(east/west, day two: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky)
The Golden Triangle glistens in the morning
I see in real life what I learned in third grade
Amazing what thoughts cross my mind without warning
As I detour out of Steelertown just a little delayed
Down 79 in Bridgeville I stop for breakfast and pages
The clouds finally break and the sun shines down in full
Then it’s on through West Virginia, now that’s one for the ages
Just wheeling through, feeling the westward pull
Strange things are happening
As I head deeper west
Strange things are happening
May they meet with success.
Crossing the Ohio, broken bits of forgotten America
Lie strewn, abandoned, at the foot of the interstate
Over the river, up from the valley, I survey a new area
Fuel up in Zanesville, then deeper into the state
Across an endlessly flat plain, I avoid all the cities
Unwanted thoughts of old girlfriends, I try not to dwell
But the weird vibes persist all the way through Cincinnati
Where I get caught up in afternoon rush-hour hell
Strange things are happening
Are they some sort of test
Strange things are happening
May they all be for the best.
 
Before I go on, I have to ask: What’s with all the damn pigs?
Trucks bludgeon me with their heinous stench throughout the ride
Can this country’s pork industry really be so damn big?
I just hope it doesn’t stink like this all the way to the other side.
What’s slowing us down? Looks like construction closure
At the height of the crush, two lanes converge
I slow down to a stop and wait for it all to be over
But with a flash of his lights, brother trucker lets me merge
And I remember how back home I wouldn’t have been so lucky
And I think, now I’m definitely out of the northeast
Soon I’m over the Ohio again and into Kentucky
Slug past Louisville, on to Shepherdsville, first place I can park my beast
Strange things are happening
An odd odyssey or quest
Strange things are happening
Let’s lay this whole long day to rest.
Strange things are happening
As I head deeper west
Strange things are happening
May they stay safe and blessed.
©2023 The Hesh Inc.

The second day on the road on my east/west journey started in Pittsburgh, where I got started a bit later than expected after hanging out with my old friend from Israel and his wife, catching up on old times. But soon I got going, and I took in some views I had only heard or read about previously. Soon I was through the "finger" of West Virginia and over the Ohio, and as I crossed the amazingly flat state by the same name, all sorts of unwanted thoughts started creeping through my mind ... and soon I was introduced to the bane of my trip: the pig trucks! Apparently June is the season when these unkosher beasts get trucked to the slaughterhouses to feed the country's evidently insatiable appetite for pork, and the smell, every time one of those trucks passed me, was beyond vile, especially when I had the cab windows open. This phenomenon plagued me pretty much the entire trip, between Ohio and the California line. Later in the afternoon, after an experience during the Cincinnati rush hour in which I realized that once I leave the northeastern corridor, drivers are actually nice to each other, I crossed the Ohio again into Kentucky ... by now I was exhausted and needed to stop for the night, but it was no simple matter to just park the truck, since I was towing my family van behind it. Finding no place to do that in Louisville, I pressed on till I found a hotel in Shepherdsville with a whole row of trucks parked in a lot across from the front entrance. And then, finally, I could rest from the road.
Comentários