Trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond--Adventure #5
I’ve become a sidewalk groupie, scouting out routes to my most common haunts. I go nowhere now without a full scooter and cell phone charge, scooter charger with me, emergency information, cell phone numbers of potential rescuers, blah, blah, blah. I’m on the lookout for routes with sidewalks, handicapped ramps up to sidewalks, and crossing signals I can reach. You’d be amazed how many crossing signals are designed for standing people or worse yet, a signal at waist level, but out of a reasonable reach. Don’t even get me started on how many sidewalks just dead end without warning. A “back up” mode on a scooter is helpful.
I actually encountered a crossing signal that stumped me. I’m used to WAIT and WALK, the Stop hand and the Walking figure, and the chirping sound. I try to obey all signals, but couldn’t figure out a Small Amber Light and a Small Amber Blinking Light (no sound). After sitting there for two light cycles, I decided to check for traffic, push the crossing button again, and just go (spare me the safety lecture).
It’s a beautiful Tuesday morning, the housekeeper is coming, someone is at the house should there be an emergency. I have lots of time and a shopping list for Bed, Bath, and Beyond, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to go a bit further (1 more mile) than my previously uneventful trip to Home Depot. I peed, got in my scooter, disconnected it, but put the charger in its pouch, put on all the safety paraphernalia and waited in the driveway for Lillete to give her my housekeeping information. Since everything was ready, I decided to head out and call on the way. I was halfway there, about to call, when I remembered Lillete was coming on Wednesday this week. Oh well, I didn’t need her anyway; things were going fine.
At a small freeway overpass, I came to a bump in the road. Skeeter handled it easily enough, but the jump dislodged the battery and the scooter instantly stopped. Knowing what had happened and how to resolve the problem, I was able to grab the overpass railing and kneel on the ground to reseat the battery. Sounds easy enough with two hands, but challenging with one. If I let go of the railing, I was looking at a face plant and that really would have attracted attention. Trying to look casual, I reseated the battery and was back on the road (sidewalk) again, passed Home Depot and headed toward Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Then the sidewalk ended abruptly, so I headed down the middle of an adjacent parking area. Why the middle, you might ask? Nothing will wreck a day like backing out of a parking spot into a scooter you didn’t see--and a person with disabilities. By going down the middle, staying watchful, with safety flag flying and music blaring, I hoped to avoid cars backing up right and left. Still a stupid move, but what are you going to do?
After shopping, I headed home the same way I came, only it’s mostly uphill. Not being a fan of suspense, let me say I did make it home. However, I knew I was pushing the power limits. Skeeter slowed way down on the steep inclines and sputtered a bit. But with occasional breaks, we put-putted home and my shopping adventure only took a mere 3 hours! Like I had something else to do...? Today’s lesson: Bed, Bath, and Beyond is a bit too far and my bladder can last 3 hours--barely.
I actually encountered a crossing signal that stumped me. I’m used to WAIT and WALK, the Stop hand and the Walking figure, and the chirping sound. I try to obey all signals, but couldn’t figure out a Small Amber Light and a Small Amber Blinking Light (no sound). After sitting there for two light cycles, I decided to check for traffic, push the crossing button again, and just go (spare me the safety lecture).
It’s a beautiful Tuesday morning, the housekeeper is coming, someone is at the house should there be an emergency. I have lots of time and a shopping list for Bed, Bath, and Beyond, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to go a bit further (1 more mile) than my previously uneventful trip to Home Depot. I peed, got in my scooter, disconnected it, but put the charger in its pouch, put on all the safety paraphernalia and waited in the driveway for Lillete to give her my housekeeping information. Since everything was ready, I decided to head out and call on the way. I was halfway there, about to call, when I remembered Lillete was coming on Wednesday this week. Oh well, I didn’t need her anyway; things were going fine.
At a small freeway overpass, I came to a bump in the road. Skeeter handled it easily enough, but the jump dislodged the battery and the scooter instantly stopped. Knowing what had happened and how to resolve the problem, I was able to grab the overpass railing and kneel on the ground to reseat the battery. Sounds easy enough with two hands, but challenging with one. If I let go of the railing, I was looking at a face plant and that really would have attracted attention. Trying to look casual, I reseated the battery and was back on the road (sidewalk) again, passed Home Depot and headed toward Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Then the sidewalk ended abruptly, so I headed down the middle of an adjacent parking area. Why the middle, you might ask? Nothing will wreck a day like backing out of a parking spot into a scooter you didn’t see--and a person with disabilities. By going down the middle, staying watchful, with safety flag flying and music blaring, I hoped to avoid cars backing up right and left. Still a stupid move, but what are you going to do?
After shopping, I headed home the same way I came, only it’s mostly uphill. Not being a fan of suspense, let me say I did make it home. However, I knew I was pushing the power limits. Skeeter slowed way down on the steep inclines and sputtered a bit. But with occasional breaks, we put-putted home and my shopping adventure only took a mere 3 hours! Like I had something else to do...? Today’s lesson: Bed, Bath, and Beyond is a bit too far and my bladder can last 3 hours--barely.
Comments
Post a Comment