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Days on the Road: 3.5. Turtles Saved: 4.
Doubled down today, pulling two stragglers from the middle of the road within the first 2 hours. Kennedy keeps asking me how I know they wanted to get to the side of the road I place them on. My theory is it's a fucking turtle. He gets deposited in the direction his head (or head-hole) is facing, since turning around would involve a lot of time and - quite honestly - a fair chance of becoming a Road Stromboli. If I'm wrong, they can write in. Truth be told, though I should only claim one of the two turtles saved, as the second was penance for the unfortunate bird I hit with a 65mph Mustang and had to peel off of the grill in Stroud, OK. Nobody worry...I didn't take any pictures.
There are many, many (MANY) freight trains in Claremore, and they pass about 50 yards to the left of the fine Microtel we stayed in last night. The engineers of these vessels seem to take a child-like delight in blasting their mega-decibel horn for long minutes as they pass through this (formerly) sleepy little town. One such passed through
around 4:30am and the rest was pretty much history. I wallowed around in the grossly inadequate bed for another hour, then gave it up. Kennedy, true to form, had been watching TV since 4am.
Breakfast was the Waffle House, a staple down here almost on a par with Dollar General, which you literally cannot swing a dead cat in the Midwest without hitting. It got to the point a few miles into this morning's trek where there were billboards on the road advertising the Dollar General's in the next 6 towns down the line. Anyway, the Waffle House is an institution in the south, and this particular branch was adjacent to the Hard Rock Casino in Tulsa. Our waitress Virginia was an absolute doll, but still looked at me askance when I ordered my egg-white veggie omelet with no toast, no potatoes and fried tomatoes instead of grits. Kennedy had three biscuits smothered in white sausage gravy and two scrambled eggs, so I guess he made up for my "Northern Abnormality".
Other observations from the road today:
• Everything moves slower down here. Traffic in cities, people on sidewalks. Ketchup. Everything seems to just take it's sweet-ass
time getting from inception to completion. Some of it is terribly appealing.
• In reference to that last statement regarding traffic, let me reiterate: I said "in cities". Out in the country, these people fly around like 1,000,000 drunken Dale Earnhardts. I find it endlessly funny that Route 3 South of Boston is three lanes each way with a wooded, 100-yard divider and the speed limit is 55. Out here, a two-lane (as in one each direction) rural road is 65mph, and god help you if you're going .00015mph under that benchmark because somebody in a very large pickup is gonna ride your ass.
• Kennedy ends about 85% of his sentences with "you know?". Weird the things you notice when you're in a car for 4 days.
Tomorrow was supposed to be a run through Texas for the New Mexico border, but I'm gonna spring a little detour on Kennedy at dinner tonight. Abilene is only 3.5 hours south of where I'm sitting right now typing this, and there's a very special friend living there that I've known and loved for a dozen years but never met. Tomorrow, we're going to set that right.
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