On The Road With Barry – Murfreesboro, TN

Travel Day

This one was a doozy!  Michigan was blasted with a winter storm dumping a few inches of snow.  I made it to DTW without issue, but my plane wasn’t as lucky.  My flight delay unfortunately left Barry stuck waiting for me in Nashville. Once I arrived, holiday traffic combined with the flight delay resulted in around a two-hour wait just for him to make it through the arrivals pick-up area.

If there is one thing I have learned after having a field role for a year – it’s to roll with the punches.  Barry and I made it to Murfreesboro, grabbed some food, and were safely tucked into our hotel.  And that is all that matters at the end of the day.

Photo description: Two people walk along a sidewalk on a cold day. Kristi walks ahead using a long white cane, while Sarah walks behind smiling toward the camera.

Photo description: A person walks on the side of the road along the curb using a long white cane. The person is dressed in a large winter coat.

Day 1

Today we had the pleasure of meeting Kristi and Bill, who have recently moved to the area from California.  Both have been long-time guide dog users and were looking for some orientation and mobility (O&M) support in their new home area.  Throughout this week, I worked with Kristi, and Barry worked with Bill.  Although each had similar goals, we wanted to ensure they received instruction tailored to their individual needs.

The couple had moved to a new apartment within the same complex just days before our visit.  My family moved a few times during my childhood, so I am well acquainted with the stressors of moving. Huge respect for Kristi and Bill for navigating all the responsibilities of moving while tackling a weeklong orientation and mobility training.

Day 2

The winter weather made itself known to us all today!  It did not seem like there were enough layers in the world to feel cozy.  While I am acclimated to winter weather, I felt for Kristi not only transitioning to a new home environment, but also an entirely different climate!  To add insult to injury, the couple’s technology location was still set to California, so they were notified of the gorgeous sunny 75-degree day they had left behind.

They, however, didn’t let that stop them from pounding the pavement.  At lunch Barry and I coped by spending the first five minutes with our hands wrapped around our respective cups of soup.

Day 3

One of the benefits of an in-home, 1:1 training program is that we can customize our training schedule as needed.  If our clients have an appointment or errand that they need to run, we can adjust our training schedule accordingly.

This morning, our clients had a home visit from an individual who would be interviewing them to discuss their needs and connect them with vision rehabilitation services. These meetings can be tough to reschedule, so we agreed that Barry and I would plan to delay training until the afternoon.

As best-laid plans often do, this one didn’t go as expected. The appointment ran longer than anticipated, and after talking with our clients, we agreed that the best way to set everyone up for success was to take advantage of some much-needed rest and recovery that afternoon. As Barry reminded me this week, it’s about quality, not quantity — fatigued brains and bodies are not the best learners.

Photo description: Barry and Sarah smile toward the camera in a selfie. Barry is posing by a sign that says, “The World’s Largest Cedar Bucket”.

Day 4

We started the day strong with renewed energy after the break yesterday. At about this time of week, the focus becomes working together with our clients to agree on achievable goals to set themselves up in the next days and weeks for successful travel.  We made a game plan with both Kristi and Bill, and I feel confident that they have the tools they need to get out and about despite the frigid Tennessee winter.

This afternoon Barry and I swung by Cannonsburgh Historical Village, home to the “World’s Largest Cedar Bucket”.  If there is one thing Barry and I both love, it is an exorbitantly large roadside attraction.  After learning the bucket’s history from Tim in the visitor’s center, we each posed for our photo with it, sporting our “Taking The Lead” podcast shirts.

Day 5

It’s a wrap!  Kristi and I headed out for one last go around, this time with the goal of making it to the Clubhouse.  To prepare for this route, we reviewed a tactile map that we had made earlier this week.  Tactile maps are a tool we use often on campus at Leader Dog but can be trickier to produce away from the resources of campus.  However, Chelsea Nohan, another dual certified orientation and mobility specialist and guide dog mobility instructor, and member of the DeafBlind and adaptive services team at Leader Dog recently gave a workshop on tactile maps, and they reinforced the concept that only your imagination is the limit when it comes to creating tactile maps.

Photo description: The tactile map Sarah and Kristi made.

Earlier this week, I asked Kristi if she found tactile maps useful. Lo and behold, she produced paper and “Wikki Stix”, all the ingredients we needed to make a simple tactile map!

The map, which is pictured, included details such as an “x” to mark their apartment, the block of sidewalk they walk down including extra “bumps” where truncated domes or “foot massagers” as Kristi likes to refer to them. This leads to the “island” (later dubbed “Barry’s Island”) where they make two crossings through a parking lot and onto a short sidewalk-less section, walking in the parking lot.  The route then takes them past two speed bumps, after which they cross to find a sidewalk that would lead either to the mail house or the clubhouse.

By using this tactile map, when Kristi and I discussed the map pre- or post-route, we had a concrete, tactile way to review the route while Kristi followed along.

A successful tactile map is one that makes sense to the user, so there are some additional details to the map such as notches near the start point that Kristi added, and I placed a capital “N” to signify North, and a trimmed corner to reinforce the maps orientation.

Travel Day

Back to the frozen tundra that is Michigan!  Feeling gratitude to have a job that gives me the opportunity to visit parts of the world, I would likely not have otherwise.

This week’s theme? “Throwing your cap over the wall”— a phrase Barry taught me that perfectly captures stepping out of your comfort zone. By tossing your “cap” over an obstacle, you create a situation where you must follow through to get it back, removing the option of giving up.

Kristi, Bill and all of us who try hard things “throw our cap over the wall” when we step out of our comfort zone.  The important bit, it seems, is to have the grit to throw your cap in the first place.