Pictures and captions from Don and Sylvia (the Sylvia who can type and hold a camera)

This is a photo of highway 93 in the area of the crash site, taken toward the north. The Salmon River is to the left, the Cottonwood Campground would be to the north, beyond the view of the photo. The area where Rita was found in the live trap was in the area beyond the trees to the right in the photo. As we discussed, Rita may have been seen by the truck driver traveling along the road to the campground to the north, where Duane was also putting out food, or to the south in in the photo to the house where a family was putting food out for Rita, even though they had a number of cats themselves. As you know from your visit there, the area behind the trees was a somewhat open, fairly level half circle rimmed by fairly steep cliffs. The area had fresh water coming under the road in a culvert.


We had some photos that showed the setting of the campground better (grass, trees and river in the background), but the foreground came out blurry. This flash photo is the only one that came out of Duane, so the background is not great. Duane was already putting food out for Rita at the campground and at the 'pumphouse site' behind the crash site. These were the sites where he set up the live traps. I believe Duane told us that this was his tenth year hosting at the Cottonwood Campground. He lives in Arizona in the winter.


This is not a great shot, but it shows Rita in her carrier lying curled up on her back, her position for most of the trip after about her first hour of travel. That position indicated to us that she was pretty relaxed.


Tetsu traveled way in the back of the Tahoe, so he and Rita were well-separated. We think they may not have seen each other the entire trip.


Rita in the motel room in Lovelock, NV. Rita had her own room in the motel--the bathroom--where all her 'stuff' was set up. We also had some sections from a dog exercise pen across the doorway as a back-up barrier. Tetsu never went near the door to the bathroom. Rita showed a lot of interest in exploring further, so we were very careful.