LOGAN, Utah - There's an apartment in Logan where a 24-year-old from Laketown takes online classes, practices his guitar, listens to the Utah Jazz on the radio, does his laundry and otherwise takes care of himself - all without the ability to see.

When Chad Floyd was a 6-year-old in Laketown, his mother, Jane, sat him down at a piano and said when the other kids were outside playing sports, playing music would be his entertainment.

"At first I didn't believe her because I didn't like practicing," Floyd said.

Over the years music became his passion and he participated in prep band and choirs, began to compose his own music and decided to pursue a career in music performance.

Floyd lost his vision at age 4. He made medical history when he picked up a parasite from a neighborhood house cat. A liver transplant had caused him to be immune-suppressed and made it easy for a virus to infect him. By the time professionals treated him, he had lost his vision and all they could do was stop the virus from spreading to other parts of his body.

In addition to loving music, Floyd enjoys dancing. In early March, he came in second place in a competition at Elite Hall in Hyrum. Elite Hall, built in 1917, is his favorite place to dance. Partly that's because of the history behind it - his grandmother danced there in 1948. Floyd knows country swing and big-band swing, which includes dancing the Charleston, triple step, cha-cha, cowboy cha-cha, Lindy hop and two-step.

With the help of his Seeing Eye dog, Huck, Floyd has lived on his own in Logan for more than four years.

Growing up in Rich County, Floyd believes he loved music from the cradle, but he also enjoyed friends and Jazz basketball. Around age 11, he earned money by making and selling raspberry Popsicles on the family's raspberry farm. His financial planner father, Craig, started the business after Floyd went blind, so his son would have a job. As he grew up, Floyd helped the business expand to selling raspberry jams, jellies, syrups and other raspberry products, with the fruit they grew on 4 acres.

The public schools Floyd attended in Rich County facilitated his education by purchasing a Braille printer and speech software for the computer system. Outside of school, Floyd took cane lessons both in Laketown and in Logan, where he could practice crossing streets in busy traffic.

"You more learn where to listen than what to listen to," Floyd said. "Because if you listen in the right areas you can tell (when to cross)."

As his skills developed, Floyd could get around school by himself with his cane. After graduation it took him some time before he was ready to move out on his own. First, he had to learn life skills like cooking and doing laundry, learn some routes through the Logan neighborhood where he now lives and get to know his apartment. He also got a Seeing Eye dog from the Seeing Eye school in Morristown, N.J., the world's oldest school for dog guides.

Deciding whether he wanted a Seeing Eye dog was a hard decision.

"Dogs are a lot of responsibility. It's like having a baby. You've got to feed them and train them," Floyd said.

But after he went to New Jersey and was given a chance to practice walking with a Seeing Eye dog, Floyd liked the greater freedom the dog gave him.

"After walking the dog I knew that's what I had to do," he said.

Other benefits of having a dog, Floyd said, are that blind people walk more upright and naturally with a dog than with a cane and also a dog draws other people to him.

Quiet spoken with a mind full of miscellaneous dates and information, Floyd peppers his conversation with sarcastic humor. When asked if he likes his dog Huck, he says, "sometimes."

Then he softens and says, "We're a team and we have a good relationship between us."

In June, Floyd and Huck will have been together for five years. Floyd walks his dog at least a mile a day and gives him daily obedience training. Floyd claims with his other responsibilities he doesn't spend enough time on his music. However, he did just finish recording his first two-hour demo CD, which he's selling copies of for $5.

He's also busy studying biology and computer literacy. He's taking the two courses online from Weber State University to obtain his associate's degree. When that's done, he plans to attend Utah State University for a bachelor's degree in music performance composition, with an emphasis in jazz guitar. Currently he's taking private music instruction.

In Logan, Floyd makes friends at the student ward he attends as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at Institute classes and sometimes while dancing.

While he doesn't regret growing up in the Bear Lake area, he said a city is a better place for him to live right now. In Logan there are sidewalks, unlike back home, along with other young people and opportunities for a musician to walk closer to his dreams.