{"id":51376,"date":"2014-08-14T00:09:28","date_gmt":"2014-08-14T07:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=51376"},"modified":"2014-08-14T00:09:28","modified_gmt":"2014-08-14T07:09:28","slug":"a-500-mile-journey-between-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/51376","title":{"rendered":"a 500-mile journey between friends"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\tJustin Skeesuck\u00a0and Patrick Gray are lifelong friends who have\u00a0&#8220;pushed&#8221; the boundaries of friendship.<\/p>\n<p>Justin, who helps and inspires others with disabilities through his website, <a href=\"http:\/\/the-disabled-traveler.com\">The-Disabled-Traveler.com<\/a>, has a rare, progressive autoimmune disorder that&#8217;s left him wheelchair-bound. But it hasn&#8217;t stopped his passion for travel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve found that traveling is THE BEST way to experience other cultures, forge new and exciting relationships, and gain a greater understanding of yourself,\u201d says Justin. \u201cYes, there are many challenges that come with that but, in the end, the experiences and memories my family and I now share has made all of my efforts worth it!\u201d In the last 20 years, Jason has visited Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Canada, as well as many states throughout the U.S., Hawaii, and Alaska. Justin, who lives in Meridian, Idaho, with his wife and three children,\u00a0has dedicated his life to sharing practical \u201chow-to\u201d information with other disabled travelers.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick is a registered nurse and Program Manager for St. Luke\u2019s Hospital in Boise, Idaho. Patrick and Justin were born just one day apart and\u00a0have been best friends for more than 38 years. &#8220;We travel together; we live life together through our ups and downs; and most importantly, will do anything for each other,&#8221; says Patrick.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_51382\" style=\"width: 370px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-51382\" class=\"wp-image-51382 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/justin-patrick.jpg\" alt=\"justin-patrick\" width=\"360\" height=\"372\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-51382\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">photo, IllPushYou.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p>When Justin saw a travel show about hiking the mountainous 500-mile El Camino de Santiago\u00a0Trail in Spain, he approached Patrick with the idea. Patrick&#8217;s immediate response? &#8220;I&#8217;ll push you!&#8221; Watch a beautiful,\u00a0inspiring, 6-minute video about the journey <em>to<\/em> the journey (warning: hankie alert!):<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RddJIR5gu24?feature=player_detailpage\" width=\"500\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center>In July, Justin and Patrick completed the grueling 35-day trek.<\/p>\n<p>And because they believe &#8220;there&#8217;s more to life than just sitting around complaining about the challenges we all face,&#8221; they partnered with a documentary crew who came along on their journey, capturing &#8220;every joy, struggle, challenge, landscape, and the AMAZING people we met along the way!&#8221; They&#8217;re now raising funds to finish and distribute their film at <a href=\"http:\/\/illpushyou.com\/\">IllPushYou.com<\/a> with the goal of inspiring others to realize that nothing is impossible.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our journey showed that if you jump out in faith, then with the help of community and with love, amazing things happen.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Justin Skeesuck\u00a0and Patrick Gray are lifelong friends who have\u00a0&#8220;pushed&#8221; the boundaries of friendship. Justin, who helps and inspires others with disabilities through his website, The-Disabled-Traveler.com, has a rare, progressive autoimmune disorder that&#8217;s left him wheelchair-bound. But it hasn&#8217;t stopped his &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/51376\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/51376\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-giving_back"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}