The Unexpected Journey
Episodes
Becca Farewell and the Tetra Ski Revolution
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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 ski...
Tanja Kari on Nordic and Tetra Sports
25 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Geoff Krill on Acceptance and the Adaptive Outdoors
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Geoff Krill is a self-described adventure athlete, competitor, innovator, and motivator. He is also a national team member of PSIA, the Professional S...
Anna Soens Returns to Talk About Skiing and Pursuit of the Paralympics
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Anna Soens was the first guest on The Unexpected Journey. In episode one she shared the story of her pioneering para-mountaineering ascents of Mount H...
Tim Brown on Creating The Unexpected Journey Podcast
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For this episode, we decided to switch things up. Louis Arevalo, Unexpected Journey editor and sound designer, gets behind the mic to interview Tim Br...
Nate Bibaud on Creating Art and Choosing Compassion
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nate Bibaud was born in 1984 in Amesbury, Massachusetts, where he grew up skateboarding and playing goalie in hockey. After studying architecture, he ...
Joel Brown on Dance and Determination
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Joel Brown is a paraplegic dancer, choreographer, and musician. He grew up in Salt Lake City in a large creative family and was paralyzed as a boy. No...
Alex Cano Gonzalez on Forgiveness and Photography
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alex Cano Gonzalez is a photographer, videographer, and artist living in Denver Colorado. He was paralyzed at a young age as a result of gun violence....
Neven Hart on Recovering Intimacy and Joy
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Neven Hart and his fiancé Amber Cogbill are rising stars on social media. They openly and vulnerably sharing their experience navigating life togethe...
Jesi Stracham on Tough Mudders and Tenacity
07 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jesi Stracham is an advocate, adaptive athlete, and founder of the Wheel With Me Foundation. She's also co-owner of Adapt Fit and the Freedom LKN...
Erin Field and Jack Benziger on Caring and Building a Life with SCI
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I briefly met Erin Field and Jack Benziger several years ago at Journey Forward, a spinal cord injury exercise rehab center outside of Boston, Massach...
Roy Tuscany on Help, Healing, and High Fives
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Roy Tuscany is the Founder and CEO of the High Fives Foundation. On April 26, 2016 Roy overshot a ski jump and was paralyzed with a spinal cord injury...
JoMarie Lawrence in Pursuit of Acting and Acceptance
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
JoMarie Lawrence lives in Los Angeles where she is pursuing an acting and modeling career. She is a member of a cohort of disabled actors who are brea...
Joe Stone on Paragliding and Pushing Toward Goals
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Stone is a disability activist, public speaker, and an adventure athlete. He is a partner and a dog dad, a team rider for Bowhead Corp, a Stio amb...
Murray Siple on Filmmaking and Moving Fast
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Murray Siple is an award-winning filmmaker and accessible home designer, a former snowboarder and skateboarder, a world traveler, an artist, and recen...
Billy Price on Building a Brand and Being a Dad
02 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Billy Price is an entrepreneur and the CEO and Cofounder, with Darin Donaldson, of Billy Footwear, a Seattle based footwear brand they have built from...
Nitra Turner on Adaptive Archery and Allowing Grace
19 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nitra Turner and I met at the EmpowerSCI summer intensive program at Stony Brook University this past summer where Nitra was a participant and I work ...
Rachel Zoeller: A Meditation on Life, Relationships, and Disability
06 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rachel Zoeller is a person who is very engaged with life. They are an entrepreneur, outdoor enthusiast, endurance athlete, yoga practitioner, former p...
Jason Stoffer on Quality Living first, then Cure
15 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jason Stoffer is an outdoor enthusiast, musician, and a former wildland fire fighter, EMT, search and rescue volunteer, and federal law enforcement of...
Quinn Brett on Cure Vs. Quality of Life and an Update On Her Adventures
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Quinn Brett first came on The Unexpected Journey in Season 1, Episode 7. She was four years out from her climbing accident resulting in paralysis and ...
Chris Waker on Floating Face Down and Facing Fears
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Waker is a former professional snowboarder and snowboard coach. He was paralyzed in a snowboarding accident in Colorado nearly 4 years ago. Chri...
