Get The Ink Out:

“If he were a human, I bet he’d have a really good soul. Actually, he does have a good soul,” my roommate Kent Treptow once said about my cat, Squee, after he and his girlfriend, Alicia, first moved in.

I’d say it takes one to know one.

You’ve probably seen Kent’s name in the Daily Pilot — and our sister papers, the Huntington Beach Independent and Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot — a lot in the last seven years. He’s shot many a photo, including an amazing package on children who live in the sewers in Mongolia.

But he’s more than just a great photographer. Kent is one of those really nice guys you only seem to hear about, especially from your mother: “Why can’t you find a nice boy and settle down?” Kent would be that nice boy, if he weren’t already dating Alicia.

As a roommate, he’s pretty awesome. I’m not used to having someone else do the dishes, take out the trash, sweep the floors and deal with the recycling. On top of all the cleaning, he loves Squee and plays with him nonstop. From sparklies on the wall to laser pointer to attack of the newspaper to oh, no, there’s an earthquake on the rug, hold on! — these two tire each other out.

Unfortunately, Kent’s adventurous spirit is putting a stop to my personal live-in cleaning service and cat exhauster. He’ll be leaving for a six-month journey across the country — on foot.

That’s right, he’s walking from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

He won’t be alone, though. When he first decided to go on this trip, he knew he wanted a dog as a companion, so he visited various shelters until he found the right one.

I knew he’d found his walking buddy when he described an Australian shepherd who stuck to his side like glue during his visit at the animal shelter, and that he thought Hanna was a good name.

Hanna’s only job will be to keep him company. Kent will be pulling a cart filled with his gear and made it clear that, from day one, Hanna wouldn’t have to do any manual labor other than walk beside him.

Why would anyone want to walk that far? Because someone else once asked him if he won the lottery, what would he do? He decided he didn’t need the lottery to make his dreams happen and began planning.

There are lots and lots of logistics to plan. What route would he take? How many miles a day would he have to walk? How much money is he going to need while he’s gone? What will he do when he makes it to the East Coast? Just how much gear can he pull in his cart?

I’ve watched him get ready for a couple of months, packing up the stuff he wants to keep, giving away what he doesn’t, looking for and training Hanna, building the cart, with no help from Squee, who only wanted to bat around all the pieces and sit in the box it came in.

And there’ve been setbacks. Kent was supposed to leave last month, but his father became ill. Kent stuck around to take care of his parents and debated whether he should go through with his trip, just in case he was needed at home. But with his father on the mend, he has decided to set off Tuesday.

I’m going to sorely miss him. If you want to follow his progress, visit www.kenttreptow.com/blog.

JAMIE ROWE is a copy editor for the Daily Pilot. She may be reached at (714) 966-4634 or [email protected]. Squee is taking applications for a new laser pointer operator.