In his travels, William Galloway often fields a simple question.
When’s he going to stop?
“I don’t really see a finish line,” Galloway said Thursday. “People say you can’t ride forever. I say, well you don’t live forever, either.”
Galloway, 64, was in Iola this week as part of that never-ending bike ride, from one coast to another — and back.
Over the past eight years, Galloway has made it through Iola five times, including this week’s stop, where he paid a visit to Ben Alexander’s Southwind Cycle and Outdoors bike shop for some needed repairs.
He was slated to head back out Friday afternoon, pointed toward Missouri and heading east.
Galloway’s journey, more than anything, is to raise awareness for traumatic brain injury victims, such as himself.
Galloway was working as a truck driver in New Jersey when he was injured at age 43 by a drunk driver.
“I essentially lost 13 years of my life,” he said.
Galloway spent the next 10 years bouncing between hospitals and assisted living facilities.
He moved to a group home for about three years, and grew restless, ready for something different.
While he’s slowly recovered from his injuries — seizures are less frequent, to the point Galloway now holds a driver’s license — he’ll forever have to cope with what he describes as a “loss of focus.”
He’s listed as on the borderline of having an intellectual disability
“If I work on something, I have to do it kind of fast, because I lose concentration,” Galloway explained.
He tried for a while to apply for jobs, but with little success, and little desire to remain immobile,
“I saved up some money and bought myself a bike, and a one-wheel trailer, and I headed out across America the first time,” he said.
