Man crosses country to raise awareness for TBI after eight years, Galloway is still on his way

By Steve Van Kooten

Outside of Derailed Coffee in Guttenberg, Iowa, William Galloway sat in the sun, watching cars pass by on Highway 52. Next to him, his recumbent bicycle and trailer are ready to get back on America’s roadways. He never stays anywhere for too long because he’s on a journey that has lasted eight years.

“I never thought I’d be doing it. It never crossed my mind,” he said.

After an accident in which Galloway incurred a traumatic brain injury, it took him years to recover, making the grand tour of New Jersey’s hospitals, assisted living facilities and group homes due to his condition. He has the scars to prove it; the severity of his injuries required doctors to take bone from two of his ribs to repair his skull.

“My life got altered from that, and a decade of my life is gone. That’s the way I look at it,” he said.

As time went on, he claims he no longer needed as much intervention, and that put him at odds with the agencies providing his care.

“I started getting more memory back and doing things for myself, and somebody else kept asking if I did things or if they needed to bathe me or feed me. I got more motivated to recover,” he said. “I wanted to work. I wanted my life back.”

Galloway obtained a series of factotum jobs to save money and regain his independence. After leaving the group home system, he used some of that money to buy his first recumbent bicycle and a trailer, which is adorned with signs encouraging awareness for people with TBI.

“I ended up just wanting to do better, so I took off across America to Amae Clinic, a Christian-based place that helps people with brain injuries and mood disorders, in Southern California,” said Galloway. “I read about them. They had offices in New York City and Maryland, but I chose to get as far away as I could from New Jersey.”

When he first hopped on his bicycle, some people didn’t believe him or in what he wanted to do.

“A lot of people didn’t want to believe, and others wanted to send me to a shelter,” he said.

Galloway ended up leaving California after some of his possessions, including saddlebags he used on his bike, were stolen or vandalized.

“It got bad,” he recalled. “I ended up having my tents damaged… The next day, I decided to take off. I told them I just couldn’t find a safe place to be.”

After making his first trek from coast to coast, Galloway began “trucking across America.” Over the years, he’s been compared to Forrest Gump, but his adventures are also reminiscent of Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, climbing the peaks and descending into the canyons, braving the unpredictable weather and going down the roads less traveled. He hasn’t really stopped — not for very long, anyway — even when faced with medical issues. 

“I ended up having back surgery six years ago, and five weeks later, I got right back on the bike,” he said. “I just wanted to keep on going. As I kept going, I met people who cared and were passionate. They’ve kept me going.”

Galloway’s journey has given him the opportunity to see people’s generosity firsthand.

“People will be thinking about you while they’re at home. That really blew my mind right there.”

The publicity Galloway receives also helps him keep going. He’s forged relationships with the bike companies that help him acquire replacement parts for his bicycle.

Galloway also goes through rough parts of the country. He recalled biking in an area in Tennessee where people worried about his well-being. They even offered him weapons to defend himself.

“I’ve had a lot of people in that part of the country ask me if I carry a gun, and I said, ‘No, I don’t carry anything.’ They say, ‘Hold on, we’ll be right back,’ and come back with a big knife with edges on it,” he said.

Galloway originally planned to head through Wisconsin but had to change plans to meet with a friend in Texas. However, he plans to come back to the Upper Midwest on a trip that, by design, doesn’t have a planned finish line.