Hipsters love cats. But apparently cats don’t love the hipsterfied city of PDX.
A cat by the name of Mata Hairi hitchhiked its way out of Portland, Oregon, in September after her owner, Ron Buss, let him out. Michael King, a homeless man, found Mata Hairi and rescued her, taking the cat on his hitchhiking travels to California and Montana. Mata Hairi would ride on top of his rucksack.
As soon as he was able to take her to the vet and a microchip revealed her owner, King was able to get in touch with Buss about Mata Hairi’s safe return.
I don’t know about you, but I’d love to see Mata Hairi get her own meme, a la LOLCats and Grumpy Cats.
You know who loved hitchhiking and cats? Jack Kerouac. Jerry Bauer took this photograph around 1965.
Here’s another photograph of Kerouac with a cat, plus a 1959 poem about his cat.
Stephanie Nikolopoulos 
I read Kerouac’s “On the Road” many years ago. Here is another hitchhiking book that you might like to read:
“The Short, Short Hitchhiker”
http://hitchhikeamerica.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/the-short-short-hitchhiker/
Oh, wow. I just read the synopsis and that sounds like a fantastic read. I’ll have to add it to my summer reading list. Thanks!