Thanks to the lock-picking adventure from the night before, I gave myself an extra hour of sleep, waking at 6:30 Sunday morning and feeding the dog before I jumped in the car with my worldly possessions and sleepily pointed my car north on I-35. The break-in from the night before produced a permanent wind noise sound from the edges of my passenger door. So that’ll be fun to get used to.

I swung through Temple and said goodbye to Dad & family before church started, then punched it up the Lord’s Highway to Dallas, where I stopped to see Sonali and Ashis’s new baby Akhil.

After paying my respects and, oddly enough, raiding Sonali’s pantry for spices—it’s the only thing that livens up backpacking food—I drove a bit further north and waited patiently in a half-hour drive-through line just for an In-N-Out Burger. The verdict is “delicious;” maybe not worth that wait, but at least I’ve popped my In-N-Out cherry.

…That sounded grosser than I meant it to. 

Then it was north to Denton and into Okie territory. To make the drive a little more interesting, I took Exit 1 just across the state line and followed Highway 77, the older highway, as it ran parallel to I-35 most of the way to OKC. This took a good bit longer, but afforded me some more interesting sights along the way, most of them delightfully rednecky and ridiculous:

– A side street called Fightin’ Holler Road
– A liquor store called “Guzzlers”
– A VW Bug perched high in the air on giant steel spider legs
– OU

Granted, say what you want about Oklahoma, but it was 82 degrees and there was a Braum’s in every town.

The drive north from there was painfully uneventful, though at least Kansas is nice enough to have a 75mph speed limit. Just past Wichita I made an incredibly costly mistake, in missing the turnoff north to Salina. No big deal, right? Just pop a U-ie and be on my way? Yeah, see, Kansas isn’t too keen on, um, having exits. My iPhone calculated a new route for a moment, gave me a glum look, sighed, then declared that I’d have to take the next exit in *twelve miles* and use side highways to get back on track. Added time: about 40 minutes.

I finally got to Salina after dark, a solid three hours behind schedule. As I filled up on gas, though, there was a transcendent, unfamiliar, magical moment: a *cool breeze* blew in my face. It was like an angel farting. Giddily, I dug around in my trunk and found my jacket.

Lovely weather aside, I had another 3 1/2 hours before my planned camping site in Kearney, Nebraska. At one point I drove past, I’m not joking with you here, the World’s Largest Ball of Sisal Twine, proudly displayed in an outdoor pavilion in Cawker City. Drove past without even slowing down, that is. I’m sure the World’s Largest Ball of Flaxen Twine will be along the road before too long.