The last few days have been intersting. 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 til 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!