagram to ask them about areas they had recently visited and what they thought was possible with our son’s wheelchair or my husband carrying him on shorter trails, keeping in mind he is a 4ft 2 inches 60 lb. child, this is no easy task. The RV community was a blessing and helped us map out our first summer of adventures.

Once fall hit and I started planning for the next RV season I decided we needed to share these locations with other families like ours. I thought, “We can’t be the only family wanting to explore with a wheelchair”. This thought was the beginning of our account on Instagram @accessible.adventures. We geo-tag travel locations that are wheelchair friendly, share disability awareness, and have created a community for other medical parents to connect and support one another through their unique journeys.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
My husband and I did not grow up in outdoorsy families camping, hiking, etc.

When we received our son’s camper from Make-A-Wish at Camping World Denver there was an amazing employee named Joe who walked us through every detail of RV life and helped us shop splitting things into categories like “nice to have” vs “need to have”. We also looked to other traveling families for advice on hiking needs and advice.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.accessibleadventures.net
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/accessible.adventures
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/accessible.adventuresonfb/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMW0rNCRZDGjR7_vKBBzcMg
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@accessible.adventures