The Mother Road
Trenton residents travel America’s most famous highway to raise money for Lou Gehrig’s disease

They stopped at most of the tourist attractions, spent countless nights in  hotels, purchased souvenirs and they were happy to be back home.         But this was no ordinary summer vacation.        It lasted 29 days, covered 7,330 miles and raised more than $8,000.        It was called the PALS Across America Road Trip to Cure ALS.        Kyle Hahn, a Trenton resident who has Lou Gehrig’s disease, and Terry Frank, secretary, treasurer and co-founder of the organization — and several volunteer drivers — left on their roadtrip on May 24. They returned home June 22.        In between, they traveled along the famous Route 66 and passed through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Wyoming, Nevada, California, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.

One of the highlights of Kyle Hahn’s road trip to cure amyotrophic sclerosis came when he crossed the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

There were stops at the Golden Gate Bridge, Grand Canyon, Cadillac Ranch, Strategic Air Command Museum, Oklahoma City Memorial and Mojave Desert.        Frank kept a daily journal and took more than 900 photos. Here is an excerpt from her writing.

MAY 24 - Trenton to La Salle, Ill.

       Our first escorts, Linda and Roger Heath, of Wilder, Ky., arrived very early followed shortly by another fellow Kentucky resident, Jay Eiben, then police officers from Trenton, Middletown and Monroe. The officers were great and very eager to help.
       Our small apartment began to swell with more folks joining the caravan. Valerie Rucker, our administrative assistant and a dear friend we could not do without, along with our neighbors, Linda and Carlos Rosa, had already been helping us put everything together since before 7 a.m.
       Valerie was getting Kyle ready for departure and Sarah Hix arrived about 7:30 a.m. to begin loading the van. Hix was our helper/driver for the leg to San Francisco. She’s the daughter of Kyle’s mom’s best friend, and she was our very first office assistant for the ALS March of Faces three years ago. Somehow, this just felt right that she would be with us again at the beginning.
       By 10:30 a.m. we added Larry and Amy Adams, Steve Moore, Mike DeVaughan, Raejean Creech, and our good buddy, Ed Kramer.
       Kyle first drove his wheelchair up to the van to make a final inspection. Satisfied, he turned and headed toward the front of the drive. Time to get the show on the road. Everyone cheered as Kyle began his ascent into the van. A few honks and we were rolling.
       The escort was great. A slow leisurely pace allowing curious onlookers to grasp what this journey was all about. The caravan of a dozen cars, vans and trucks all decked with CURE ALS flags made it clear we were on a mission.
       We drove straight through to Peru, Ill., after a quick stop for a bite to eat.

MAY 25 - La Salle, Ill., to Omaha, Neb.

       An early wake up call for me helped to get us all off on time. Peru was halfway through the state of Illinois so we did not have far to travel before we hit the Iowa state line.
       We reached Omaha about 8:30 p.m. We had no idea where we were supposed to go. Taking an exit that seemed pretty well passed the city, we asked the man at the Philip’s 66 how to get to the Courtyard Marriott. He kindly showed me a map, detailing the route we needed to take, and even warned of the construction we would come against near the hotel. We headed back, missed our turn off, and had to backtrack the exact same way again. We got downtown and immediately spotted the detour signs for 10th street, our destination.
       Well, we detoured in the wrong direction, but we found the zoo. It was closed. Once again, another stop at a Philip’s 66 for directions, another drinking cup and a fill-up.
       That’s where I met Don. I said to him, “I’ve got a question for you,” and he replied, “First, I’ve got a question for you. What’s PALS Across America?”
       I explained about our trip, our mission and our baseballs. He wanted one. I ran out to the van to retrieve one, and when I returned he said he needed four more.
       Within 10 minutes we were in a pretty dark secluded area and pretty sure we were nowhere near the Courtyard Marriott. We spotted a police car and pulled over to ask him directions. This time we got exact instructions, numbers of lights, names of streets, and shortly we were pulling into the hotel parking lot.
       It was 10 p.m. by the time we got unloaded in the room. I began fixing Kyle’s dinner immediately, while Sarah called Pizza Hut for delivery. We pack a kind of portable kitchen with us, just to make sure we are able to prepare a meal for Kyle. This consists of a mini-food processor, a portable electric burner, a small saucepan, a small frying pan, a cutting board, chopping knife and a few eating and cooking utensils. It has served us very well.

MAY 26 - Omaha to Lincoln, Neb.

       This was one of the few days we had dedicated to sightseeing. Kyle had chosen Omaha because of the Strategic Air Command Museum. After stocking up with tons of souvenirs, we proceeded to the planes.
       We ate out this evening at Applebee’s and made friends with our waiter, Andrew, who coerced his fellow servers into supporting our patient services fundraising. As we left the restaurant, the hostess came hurrying up to us, and gave me a big hug. She had a dear friend whose husband had been diagnosed with ALS, and she was a caregiver for her disabled husband. Kyle and I were both very touched.

