This is a slow weekend for us. Ran in from Fernley, NV Saturday, arrived in Las Vegas at 2:00PM, can't deliver until Monday at 5 PM. Spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning at the Pilot, but no kitty walk areas there. This morning we moved to the Petro truck stop on Speedway Blvd, way up on the north end of town. There's open desert all around this truck stop so we went for a decent kitten walk about 8:00PM.

Talk about a busy kitten! We got about 300 yards away from the truck stop when Harri started darting from side to side, jumping in the air, turning somersaults while jumping - it was quite a show! I figured she was just having an attack of kittenitis, but then I saw that we were surrounded by moths. Harri was very impressive with the leaps she performed - I've never seen a cat do leaps like that, and never so many leaps in such a short time. It only a few minutes before she was panting and exhausted, so we resumed our walk.

There is a power substation next to the truck stop, surrounded by tall cinderblock walls. We walked the base of that wall, and Harri struck another gold mine - lizards! For her first find, we were walking along enjoying the evening, when Harri pounced on a low bush. I shined the flashlight on the bush to see what it was, and there was a little lizard. Harri played with the lizard for the better part of 15 minutes before she let it get away. She did have it firmly in paw a couple of time, so I told her we'd count it as a kill. She was winded again after the lizard pounces, so we set off along the wall again.

Not more than 20 feet further along, she found a second lizard. She played with this one for about 5 minutes, then was startled when a 3rd one darted out. She played with the two of them for several minutes, then they both got away as well. I told her we would count all three of the lizards.

I'm glad that we had a good flashlight with us. There was plenty of light to walk by, since the lights from the truck stop cast a fair amount of light on the desert floor and the big signboard at the speedway cast lots of light, but it didn't provide enough to see fine details. I make a point of shining my flashlight on anything Harri shows an interest in, to make sure it's safe. That's why tonight I was able to pull her away from a scorpion and 3 black widows. I hate those darned things!

The walk itself was wonderful, even aside from the kitten antics. We're maybe 3 miles from the north end of the Strip, and since it was dark it was easy to see the lighted top of the Stratosphere, the spotlight atop the Luxor, whatever that hotel is with the bright green lights - looking at Las Vegas from a couple of miles out is actually much more beautiful than looking at things from up close. The temperature was in the low 70s, there was a very gentle northeast breeze that became a brisk breeze by the time we were done and is now rocking my trailer, and there were just a few clouds in the sky. Overall it was a wonderful night.

Harri's score now: 2 mice, 3 lizards, 8 moths, 3 crickets, and a butterfly.

Copyright © Dan Mahoney
May 2, 2005