The transformative power of the outdoors

Oregon Adaptive Sports (OAS) volunteers Mark and Bunny Thompson, who live in Tollgate, came to Sisters in 2001, after traveling seven years over 40,000 miles on their sailboat, sailing from South America to Newfoundland.

Prior to that they both worked with NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. As an engineer and Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) specialist, Bunny helped design the original space station and worked with the astronauts. Mark, also an engineer, had a second career working on the space shuttle.

When they settled in Sisters, Mark began to work as a lift operator on Easy Rider a...