So I'm driving to work this morning

And there's this raccoon in the road. I'm thinking he might be sick, hurt, etc so I slowly drive by....

Nope, he's tearing into a large frozen lasagna in a tinfoil packet. Where the thing got the lasagna, I have no clue, and the thing is twice the size of him so he must have carried it pretty far.

Anyway, I roll down my window, and call out to him (somewhere I must have thought he'd explain everything to me, I guess.) He lets out this growl, but does not move, still working away at the package.

I swear, these guys will evolve and rule the planet some day...

somone in a hurry probably hit the little guy later that day...

-LK

Really big - he would have been hard to miss.

he's basically saying to you, "look buddy, i've just hit the jackpot here and i will fight to the death over this pasta. bring it"

that raccoons seen during the daylight hours are rabid?

We had a raccoon in our property a few years back.
It looked very, very ill and the locals authorities came out and executed the poor thing, took it away, tested it and it was found to be rabid.

A guy told me later that if one ever sees a raccoon during the day, it's rabid but is this true or was he just pulling a furriners leg?

I remember seeing a news report that the once nocturnal Raccoons have adapted to daylight hours in populated places (like Sunnyvale) since there is more of a chance to scavenge then.

Like I said, these guys can adapt and will rule the world someday...

I live in a highly populated area but our property is right up against a big state park.
That rabid raccoon is the only I have ever seen in 6 years of living here.

We have wild turkeys everywhere though. Those things are cool.

Raccoons are generally nocturnal animals, so if they're out during the daylight hours, that's an indication they might be rabid. It's one of those cases: not all daylight raccoons are rabid, but a lot of rabid raccoons will be seen in daylight.

Mother raccoons who are nursing will often hunt and do other "chores" during the day while her cubs are sleeping. If it's really early in the morning, the particular animal may just be winding up a long night, or if it's early evening, but still light, it may be getting an early start. And, for whatever reason, some raccoons will just come out in the day.

But you weren't getting your leg pulled. It's good advice to live by.

Raccoons are typically nocturnal, and they avoid people anyway. so seeing one in the daytime in an urbanized area, like a well'travelled road, is not a good sign and often indicates a sick animal.

...and I'd be sitting out on the front porch, which was partially closed in, reading and raccoons would come up to eat the cat food I'd left out for the neighborhood strays. Sometimes some of the stray cats were up there, too, and the younger ones would go stand as close as they could to the raccoons and sniff them. I also had possums come out of the woods a lot. One night I had 2 raccoons leaving, a possum coming up the steps, and about 3-4 cats/kittens lounging on the porch.

But those raccoons were tamed by living so close to a residential neighborhood. It doesn't sound like the one you encountered was if he growled at you.

They're not bad, but better if you heat them up.

because that was my frickin' breakfast!

Perhaps his momma taught him not to speak with his mouth full.