We have several times had to interrupt our vacations for various minor catastrophes--new mufflers, tick bite resulting in nascient lyme disease, and so on.  This time, I needed a dentist, because my temporary crown came off.  After leaving several messages yesterday, I got a call from a very nice dentist who offered to see me at 7:45 this morning, actually before her office hours.  She couldn't have been nicer, and we were on our way in time to get to the Channel Islands Visitor Center by 8:30 when they opened.  (We were early, actually.)  If you are ever in Ventura and need a dentist, I highly recommend Mary White.

Incidentally--trying to find a dentist for an emergency was an enlightening experience. Several dentists never responded at all.  One responded rudely.  One refused to even take an emergency request from anyone who was not a current patient, and one had a full message box, so no messages possible.  When you find a helpful dentist, keep him or her!

At the visitor's center, we learned that there had been, out on the islands, an animal called the Pygmy Mammoth--as much an oxymoron as Jumbo Shrimp--about 1/2 the size, or less, of a regular sized mammoth.   Who knew?  Another example of a species miniaturized by environment and resources. They don't know why these went extinct, but hunting may have been part of it.

We got one more passport stamp (the last for this trip), finishing off our visitation of 9 NPS sites.  I said earlier that we would see six, but I was wrong.  We're about to finish off our 5th NPS Passport, and we're now at just about 300 park sites visited.  Still plenty more to go!

We left there and headed out.  Fortunately, we did not have to get on US101 to Los Angeles in order to pick up 10 to 40; we took the back roads, which was much more pleasant. 126 to 14 to 18 to 14 to 40.  I40 starts in Barstow, and that would be our last road all the way to Amarillo.

We thought we would take a drive through Williams, AZ again, as it was raining the first time we went through there; however, this time when we got to Williams, it was POURING.  Something does not want us to see Williams, apparently.  (Keith Hollowell:  is this your doing?)

We made it to Flagstaff around 7:00--another 12-hour day--and checked in at our motel: another Route 66 classic, the Motel DuBeau.  Fortunately, there is a restaurant in-house that got 5 stars on Yelp, so we didn't have to go anywhere but across the driveway.  This turned out to be the best meal of the trip.  The place is mostly a bar, and the menu is a very small tapas menu (definitely not road food), but everything was delicious!

Tomorrow:  Flagstaff to Tucumcari, NM.