MAY 27 - Lincoln, Neb., to Cheyenne, Wyo.

       Nebraska was beautiful country. I loved the rolling hills of black earth striped with brilliant green rows of young corn stalks. And the bluffs were a phenomenon I had not yet experienced.

MAY 28 - Cheyenne, Wyo., to Salt Lake City, Utah

       Wyoming was mostly ranches and mountains, with a few little oil rigs scattered here and there.
       I bought a postcard of a place we weren’t going. I thought it would be hilarious to send postcards to my friends with a note that said, “We Weren’t Here.”
       Crossing from Wyoming to Utah was like night and day. The landscape was so abruptly beautiful. We were lucky enough to get to Salt Lake City area before dark.

       We passed the Morton Salt factory. I wonder why I never thought about Morton and Salt Lake together. We also passed a strange statue in the middle of nowhere. It was kind of hard to say what the statue was of, it sort of looked like a cross between a Joshua tree and a science class model of the solar system, except some of the planets had “fallen” out of alignment and broken open.
       We stopped at Bonneville Salt Flats, the famous measured mile, where land speed records are made and broken. Sarah scooped up a film canister of salt for Kyle.

       With so much of the day ahead of us, we decided to take the scenic route into San Francisco. This consisted of detour through Lake Tahoe. We knew a PALS in the area, Steve Lieberman, and were hoping that we would be able to find him and his carry-out restaurant, Killer Chicken.
       We discovered why Tahoe was a favorite among honeymooners. The lake and surrounding area was gorgeous. We took lots of great pictures.
       Coming down from the mountains toward San Francisco proved rather treacherous, and this began the hardest parts of our drive with Kyle. There were many winding slopes and steep grades, all of which sent Kyle’s head sailing from one side to other. His headrest became loosened, and though he wore a neck brace, it was only useful for his head dropping and not for side to side stability.

       This was my third visit to Muir Woods, and Kyle’s second, but it is such a serene place of awesome beauty, it is always worth another trip. It was Sarah’s first time seeing the giant Sequoias. This is a perfect outing as we got to cross over the Golden Gate Bridge, and we stopped right before hand, to take a few pictures at the Palace of the Fine Arts.
       Kyle wanted to see the beach, so we continued along Route 101 and discovered the Muir Beach overlook. This was truly a photo opportunity designed by God.
       While at the overlook, we met a couple of guys who noticed our van, and we spoke to them about ALS and our Route 66 Journey to End Lou Gehrig’s Disease. They told Kyle to stop in Winslow, Ariz., and check out the tribute to Jackson Browne’s song “Take it Easy.”

       The wonderful thing about sleep, is that it washes away the stress and pain, leaving behind only the pleasant memories of the day before. We woke refreshed and filled with reminisces of yesterday’s adventure. We were ready to brave it again. We also relaxed and took our time about things. 
       We had arranged to meet our friend, Dudley Thompson down at the wharf. He is the owner of GraphicsLand, and produces the ALS March of Faces banner for us.
       It never ceases to amaze me what keen eyes Kyle has, especially considering how restricted his vantage point is. But sure enough, he eyeballed all the Route 66 souvenirs and we bought them.

       Today was “Strike Out Lou Gehrig’s Disease” Day for the San Jose Giants and the main reason we organized our driving schedule to get to the Bay Area by the first. This event is coordinated by PALS Don Altier, a young father and ALS activist who spends a great deal of his days, when not helping raise his twin boys, raising awareness and funds for the local ALSA chapter.
       We met a lot of new folks connected with the ALSA Bay Area Chapter, and some of our old friends, too.

       We could not have picked a more perfect day. It was cool and crisp with not a cloud in the sky. God was on Kyle’s side when he chose this day to cross the Golden Gate Bridge in his power wheelchair. And PALS Kevin Heidrich’s too.
       We arrived at the Bridge south viewpoint, after dealing with horrendous traffic about an hour before our scheduled crossing, which is what we had hoped for. Sarah and I began to unload Kyle and set up the banners around the van.
       By 2 p.m. we were finally coordinated enough to begin crossing the bridge. The extemporaneous plan was to go halfway across the bridge and return, making the full mileage but coming back to side where our vehicles were. Apparently this was a fine plan for everyone except Kyle. Undaunted, he traveled the entire span of the Golden Gate Bridge using his head array system. This entailed more then just a few abrupt stops. Slowly, Kyle would lift his head back to his headrest and carry on. He told me he had to stop and pray for strength three times as he made his way to the end of the bridge.

       We had a great breakfast at International House of Pancakes before leaving San Luis Obispo, and arrived in Santa Barbara about 3 p.m. We were greeting by sand mermaids at the pier and did a little souvenir shopping as well as watching the anglers fishing off the pier.
       We got back on schedule and left around 5 p.m. for Tarzana.