Fellipe Kizu Lima on Returning to the Ocean
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Fellipe Kizu Lima is a waterman in the truest sense of the word. His life, both professionally and personally, is closely tied to the ocean. At home, ...
Tara Shetterly on Leading with Influence
19 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tara Shetterly is certifiably famous in our community. She has over 200,000 followers on Instagram, a YouTube page, and she uses her influencer status...
Short: David McCauley on Gratitude and G Wagons
05 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David McCauley is an internationally renowned artist, a sailor and board member of The Impossible Dream organization, a traveler, a partner, an activi...
Sierra and Chris Rehrer on Their Family's Disability Journey
22 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sierra, Chris, Jack, and Arlo Rehrer live in Hawaii on the island of Oahu. Sierra is a physical therapist and Chris is a physician assistant. When Chr...
Sam Bloom on Struggle and Salvation with a Special Bird
08 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sam Bloom is a world champion adaptive surfer, a competitive kayak racer, a public speaker, world traveler, and a wife and a mother to three boys. The...
Season 4 Trailer
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
First episode of Season 4 dropping Thursday, August 8!
Louis Arevalo on Relationships and Representation
22 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Louis Arevalo is a writer, photographer, filmmaker, outdoor adventurer, husband, and father who grew up and currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. H...
Indiana Porta on Finding Community in NYC
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Indiana Porta was diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease, her senior year in high school. While it has always presented challenges, she pursued...
Jack Trottier on Making the Next Checkpoint
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jack Trottier grew up in Northern Massachusetts an athlete and a hometown kid. When he was 17 years old, he was paralyzed in a backyard snowboarding a...
Trevor Kennison on Backflips and Being Vulnerable
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Trevor Kennison is one of the best adaptive skiers in the world and now a household name in the ski community. He is continually pushing the limits of...
Short: Kirk Williams on Baja Overland
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In episode 23, we spoke with Kirk Williams about his journeys traveling the Americas in his wheelchair accessible camper vans. At the time of the inte...
Jacques Matellus on Music and Modeling
14 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Jacques Matellus is a model, actor, and musician. From an early age he was drawn to performing. As an adult, Jacques was paralyzed in a stage accident...
Alana Nichols on Resilience and Racing
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Alana Nichols is legendary in the adaptive sports and disability community. She is a three time gold medalist and dual sport athlete in both wheelchai...
Sam Summers on High Sides
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sam Summers is a skier, mountain biker, hockey player, CrossFitter, and surfer. She's also a scientist, traveler, and a partner. Five years a...
Annijke Wade on Grace and Gravel Riding
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Annijke Wade grew up in Northern California and developed her passion for the outdoors in high school and then college in Oregon. After twists and tur...
Dr. Gabby Ficchi on Disability Pride
25 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Gabrielle Ficchi identifies as a disabled woman. She is a licensed therapist as well as a certified rehabilitation counselor.Gabrielle has 10 year...
Kirk Williams on Van Life
06 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Kirk Williams is a world traveler. He has driven vans all through the Americas, from Alaska to Chile and Argentina. He's quadriplegic from a moun...
Meira Nelson on Love and the Ocean
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Meira Nelson is a mother, champion adaptive surfer, former Paralympian, lover of the ocean, and more. She was born in Samoa where she was paralyzed in...
Tim Burr on Gettin Dirty
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Burr lived a pretty awesome life as an outdoorsy kid in Colorado. As an adult, he still does. In 2014, Tim was paralyzed in a skiing accident. Now...
Season 3 Trailer
22 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back for Season 3 of The Unexpected Journey! This season we talk to an overland adventurer, a nonprofit founder, a model and R&B singer, a...
Mateo Rodriguez on Disability in Society (and his service dog, Tilly!)
20 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mateo Rodriguez lives at the intersection of developmental disability with autism and physical disability as a person who uses a wheelchair and has vi...
Short: Ty Turner at the US Open Adaptive Surfing Championships
16 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tyler Turner - a previous guest on The Unexpected Journey - and I recently caught up in Oceanside, California, where we both competed in the U.S. Open...
