Well, that went decent, took an unscheduled trip to Walmart. At first, I wasn’t going to go (as in was going to drive Norman there and wait in the car for him) then after weighing my options I decided that I was going to go in my chair. Something I have been avoiding doing for a month now.
But, I’ve been having such a bad couple of days when it comes to walking and standing – that I know I was either going to have to drive him and wait for him or take the chair and bite it.
So today was my second full time out in my chair for shopping – and it turned into a little more than a minor run that was unplanned – we ended up getting a larger hull than were planning (TP being that extra item).
I know, I would be more willing to use the wheelchair if it was not such an inconvenience to get it into our SUV. I can’t lift it as it is to heavy for me to do so, and it takes up our entire trunk of the SUV – which means anything we get has to fit in the back seat with Storm and Payton are – which is already cramped as it stands.
Otherwise, using it when out and about isn’t a big problem for me, as it helps me to get around better, at least when it comes to non-transit use.
Getting into the Walmart was a little bit of a struggle, as the curb to road elevation wasn’t even at all. It took a bit of an extra push to get my wheels up and onto the pathway. Not unexpected from having gone there before – but not very welcomed either.
Entering the Walmart itself, was 0 issues with security. The security persons didn’t say anything what so ever. At first, we got a handbasket, but I quickly figured that we would need a cart for shopping as the handbasket wasn’t going to be very manageable for me. I was right in that a shopping cart was necessary.
It was a little annoying being so LOW to the ground for the first time at this particular Walmart. I already knew that the place isn’t accessible, but being in the chair and some of the everyday items that I get being 100% out of my reach was annoying. The merchandise already is hard for me to reach, but in the wheelchair, they are inaccessible. I was not expecting that for some reason.
Storm acted like a pure professional with the chair, heeling without needing to be told, moving left and right with just hand singles, and even hung back behind the chair when singled to do so (something that I have only been working on in our apartment). The reason for the moving back (between the rear wheels) is so I can maneuver the chair closer to the wall (display case to reach something).
Something that I noticed while shopping was how all of a sudden, people obeyed the line of shopping direction. We’re not used to seeing people following the shopping line when we shop there. Yet in my chair, there were a couple of people who started to come the wrong way, took one look at me and turned around, went around, and came in from the correct direction (that was a little shocking to see happen).
All in all, it was a productive shopping trip, training-wise and chair wise.