In the book, Deke and the new principal interfere with the ex-husband's attack.

Don was heading toward I-35 to take him to Kansas. Although we knew he was in Minnesota and then somehow got to Oklahoma while going around Kansas. So he must have gone way west and then come up from the south. Or he's trying to get a jump start on William Least Heat Moon.

Don was staying in Oklahoma, not Kansas. Alva, Oklahoma to be precise. Pete wants to go to Kansas.