Tony Schmiesing on Seeking Sensation
01 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Tony Schmiesing has been in a wheelchair for nearly 40 years. He grew up in Southern California an athlete and a passionate skateboarder and surfer. I...
Olivia Rey on Quad Life Real Talk
18 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Olivia Rey grew up in Switzerland in a Swiss and French family of big skiers. As soon as Olivia and her siblings could walk they were on the ski slope...
Jose Martinez on Surfing and Spreading Love
05 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jose Martinez is no stranger to adversity. Following a challenging childhood in Los Angeles, Jose enlisted in the US Army and deployed to Afghanista...
Lizzy Ragan on Privilege and Mountain biking
22 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Lizzy Ragan grew up in a small town and went to a small high school in rural Oregon. After graduating from Oregon state, she moved to Boston where she...
Shelby Estocado on Truly Embracing the Moment
08 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Shelby Estocado is the 2021 High Fives Athlete of the Year. This just a couple short years after the snowboarding accident that resulted in paralysis ...
Josh Dueck on Leading Team Canada
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Summary:Josh Dueck, is a legendary skier, Paralympic medalist, leader in the adaptive sports community, husband, and father from British Columbia, C...
Season 2 Trailer
16 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome back folks for Season 2 of The Unexpected Journey! We are super excited to bring you new stories from adaptive athletes, creators, activists, ...
Dani Izzie on Motherhood as a Quadriplegic
23 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dani Izzie is a disability advocate, partner, and mother of two beautiful twin girls. She courageously shares her story of carrying, birthing, and rai...
Tyler Turner on Psychological Recovery and Wingsuit Flying
09 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tyler Turner lives in British Columbia, Canada where he pursues an adventure filled life as a pro snowboarder, surfer, sailor, mountainbiker, skydiver...
Evan Strong on Wellness and Adaptive Big Wave Surfing
20 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Evan Strong is a Paralympian and multiple boardsport athlete, husband, father, and practitioner of wellness.He lives half part-time on Maui, Hawaii an...
Vasu Sojitra on Ninjasticking in the Outdoors
30 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Vasu Sojitra shreds on a ski, skateboard, and on the trails - always, in his words, ninjasticking through the world. He grew up between India and Conn...
Maureen McKinnon and Dana McKinnon-Tucker on Paralympic Sailing and Family
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Maureen McKinnon has been sailor and racer for quite a while, both when she was able bodied and as an adaptive sailor following an accident that resul...
Quinn Brett on Life, Loss, and Legit Offroad Handcycle Trips
03 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Quinn Brett is a badass. A former professional climber, speed ascent athlete, and Rocky Mountain National Park Climbing Ranger, Quinn was paralyzed in...
David McCauley (cont'd) on Independence and Bluewater Racing
23 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the second of two episodes with David McCauley, David and I navigate the conversation toward sailing and his bluewater racing experience aboard The...
David McCauley on Art Therapy and Block Parties
08 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
HRSummary:David McCauley is a professional artist, sailor, traveler, and founder of an art therapy organization. He's also quadriplegic and has b...
Channing Cash on her Childhood in Laos and a Life of Adventure
24 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Channing Cash was born in a small village in Laos and now lives in Southern California where she is training to be on the US Paralympic Ocean Kayak Ra...
Cristina Rubke on Adaptive Sailing and Accessible and Inclusive Resources
10 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cristina Rubke is one of the most involved people I know. She lives in Alameda California, across the bay from San Francisco, where she splits her tim...
Greg Durso on his Adaptive Decathlon and the Power of Community
27 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Greg Durso is always charging in the mountains of Vermont and beyond. Whether on his adaptive mountain bike, adaptive wakeboard, in his downhill monos...
Anna Soens on Paramountaineering Volcanoes and Returning to Life Outdoors
27 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Anna Soens was working as a field biologist in the American West tracking mountain lions and other large wildlife. It was her dream job. All of th...
Trailer
08 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Unexpected Journey is a podcast about adaptive athletes, adventurers, and creators hosted by Tim Brown. In 2011, as a 25-year-old working on ski ...