It's really wonderful being home again! Harri and I got home Thursday
morning, and now (Sunday night) we're anticipating going back on the
road tomorrow morning.

I decided that today would be a good day to take Harri down to the river
bottom for a nice kitty walk. Nancy suggested that we take Amelia too -
she quite enjoys taking walks around the front yard. It sounded like a
good idea, so we bundled up both kitties in the little tiny pickup for
the 5 mile ride to the river.

Amelia and Harri still hiss at each other some times. Amelia doesn't
like riding in the pickup and howls the whole way. So by the time we got
to our walk place, Nancy and I were already exhausted. But we got there
ok and got the harnessed and leashed kitties out of the truck. Harri was
her usual exuberant self - she took off at a good clip down the river
bottom, leaving Nancy and Amelia far behind. Amelia was very uncertain
about the whole idea of walking away from home, but gave it a good try.
 Talking to Nancy later I learned that Amelia gave it a go for about 50
feet then demanded that nancy carry her.

Meanwhile Harri and I are streaking down the river bed. I had forgotten
that the river bottom is covered with rocks and boulders. Didn't slow
Harri down - she was hopping from rock to work with the agility of a
mountain goat. I had to work a bit harder, but did manage to pretty well
keep up. The only time we had any hardwhip was when Harri got well up on
a pile of boulders. I followed her and got some decent digital photos,
but when I tried to get over close to her I stepped on a loose rock that
rolled out from under me and dumped me. Didn't hurt anything too badly,
but I did get a couple good-sized rocks rolling down and pinning for a
few minutes until I could shift them off me.

At that point I decided we had had enough excitement, so I carried Harri
back to where Nancy and Amelia were. We found fairly level stretch free
of boulders near where I parked, so we went there to finish our walk. I
thought it would be good for Harri to get a chance to walk with Nancy so
Nancy and I exchanged kitties. Harri still had a wonderful time, and
took Nancy streaking down the river edge. Amelia and I found ourselves a
nice comfortable stretch of sand and just sat and waited.

Then about 15 minutes after we arrived, a pair of dirt bike riders
showed up. They were across the river from us, but Harri and Amelia both
became convinced that those noisy motorcycles were actually kitty-eaters
in disguise. Harri made a bee-line back towards the truck, while Amelia
decided to scale my back for a shoulder-ride back to the truck.

Overall it was a decent walk - Harri enjoyed it and Amelia enjoyed most
of it - but I don't think I'm going to do any more two-kitties walks for
quite some time!

Now I'm off to pack some ice around my ankle again.