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when I moved from New York to Tucson
I drove across the country in big leaps
first down to Chapel Hill to visit friends
then over to Lexington, Kentucky, to visit family
then from Lexington all the way to Amarillo
twenty-two solid hours of driving
in a Ford Festiva with nearly bald tires
and a tape deck that broke halfway across
I was fueled by cheese & peanut butter crackers
and the desperate need to Go West, Young Man
as an anomalous kid who grew up on Nat Cole
I made my way to the highway that’s the best
but like most things I grew up dreaming about
the reality was shabbier, or forgotten entirely
there were a few half-open restaurants
selling half-remembered knickknacks
with those two famous digits
but the highway had passed mostly into legend
like Plymouth Rock or the OK Corral
so I pulled back onto the big beast 40
left those twin sixes behind me
drove toward my new life
3 April 2013
Auburn AL
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