The Unexpected Journey

By Tim BrownEducation Self-Improvement

The Unexpected Journey episodes

September 17Miley Rhoad on Quad Rugby and the Power of Peer Mentors
Miley Rhoad is a 19-year-old wheelchair or "quad rugby" player from South Carolina. I've gotten to know Miley over the past few summers when she has attended the Empower SCI teen summer program and emerged as a confident, encouraging, and fearless leader amongst her peers. She has a bright future and found time between rugby tournaments for a conversation about her life and future aspirations.
Guest info:
@miley.rhoad
Additional Resources:
https://www.empowersci.org/
https://highfivesfoundation.org/
Contact us:
Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypod
Email: [email protected]
Hosted and produced by Tim Brown
Editing and sound design by Louis Arevalo
Original theme music by Jesse LaFountaine
Episode cover art by Lewis Falconer
Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer
35 min
September 03Carlie Cook on Climbing, College, and Cultivating Positivity
Carlie Cook has lived nearly her entire life with her disability after she was paralyzed in a car accident at three years old. Now, as an adult, she has a full life in Western Massachusetts where she is a a professional adaptive climber, Child Life Specialist in a pediatric ER, and partner to her fiancé. Louis Arevalo knows her through adaptive skiing together in Vermont in recent years, and he has been pushing to share her story, describing Carlie as a warrior of optimism – a description that is spot on!
Guest info:
@c_cook20
Additional Resources:
https://www.paradoxsports.org/
https://highfivesfoundation.org/
Contact us:
Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypod
Email: [email protected]
Hosted and produced by Tim Brown
Editing and sound design by Louis Arevalo
Original theme music by Jesse LaFountaine
Episode cover art by Lewis Falconer
Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer
52 min
August 20Cole Bernier on Adaptive Mountain Biking and Mental Health
Cole Bernier and I initially connected on a work call. After discussing collaborative opportunities between Bowhead, where he works on the sales team, and EmpowerSCI, my workplace, we chatted generally about our experiences with spinal cord injury. Cole was very open about his struggles with mental health and belief in how important mental health interventions are, especially for men with spinal cord injuries. I was a bit caught off guard. Cole is a burly paraplegic dude from British Columbia with a background in motocross and crossfit. Not the first person I would expect to be an evangelist for mental health. We've connected multiple times since and had a longer conversation this spring.
Guest info:
@cbreezyrides
Additional Resources:
https://www.bowheadcorp.com/
https://highfivesfoundation.org/
Contact us:
Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypod
Email: [email protected]
Hosted and produced by Tim Brown
Editing and sound design by Louis Arevalo
Original theme music by Jesse LaFountaine
Episode cover art by Lewis Falconer
Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer
1 hr 11 min
August 07Dianne Vitkus on Grief and Growth
Dianne Vitkus and I met five and a half years ago in Spaulding Hospital while she was in inpatient rehab after her spinal cord injury and I was there for a PT appointment. Over the years we've become friends through our mutual enthusiasm for adaptive sports, the organizations that we are both involved with, as well as being members of the Boston spinal cord injury community. She is currently the resource program manager at the Travis Roy Center in Spaulding Hospital, where she helps newly injured patients find the resources that will prepare them for returning home. She leads the SCI consortium, a group of several New England-based spinal cord injuries coming together to tackle larger issues.
I visited Dianne in her apartment in the Charlestown Navy Yard, across the water from where I live in East Boston. After catching up, we began exploring grief, an emotional state that I have come to understand advances and recedes often unpredictably and not in a linear way, like we are often led to believe. Dianne and I both have experienced a resurgence of grief in the past year or so. We also have many wonderful things in our lives. This conversation exemplifies the ability for grief, sadness, and loss to coexist with joy, connection, and love in a person's life.

