A Black Cat Crossed My Path...

I've never been the superstitious type, but I may have to reconsider in light of a recent event. Here's the story:

We were driving back from a hunting and fishing trip at Fort Peck Reservoir. Miles and miles of dirt roads...over 50 miles from our campsite to the nearest pavement. The trip had been fantastic. A week of wall tent camping with daily excursions for mule deer or a short walk down to the water to fish. By the end, our group harvested two mule deer, but the overall amount of wildlife we saw was amazing. The Fort Peck area is home to just about everything that walks or swims in Montana, surrounded by bountiful public lands...truly a sportsman's paradise. I digress, back to the story...

So here we are bumping along down this road in the middle of nowhere, and this black cat trots across in front of us, briefly pausing to ominously glare before running off into the sea of sagebrush. Honestly, at the time, the thought of it being a sign of bad things to come never crossed my mind. My last thought as the cat ran off was wondering why this kitty was roaming so far from the safety of a ranch house. Let's face it, it is a rough neighborhood out there with the likes of coyotes, foxes, bobcats, and eagles around.

Unfortunately, the first of the bad luck was not long in showing up. Although, the wrong turn was really a minor inconvenience, it did cut into our carefully rationed gasoline supply and left us sweating a little as we managed to get into Lewistown. After that, it was smooth sailing all the way through Big Timber and onto I-90 for the cruise home. It was this moment, however, that the evil kitty had portended way back on the open prairie. It came out of the darkness, just a quick flash as it suicidally tried to cross the interstate. And then we collided. A nice '93 White Ford Bronco (O.J. Simpson Edition) with a good size whitetail buck. Needless to say, it turned out worse for the deer than for us. Our radiator was still intact and not leaking, and after some repositioning of the bumper with rope we were able to drive the rest of the way home. With one headlight, naturally.

Damn cat.