Wow, I'm doing a lot of processing today. While I was getting wheeled around at the airport last night, the guy dropped me off in the mobility impaired area with the seats close to the gate. There were eight seats, in two rows of four facing each other. One side was completely occupied, while the other had 2 people, leaving two open seats. I was surprised how quickly a woman who was in one of the seats got up and ran away once she saw me coming. Now, arguably she probably shouldn't have been in the seat, but on the other hand, even with my limited mobility, I'm reasonably agile with my hoping and was thinking I'd just sit in one of the empty seats, no big deal.
Being in a wheelchair was a bit on an interesting experience, even more so than crutches, as your perspective of the world is rather limited, and people tend to respond even more strongly to you when you're in a chair, as opposed to on crutches. I now also understand why people don't like it when someone comes along and gives you unsolicited "aid" by pushing you around.
It was surprising to me how quickly I got used to the wheelchair, and how one starts noticing different signs (i.e. elevators, ramps, handicap accessible doors, etc etc). I even ended up eating at Hooters instead of the Indian restaurant next door since I wouldn't have been able to work the wheel chair into the Indian restaurant. (Not that it was doable at Hooters either, and it ended up that two people had to help me to get through their double doors that couldn't be opened with the wheelchair inside the first door.
We'll see how Butte is . . .
