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grateful, happy guy,” he says,
laughing.
Apart from complications
relating to the broken femur he
suffered in a bicycle accident last
June, Patterson sees few obstacles
in accomplishing his extensive
retirement travel goals—
although Judith may beg to dif-
fer. “For the next 18 months I’ll
be doing all the honey-dos I
haven’t done for the past 18
years,” he jokes.
The Other Side
Of The Mountain
But even the honey-dos
won’t get in the way of his pas-
sion for helping people with dis-
abilities enjoy one of his favorite
activities—downhill skiing.
Patterson enjoys skiing so much
that he started a side business in
1992 called SkiMore Tours. In
1999, when Judith became
unable to ski standing up due to
the effects of fibromyalgia and
chronic fatigue syndrome, they
found a supportive adaptive ski-
ing environment at Challenge
Aspen in Snowmass, Colorado.
After their first experience,
which Judith loved, they decided
to make adaptive skiing available
to others.
He and Judith approached
the Shepherd Center, a world
renowned rehabilitation and
research facility in Atlanta that
specializes in spinal cord and
brain injury rehabilitation, about
leading an adaptive ski trip. They
received an enthusiastic reaction
and were soon leading ski trips
with paraplegics, quadriplegics,
amputees, and those with brain
injuries and other physical chal-
lenges down the mountain in
places such as Snowmass and
Breckenridge, Colorado and Park
City, Utah.
In February, the pair com-
pleted their 15th trip for people
with disabilities. “These are not
only trips for people who have the
injuries, but also for their family
members. These trips help those
with injuries see that life’s not
over. There are still fun things
they can do,” Patterson says.
Life Changing Travel
He is constantly inspired by
those who come skiing with
them. One 70-year-old first-
time participant, who had
become a quadriplegic after a
cycling accident, told Patterson
that the ski trip changed his life.
“I thought I was going to be
looking out a window for the
rest of my life,” the man said. He
ended up going on cruises and
remodeling his Florida condo to
accommodate his needs after
gaining inspiration from the ski
trip. The participant passed away
last year, but his legacy continues
to inspire Patterson. “Every time
I get frustrated putting these
trips together,” Patterson says, “I
remember the impact the trips
have on the people who go.”
Travel has had an impact on
Patterson’s own life, starting
when he was 16 and spent a year
as a foreign exchange student
with a family in Sweden. He
only spoke to his parents by
phone once in the 13 months he
spent there. During that year he
gained four Swedish “brothers,”
one of whom spent the year with
Patterson’s family at home in
Ohio while he was in Sweden.
The brothers remain close and
share a love of adventure travel.
In March 2015, Patterson joined
one of his Swedish brothers,
Jörn, a retired pediatrician, on an
eight-day cross-country ski trip
in the remote northwest corner
of Sweden, above the Arctic
Circle.
“We had no electricity, no
heat, no running water, no inter-
net; we were completely off the
grid skiing hut to hut,” Patterson
says. They carried all their sup-
plies and food with them in 36-
pound backpacks and didn’t
shower for eight days. “It was
grueling, harrowing, scary, and
took a lot of effort and
endurance. But I’d do it again in
a heartbeat. It was a trip of a
lifetime.”
Patterson’s idea of a trip of a
lifetime might differ from less
adventurous travelers. He’s the
type of guy who reminisces
fondly about his 5,000-mile solo
driving and camping trip to take
part in a charity bike ride in
Utah in 2014 that raised funds
for the National Ability Center.
No Slowing Down
In his spare time during
retirement, Patterson hopes to
travel to the maritime provinces
in Canada, the national parks in
the Southwest and go on a
European river cruise. And
that’s just for starters. “My goal
is to take Judith to all the places
we’ve talked about. But if I win
the lottery, I’m going to
Antarctica.”
He’ll have to squeeze all
that retirement travel in around
his duties as president of his
homeowner’s association, his
role singing in a local choir
and his frequent efforts to help
his older neighbors by giving
rides to medical appointments
in the city.
“How did I ever have time to
work?” he laughs.
Julie Richie is associate editor
for
PPB.
APRIL 2016 •
PPB
• 13
Patterson at a 2014 charity bike
ride
at the National Ability Center
in Utah.
JOHN W. PATTERSON, MAS