When I owned a guesthouse years ago I met some extraordinary people. Some were exceptionally bad people such as the woman who was traveling with her child and was always drunk and talking about killing herself (we reported her to the German Embassy by phone and they were very aware of who she was before I even said her name.) Others had been traveling for many years and had been to just about everywhere you could think of.
Then there was this Dustin Reynolds, a man who was missing an arm and a leg but yet accomplished and continues to accomplish so much more than the rest of us do in life.
Dusin was living a relatively comfortable and routine life in the NE United States when one night he was hit by a drunk driver and left for dead. The driver was caught, and faced charges, but that doesn't change the fact that Dustin barely made it out of the situation alive. In the process he lost a leg and an arm.
The situation didn't get better because the drunk-driver had no insurance and Dustin and his family had to spend half-a-million dollars in medical expenses. Imagine losing 2 of your limbs and nearly your life all because of something that is not your fault at all, and then being forced to go into extreme debt over it. Sounds like something that would make me wish I was dead... but not Dustin.
Dustin began his journey 4 years ago by mostly donations and grants from various organizations. The eventual goal? To be the first double amputee to sail solo around the world. He isn't going for speed, just to accomplish it. The stories he has to tell of being caught in massive storms in the middle of the Pacific Ocean are terrifying. All of his stories would be remarkable for a person with all of their limbs, let alone someone with only 50% of theirs
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it wasn't necessary to go to Antarctica for the world-record, he just wanted to
While he was visiting his father in Thailand (just happened to live in the same city as me at the time) I got to know him pretty well. There are a lot of people out there that can be considered inspirational but Dustin is truly different. Here is a guy that has lots of reason to feel sorry for himself, yet he doesn't do that at all. He does all the stuff that everyone else does and never makes excuses. I went hiking with him one day, only to have him leave me in the dust: I was the one bitching about how hot it was and how tired i was.
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That's Krabi by the way
He stops in ports around the world and many times there are repairs that need to be done that take weeks to sort out, most of which he performs on his own. It is important to keep in mind that before starting this journey, Dustin had almost zero sailing experience - he made up for that by just having balls. I can't imagine the courage it would take to start out in California, and just be like "I'm gonna sail to Hawaii, 2500 miles away!" Me and my four limbs do not have what it takes to try this, and I seriously admire Dustin for his accomplishments.
His journey continues today and was recently featured in Bermuda's top newspaper.
If you would like to follow or support Dustin in his journey, his website is available here