GALVESTON, Ind. — Donita Walters was five days from beginning a “dream” trip: a cross-country bicycle ride to raise money for veterans. On the evening of May 24, she decided to take her bike out for a ride on what she called “a great cycling night.”

It would be her last ride in Indiana for awhile, because she and her friend, Kristy Kimball Massey, were scheduled to fly to San Francisco on May 29 to begin a 3,800-mile trip across the U.S. to raise funds for Homes for Our Troops, a nonprofit organization that builds residences specifically tailored for veterans with life-altering injuries.

But those plans changed in an instant.

On her ride, Walters was being followed by a “bike angel,” a driver moving slowly in a pace vehicle. Another truck went around it, but didn’t notice Walters until it was too late. Police estimate that truck, driven by Alyssa McPherson, was traveling at a speed of nearly 60 mph when it struck the back of Walters’ bike.

“All I remember is hearing screeching tires, barely seeing a person to the side of me and then I felt an impact and I don’t remember anything beyond that,” Walters said.

She was flown to St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, where she spent 23 days recovering from her injuries, including a broken neck and a pelvis broken in two places. She also suffered internal bleeding, blood clots and a hemorrhage behind one of her eyes. But she’s already exceeding expectations on her road to recovery. Her hospital stay of just over three weeks came after medical staff told her to expect to remain there from six to eight weeks. And on her first day of rehabilitation, her therapist told her she’d be limited to sit-to-stand exercises before she moved more than 60 feet with her walker.

“I’m just like, no, I don’t want to be in this state,” Walters told the Logansport, Indiana Pharos-Tribune. “I’ve fully accepted it, however long it takes, but I’m just determined…I just do things. I’ve got to be able to do stuff.”

Back at her home outside Galveston, a small town about 70 miles north of Indianapolis, Walters reunited with Massey — who lives in South Carolina — and Kelly Huskins, Massey’s sister who was supposed to serve as the women’s support and gear (SAG) driver on the trip. There were tears, but there were also laughs as Walters remembered being told about her appeals to medics not to cut off her clothing because it was her favorite cycling gear.

Massey and Walters are donating their funds to Homes for Our Troops. Walters said the lack of wheelchair and walker accessibility in her own home has grown her appreciation for what the organization does.

She’s scheduled to have the rods removed from her pelvis later this year but isn’t sure when she’ll be able to return to her roles as an eighth grade teacher and varsity swim and dive coach in Kokomo, Indiana.

Walters is expected to make a full recovery in 18 months, but she hopes to beat that expectation too. Her goal is to dance with her son at his wedding this October and take her swimmers on a mountain climbing trip next summer.

The cross-country trip coming to an end before it even started didn’t leave Walters angry, she said, but there were plenty of emotions.

“Seeing Kristy for the first time after the accident was really hard because this was a dream that we both had individually… and we planned it and it was taken from the two of us,” Walters said.

Massey recalled her reaction to the news during her recent visit to the Walters’ home.

“Disbelief, scared to death she was going to die or never walk again,” Massey said. “It took me a while to get my head right to even ride.”

Facing the trip without Walters, Massey said she considered calling it off until encouragement from family members convinced her to at least do it in bits and pieces.

Walters and Massey dubbed the initiative “The Wandering Project” during its planning stages. Little did Massey know the title would take on a much more fitting meaning when she set out.

“I had no idea that this trip for me would be wandering from place to place,” Massey said.

Her wanderings have included biking up the 11,000-foot Monarch Pass in Colorado and a jaunt across part of Utah with no amenities for 125 miles.

After visiting Walters Friday, Massey was off to Kentucky for another ride, with treks planned in Virginia and North Carolina after that. She continues to chronicle her rides on “The Wandering Project” Facebook page and wanderingproject.com, where donors can add to the $6,000 the initiative has raised so far.

The duo intends to give the cross-country bike trip another go down the road. Walters said her faith in God gives her hope for that day.

“I just have to trust him and we’ll see,” Walters said. “I hope that there’s a happy ending, I hope there’s a Cinderella ending to this story. That’s my hope, but it’s his decision.”

The Logansport, Indiana Pharos-Tribune contributed to this story.