Route 66, Day 20 by Bryan Patterson July 1, 2015
- The scorpion in the sleeping bag day! We had camped at the Will
Rogers Downs KOA, Tulsa, which was right next to a race course, and
horses and jockeys were out early before the heat of the sun became
unbearable. We were all out of the tent except Sidd, then all of a
sudden there was a shout and ‘I’ve been stung by a scorpion!!”.
Off course we really didn’t take this seriously until Sidd pulled back
the tent entrance and there on his sleeping bag was a really life
scorpion! Tail up and looking very vicious. Sidd said that he’d been
stung on a finger. So we really had to get him to a hospital pretty
quickly, and so into the van and back to Claremore hospital, and the
emergency department. This was not a busy hospital so with no one else
there Sidd was quickly seen by a doctor, who explained that ther were
no venomous scorpions in this part of Oklahoma. Yes all scorpions have
venom but this particular species did not have enough to do any damage.
Off course Sidd’s parents were still concerned and off course the mere
mention of a scorpion put fear into them.
I had to convince them that he was fine and that this was not a
dangerous one – Yea right, parents always worry that’s what parents are
for! I have to say that the scorpion did look fearsome and possibly
really venomous, so it was sad to find that it was not!! Sidd was
discharged and back to the camp site we went. Alvin, an RV driver, who
had introduced himself came over and asked if Sidd was OK. He really
seemed to like our company and our conversation.
Still we were way behind our schedule so into the van to find Route 66.
We did find it and did some riding along this route. However Route 66
turned North into Kansas, whre there was 18 miles of Route 66 that ran
through Kansas, basically North though Baxter Springs, turning East at
Galina and into Missouri and Joplin. We decided to miss this part of
Route 66 but back track the next day to ride the Route.
Meanwhile we also had to drive back to Tulsa to meet Grace, Mark’s girlfriend who was flying in to join us.
Joplin KOA and tent up we headed back to Tulsa to collect Grace, and then back to Joplin and sleep!!
