Despite ongoing challenges, my quest toward partnering with another Guide Dog seems to be moving forward. Each week I take up my trusty cane, and attempt to conquer broken sidewalks, disappearing curbs and all manner of weather. All I can say is, you just don’t know Oregon until you walk half a mile in rushing wind and rain as it shifts to a hailstorm!

Last week was truly a blast.

My instructor and I decided to venture downtown to make use of street corners with actual right angles. We parked and set out up the sidewalk. Nice and smooth here, with few pedestrians at that time of the morning.

I crossed back and forth a few times and we decided to move elsewhere since construction noise was masking the sounds of traffic.

At our new location, I followed the same pattern of crossing, recrossing, shifting alignments and repeating. And just about the time we were considering another location for variety, “BANG!!” a car was rear-ended right in front of us.

No one had been hurt, and even the cars appeared undamaged. Still, the rain was coming down harder by the minute, and we’d been working for over an hour. We headed back to the car.

We were stopped by a policeman.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“To my car,” my instructor replied pointing, “right there, see, just behind you.”

“Well you can’t,” he stated with friendly firmness. “That’s the blast zone. We’ve sent a robot in to engage with a suspicious package found in the mall. You’ll have to wait for a while.”

He resumed his post, and we ducked under a shop awning to catch our astonished breaths. Blast zone…who could have imagined!

*Of course we might have guessed something was going on since a line of police cars and an ambulance were parked in the area*

Forty or so more minutes passed as we stood chatting beneath the awning. A few people were redirected, and one car attempted to bypass the policeman. He ran after it calling, “Stop! Stop!”

But thankfully, there was no blast…just lots of rain as usual.

And if you are curious, yes I am determined to partner with another amazing Canine teammate. Because independent travel is the real blast I’m reaching for!

Wishing you all sweet travels and Happy Holidays.