I had an early start to the day when Ozark, our new cat, rousted me out of bed at 5:30am yesterday. It was her first overnight in the coach. We kept her in the bedroom with the door between the kitchen and bathroom closed. Her litter box was in the bathroom. Until I know for sure that she’ll use her scratching post and leave the furniture alone, I want to be able to keep an eye on her.

She woke me up by softly mewing and pawing at the door to the kitchen. She was hungry. I found out throughout the day that she was hungrier and more exhausted than I realized. I fed her small amounts of dry kitten food and she had plenty of water. She would eat, explore around for a short while, then nap. After about two hours, she would be at my feet calling for more food and the process would repeat.

This went on all day as I went about my chores. I removed the tire covers, cleaned them and put them away. I checked tire pressures and added air to the trailer tires and scooter tires. Every two or two and half hours, I would go into the coach and Ozark would tell me she was hungry.

I loaded the scooter in the trailer and put away the windshield cover. I should mention a moment I had when I was putting the scooter into the trailer. The rear of our site slopes down considerably. The rear ramp/door of the trailer was steeply angled down due to the slope. To get the scooter into the trailer, I ride it slowly up the ramp, park it against a wheel chock and strap it in place. The ramp was at such a steep angle that while riding slowly up it ,I came to a stop and had to open the throttle. The rear tire spun and drifted sideways before it caught traction and I shot into the trailer! No damage done, I was able to stop without hitting anything inside.

Then I cleaned the windows and also partially cleaned the coach and trailer. I won’t accept a site with a mimosa tree in the future. This tree sheds so much debris that it’s impossible to keep up with.

I grilled a couple of spicy Italian sausages made in-house at the Harter House grocer. Donna prepared a marinara sauce and served it over whole wheat angel hair pasta and a bed of sauteed peppers, onions and summer squash.

Spicy Italian sausage marinara over spaghetti and peppers

After dinner, I enjoyed an unusual brew. It was Equinox from Lagunitas Brewing in Petaluma, California – one of my favorite craft breweries. This beer was a unique pale ale brewed with oats. It had a creamy texture and was well balanced.

Lagunitas Equinox

Around 8pm, I fed Ozark her final meal of the day. I was hoping her appetite would be satisfied and she would sleep soundly through the night. I gave her a few dry kibbles and a small can of food and she ate it all.

I wrote yesterday that I thought she was about four months old after comparing her body size to kittens I saw at Petco. This isn’t a very good way to determine the age of a cat. There are too many variations in cat sizes. I did a little research and examined her teeth. She was very accommodating and let me pull back her lips and open her mouth. Her molars have erupted making her at least six months old.

Ozark slept soundly through the night at the foot of our bed. She stirred and crawled up to our pillows at 6am. She wasn’t mewing for food, she was just ready to get up. After a while I got up and put dry food in her bowl. She seems so much better now. She didn’t scarf the food down – she munched for a few minutes then walked away with some food still in her bowl. As I’m typing this an hour later she returned to her bowl to finish the meal. I’m hoping she settles down to a few feedings per day.

I still have to pack the grill and get the ladder out. I want to go on the roof and sweep the mimosa tree droppings before we leave. We’ll head north and probably dry camp tonight before we reach Des Moines tomorrow.