That can’t be an armadillo…we’re still in Kansas, Dorothy.

So, maybe an allowance for road-weariness can be made, after 11 straight days of riding. My 65 mph-glance registered “armadillo” when I noticed a roadside napper. Then it dawned on me, I was still in Kansas. Migrating with the cicadas, I wondered?

The scene played out again, about an hour on, but this time at a slower pace. Then it struck me, what I thought were the folds in armadillo-like armor were really just furry stripes. This leads us to today’s breaking news: “Team Raccoon has joined in the Roadside Napper Competition”. Joined in with a vengeance rather, and by day’s end they were tied with Team Bambi.

Fathers’ Day went on to include a trip to the “laundrymat”. I was looking for a laundromat, but all they have in these parts are “laundrymats”. Baxter Springs KS was the inspiration for Radiator Springs in the movie CARS. Their jargon may be different than what I’m used to, but the 6 residents with which I had the pleasure of “warshing” clothes, were warm and very hospitable. We exchanged the highlights of our life stories in the hour that it took to recycle 12 days worth of my clothing. The owner was on hand and showed me which dryers ran too hot, which didn’t work at all and just how to jiggle the coin mechanism to get some to work. Colorful and delightful people in-all.

My last retail adventure, before crossing into Oklahoma, led me to the local AutoZone store. With my needed supplies in hand, at the register, the clerk asked me if I was a father. When I advised him that I am a father and a grandfather, his slid my bottles of water right past the register saying that my drinking water was on the house, for Fathers’ Day. Wow, that doesn’t happen too often in my home zip code.

The weather cooperated, until 3:30 pm today, at which point I was re-baptized. I donned the appropriate gear and pushed through it and it let up within the hour. As a result, I was able to log 240 miles for the day and set up for the night in Stroud OK.

I’ll leave you with 2 things that I have always held to be significant about RT66. Those are the design of the original roadway and the camps that the Dust Bowl refugees endured en-route to a different life in the West. I’ve passed the ruins of 4 of the camps thus far, but weather has precluded any good photos. Today’s contributions below, show one example of a camp that does not lay in ruin. Additionally, there are a series of photos depicting the original roadway.