The last few days have been interesting. We ended up spending up two days in LaPine, OR. The territory there is so beautiful that we had to take two kitten walks a day, one in the wee hours of the morning and one at night. Harri absolutely loved that!

We then picked up a load in Springfield, OR. Springfield means Kingsford Charcoal, and they usually give me just over 45000 pounds. This time, though, I guess the gods of trucking smiled on me as I only got 25000 pounds. Makes the hills a lot easier. We then made it as far as Klamath Falls, OR before we stopped.

Klamath Falls is a pretty place. The 18 Wheeler Truck Stop just south of town is not. And the open field on the south edge of the truck stop is worse. It's rough ground littered with broken bricks, an occasional piece of lumber, and a big stack of railroad ties in the middle, bordered on all four sides by ditches full of stagnant water. But it's the only area available for kitten walking, so that's where we went. Harri found a big clump of weeds to explore, and apparently heard something moving underneath. She sat watching and listening to it for a few minutes then started squirming deeper under the brush. I stopped her, not knowing if whatever was under there might have teeth. Harri gave me a look of total disgust, something that said "how can I find out what's under there if I don't go look?"

The longer we walked that night, the more uneasy I became. When we got within about 50 feet of the stack of railroad ties I was so uneasy I could hardly stand it. I wouldn't let Harri get any closer, then started us working our way out of the field. That entire walk lasted only 30 minutes. And in the morning I did NOT take her for another walk.

We then ran across the south end of Oregon into the California end of the Klamath Valley, over to US395, then south to Nevada and Interstate 80. We're now in Fernley, NV. This truck stop has a really nice kitty walk territory - a big stretch of open desert. We did a night time kitten walk and a pre-dawn kitten walk, and Harri is now napping on the dash as I finish this message and get us ready to roll for Las Vegas (we get to spend two whole days sitting in Las Vegas, waiting for our receiving customer to open).

That brings me to my observation about the little stripey orange Roadcat - she is very time aware. When I climb in to the sleeper, if the next day's schedule requires that we be on the road by a particular time I set the alarm and tell Harri about the time I'm setting the alarm for. Without fail, anywhere from 3 minutes (today) to 20 minutes (normal) before the alarm goes off I will be awakened by a "mrrrqueak-squeak-purr" coming from my bunk. If I ignore her this will be followed by Harri washing my nose or whatever other part of my head is easiest to reach. It is quite remarkable! Harri seems to understand when I tell her what time I need to get, knows when that time is approaching, and knows how to wake me up. I am very impressed.

Of course, if we've had a long day's drive and have a couple hours to spare, I tend to spend those couple extra hours sleeping. Since Harri gets very bored when I sleep, I can plan on those days (like this morning) getting the wakeup squeaks a few *hours* in advance as well. I tell her "thank you, beautiful girl, but it's still 3 hours until I have to get up". She grudgingly accepts that and let's me get back to sleep. Good thing I'm able to get back to sleep!

Copyright © Dan Mahoney
May 1, 2005