Guest info:
@vittysvoyage
@impossibledreamcataram
Additional Resources:
https://www.theimpossibledream.org/
Contact us:
Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypod
Email: [email protected]
Hosted and produced by Tim Brown
Editing and sound design by Louis Arevalo
Original theme music by Jesse LaFountaine
Episode cover art by Lewis Falconer
Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer
56 min
July 23Sean and Jill Leary on North of North
A couple years ago we started hearing about a wheelchair accessible resort in Northern Minnesota call North of North. Several Unexpected Journey guests and listeners visited and raved about it. I reached out to Sean Leary who, together with his wife Jill built and owns North of North, a micro-resort with three fully wheelchair accessible cabins on a beautiful lake a few miles outside of town in Ely, Minnesota. They have also started AWWR, which stands for Adaptive Wilderness Within Reach, to support outdoor adventure opportunities for folks with disabilities in Ely. After an initial conversation with Sean, I decided I needed to check out North of North. This past February I made the trip along with a couple good friends. We met in Minneapolis and drove up for a a magical three days that included frigid dark starry nights, sauna time, ice fishing, dogsledding, wolves, and the wintry beauty of the Boundary Waters Wilderness area.
Sean was paralyzed and became paraplegic from a car accident when he was 18 years old. He went on to college and in his early 20s met Jill while working in a summer camp. Jill asked Sean out and the rest of his history. They are now married, have two beautiful daughters, two dogs, and careers in environmental consulting and education. They live in a suburb of Minneapolis and have spent the past several years building their resort and program up in Ely, where their hearts lie.
Guest info:
@northofnorthresort
northofnorthresort.com
Additional Resources:
https://www.awwr.org
Contact us:
Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypod
Email: [email protected]
Hosted and produced by Tim Brown
Editing and sound design by Louis Arevalo
Original theme music by Jesse LaFountaine
Episode cover art by Lewis Falconer
Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer
46 min
July 09Landon McGauley on Biking and Rebuilding
Landon McGauley grew up in British Columbia. Like many of our other guests from BC, he spent his formative years in the outdoors exploring the mountains and at an early age fell in love with biking, riding around his neighborhood with a shovel to build dirt jumps. In 2011, at the age of 15, he was in a biking crash resulting in a T5 spinal cord injury and paraplegia. Landon and I initially connected for an interview in 2022 when he had fully adapted to life as a paraplegic. In the years after his accident, Landon found his way to adaptive mountain biking and was amongst a crew of hard charging pioneering riders. He was working as the High Fives athlete manager, and notably, in the planning stage for an ambitious mountain biking and rafting trip with his brother. As we were assembling that episode and before Landon had a chance to embark on his big adventure, he was in another biking accident. This time breaking his neck resulting in quadriplegia. Landon now has the very unique life experience of living as a non-disabled or able-bodied person, a paraplegic, and now a quadriplegic. He is a thoughtful, well-read individual, and and openly shared his wisdom in this conversation.

Guest info:
@landonmcgauley
Additional Resources:
www.highfivesfoundation.org
https://mhanational.org/resources/suicide-prevention/
https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/suicide-prevention.html
Contact us:
Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypod
Email: [email protected]
Hosted and produced by Tim Brown
Editing and sound design by Louis Arevalo
Original theme music by Jesse LaFountaine
Episode cover art by Lewis Falconer
Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer
42 min
June 18World Inclusive Sailing Championships
Last fall, I traveled to Oman for the World Inclusive Sailing Championships. It was an incredible experience. The inaugural event brought together many of the best adaptive sailors in the world, all competing to be world champion in one of three different classes – the RS venture connect - a two person boat, the Hansa 303 - a one person boat, and the Far East with three visually impaired sailors and three sighted sailors per boat. Beyond the racing and crowning world champions, the event had a larger mission: to showcase the skill, passion, and level of competition of the international parasailing community, in an effort to get sailing back into the Paralympics after it was dropped following the 2016 Rio Games. Over 100 sailors from 36 different countries competed.
In addition to enjoying the wonderful warmth of the Omani people, culture, landscape and weather, and mixing it up on the racecourse, my highlight was meeting the other sailors from around the world. In the quiet moments in between racing and exploring, I spoke with three of them to hear their stories.

Guest info:
@pintobp05
Additional Resources:
https://www.sailing.org/world-sailing-inclusion-championships/
Contact us:
Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypod
Email: [email protected]
Hosted and produced by Tim Brown
Editing and sound design by Louis Arevalo
Original theme music by Jesse LaFountaine
Episode cover art by Lewis Falconer
Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer
22 min
January 08Becca Farewell and the Tetra Ski Revolution
After talking with Tanja Kari in Episode 57 we were super excited to learn more about the TetraSki, an emerging technology for the adaptive alpine skiing community. If you haven't already, I recommend giving episode 57 a listen before continuing this episode. We wanted to hear from several voices, so I reached out to athlete Becca Farewell who is now in her fourth season skiing and racing in the tetra ski. Becca lives in Salt Lake City with her family and is highly involved in the adaptive sports and TetraSki communities. We also reached out to three individuals who are highly involved in the design, adoption, and usage of the TetraSki. Dr. Jeff Rosenbluth is the Medical Director of TRAILS adaptive program which he founded in 2003 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and has been a leader of the TetraSki revolution from the start. Cullen Robinson formerly worked as an adaptive ski instructor at New England Disabled Sports in New Hampshire and is now a Program Coordinator at TRAILS where he works with Jeff and Tanja and continues to be highly involved in adaptive skiing. Allie Peterson, is a leading adaptive ski instructor in New England who has extensive experience working with a wide range of adaptive ski equipment and adaptive athletes who also works as an inpatient acute care occupational therapist for her day job.
Guest info:
@avibex
Additional Resources:
https://www.tetraski.us/
https://www.utrails.us/
www.highfivesfoundation.org
Contact us:
Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypod
Email: [email protected]
Hosted and produced by Tim Brown
Editing and sound design by Louis Arevalo
Original theme music by Jesse LaFountaine
Episode cover art by Lewis Falconer
Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer
54 min
December 25, 2025Tanja Kari on Nordic and Tetra Sports
Tanja Kari is a Paralympic gold medalist in cross country skiing from Finland. In 2010 she was inducted into the Paralympic Hall of Fame, she has been nominated for the Laureus World Sports Award for Sports Person of the Year with a Disability, and in 1998 and 2002 she was voted Finland's best disabled athlete. Since retiring from competitive sport she has become a strong and passionate advocate for the expansion of para sport opportunities and now works at TRAILS Adaptive in Utah on efforts to make adaptive sports both competitive and recreational accessible to more people with complex disabilities.
Guest info:
@karitanja
Additional Resources:
https://www.tetraski.us/
https://www.utrails.us/
www.highfivesfoundation.org
Contact us:
Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypod
Email: [email protected]
Hosted and produced by Tim Brown
Editing and sound design by Louis Arevalo
Original theme music by Jesse LaFountaine
Episode cover art by Lewis Falconer
Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer
41 min
November 27, 2025Geoff Krill on Acceptance and the Adaptive Outdoors
Geoff Krill is a self-described adventure athlete, competitor, innovator, and motivator. He is also a national team member of PSIA, the Professional Ski Instructors of America. Since acquiring a spinal cord injury in his 20s he has competed in downhill mountain biking and skiing races both nationally and internationally, and continues to push boundaries as a wheelchair user. He is passionate about the impact of outdoor recreation and has dedicated his life to teaching others how to ski both disabled and non-disabled and creating greater access to the outdoors for everyone. He lives an outdoors life with his wife and two kids in New Hampshire.
Guest info:
@geoffkrill
Additional Resources:
https://nedisabledsports.org/
www.highfivesfoundation.org
Contact us:
Instagram: @unexpectedjourneypod
Email: [email protected]
Hosted and produced by Tim Brown
Editing and sound design by Louis Arevalo
Original theme music by Jesse LaFountaine
Episode cover art by Lewis Falconer
Cover art and logo design by Anne Holt and Lewis Falconer
57 min

About The Unexpected Journey

From the publisher's feed

Summiting and skiing an 11,000 foot volcano, completing a DIY adaptive sport decathlon in one day, harnessing a passion for art to help spinal cord injury survivors adapt and bond, flying in a wing…

suit as a double amputee, giving birth to and mothering twin girls as a quadriplegic...these are just a few of the powerful stories you will hear on The Unexpected Journey. Adaptive athlete and quadriplegic, Tim Brown, talks with other disabled folks to learn how they challenge preconceived beliefs, push boundaries, and get after it - ultimately leading to a life fulfilled. The Unexpected Journey gives you the experience of listening to two friends sitting at a kitchen table, around a campfire, or on a boat, letting you eavesdrop on an intimate conversation about their shared experience, their passions, and the challenging, rewarding and exhilarating elements of their life. The episode plays like an audio memoir of the guest with the host providing clarity and narrating the biographical details so you can enjoy and appreciate the real and raw moments of the conversation. You’ll hear a sonic backdrop of original music to add emotional richness and additional sound design to bring into the moment with the guest as they describe their most formative and powerful experiences. The host, Tim Brown, is quadriplegic from a ski accident that resulted in a spinal cord injury 11 years ago. He prefers to listen before speaking and shares his own experience along with the guest. Our mission is to elevate, educate, and empower our disabled and able-bodied listeners on the disabled experience through creative and powerful storytelling. Our vision is to be a leader in the creation and distribution of empowering disability-centric storytelling and to provide an accessible platform for participants in the disabled experience to share their stories with the world. The Unexpected Journey is a podcast about adaptive athletes, adventurers, and creators. Each episode features an individual with a disability sharing their powerful story of learning how to challenge preconceived beliefs, push boundaries, and get after it - ultimately leading to a life fulfilled. Listen to guests like Anna Soens talk about being the first paraplegic woman to summit and ski Mount Hood, Greg Durso share his love for adaptive sports and completing an adaptive decathlon, and Channing Cash on her childhood and Laos and becoming a Team USA ocean paddle racer. Hosted and produced by Tim Brown, a surfer, sailor, and skier who is quadriplegic from a skiing accident 10 years ago.Our goal is to Educate. Elevate. Encourage.