Day 0

When I wake up

This morning

I don't know that

I'll be starting

My long trip home

Tomorrow

My plan as of this point

Is to visit Gina in Maryland

Tomorrow, Sunday,

And then return to Princeton Monday

To have my car serviced

And to pack,

And then leave on Tuesday,

September 1st

Early in the summer

I'd hit on the idea of

Detouring to

The Canadian Rockies

On the way from

New Jersey to La Jolla

Aware that I'll be

Passing through Chicago

And thinking about how

I've been accelerating

Contacting friends and relatives

As my summer stay in NJ

Is coming to a close,

I realize that

My old pal Bill Bernath

Lives in Chicago

I decide to call him

And see if a visit

Will work out

I try calling

The number I have

In my address book

But this doesn't work,

Not that surprisingly,

Since it's been a few years

I have to get Bill and Cindy's number

From Cindy's relatives in NJ,

Which I've done before

Bill is home

And looks forward to

Seeing me Thursday evening

Thinking about getting in touch with

Joan in North Carolina,

I hesitate

It wouldn't make sense

To go there after

Returning from Maryland,

Yet if I were to

Go from Maryland to NC

I'd in effect be

Starting my trip tomorrow,

Two days early

I have to see Gina tomorrow, too,

Since she has no other day

Which she can spend with me

Deciding that if

A visit with Joan

Is in the cards,

I'll manage

To pack somehow today

And move out as of tomorrow

I will have to

Work things out

With my landlord

And will forego

Having my car serviced,

But that will be OK

Joan is in

And is excited

At the prospect

Of a visit

I will go to North Carolina Monday

From Maryland

Now looking at my map

And seeing what kind of route

I might take

From North Carolina

To Chicago,

I realize that

I will probably

Pass through Kentucky,

Where Mike Adams lives

Mike is in

And enthusiastic about

A visit on Wednesday,

Giving me an extra day

To kill in NC

I try getting in touch with

Tim Satterly,

To see if I can

Squeeze in a visit

This afternoon,

Between lunch with

Steve and Marion Sussna

And dinner with

Bob and Deb Sussna,

But I have to leave a message

On Tim's machine

I pack as much as I can

In between lunch and dinner

And after dinner

And will have to finish

Before I leave for Gina's

Tomorrow

At lunch in Lawrenceville

I am told that

My cousin Alan

Is living in Chicago,

So I get his info

When I get home after lunch

I have a message from Tim

I try calling

But he is out again

I never do get to see

Him and Jane and their kids

And it's too bad

I've waited so long to call

The same thing happened with

Paulette and Richard and their kids

Within the last week

I meet Bob and Deb for dinner

At Marcella's in Stockton,

A block from the bridge

Over the Delaware

To Pennsylvania

I'd seen my landlord

During the day,

So we're in sync

About my leaving Sunday

Day 1

I finish packing,

Say so long to my landlords,

Bill and Joan Ellis,

And set off to see Gina,

Trying to get there

For a late lunch

As we'd originally planned

I arrive at Arnold,

Present Pern to

The Warren gals,

And camcord Gina and Alexis,

Gina meets Junior

And I meet General

Gina and I go

To Annapolis,

Although Alexis

Can't make it

We have trouble parking,

Finally adventurously

Parallel parking in

Gina's new Diamante

We have lunch

In the open air,

Me sipping Gina's

Black bean soup,

Napkins flying

At our neighbors

We traipse around town

On a beautiful day,

Visiting the Nature Company,

Where there are drawers

Full of neat minerals,

But they're out of marbles

A little art gallery

Is serving snacks

A historical house

Has a plaque on the wall

Bearing the name Robert Johnson

I tell Gina that

I need to show her

My binder of poems

We walk on

Big chunks of stone

Lining the water

At the Naval Academy

We near the end of the dock

And Gina's saying something about

When she's 80

She wants euthanasia

So she won't have to

Live with pain

And a deteriorating mind,

So I mention how

On the drive in

I'd thought about saying

"What are you doing

For the next 40 years?"

And how she'd be 80

In 40 years

She says she might consider

Going on living at 80

Depending on how things are going

We sit for a long time,

Dangling our feet over the edge,

And talk of many things,

Including letting one's partner

Be themself,

Of being open and equals,

Of the difficulty sometimes

Of telling them what

They don't want to hear,

And also how it can be hard

To tell 'em what

They do want to hear!

Back to the townhouse

After recrossing

The Severn Scenic River

Gina and Alexis

Both think that

The August Gilbert Williams

Picture of the princess

("Pool of Light")

Is beautiful

Gina makes some calls

'Cause she'd been beeped

While we were in town

And checks in with Alexis,

Who's starting 8th grade

Tomorrow

Both ladies love my

Computer art bookmarks

And take two each

We look at my

Computer art portfolio

And they both think that

The images are gorgeous,

Oo-ing and ah-ing repeatedly,

Which does my heart good

We look at Gina's photos

From camping and

Massachusetts

I see Donna Reed

In Gina again,

Like I did in May,

And today I see

Mimi Rogers in her, too

Gina sees my poetry pile

And asks for a copy

She reads 'Woodwork

About Robert Johnson

We have Chinese delivered

And Alexis tells me about

The courses she'll be taking

Somehow we get on

The subject of

The periodic table

Of the elements

And Alexis asks about

Her egg roll,

So I say "Sure,

Egg roll atoms"

Then it's time to

Say so long

Gina sees me out to Psience

And we chat and hug and part

Gina confides that

Alexis likes me,

Which does my heart good, too,

And we talk about Junior some more

I head into town to

The Prince George

Bed and breakfast,

Which Gina had set up for me

Day 2 

Morning and buffet breakfast

Outside in the backyard

Writing down Day 1

I call Gina at work

To say goodbye

I drop off Enya for her

Behind a big plant pot

By the front door

Well into Virginia --

Gina must still be with me

'Cause there's a sign for

US 301 and Kenly

US 301 is the route

Gina suggested

And that I took

For much of the way

To Annapolis,

And Gina once lived on

Kenli Lane in Brielle

A maroon 18-wheeler cab

With a high curving flange

Reminds me of

A hornless triceratops

Now down in North Carolina,

A black guy

In a black Isuzu pickup

Passes

I notice he has a

Roughly spherical crystal

The same size as mine

Hanging from

His rearview mirror

Like mine does from mine

He slows down some

And a bit later

I pass him on the right

And honk, wave,

And point out my crystal

He laughs and waves

And falls behind

And out of sight

An hour later

He passes me again

And ends up

A few hundred feet ahead

I can see his crystal

Glinting sparks of color,

At one point

Even through an

Intervening car's

Windshield and back window

He falls behind again

But 20 minutes later

Here he comes,

And passes me one more time

To disappear up ahead,

But not before

I catch some pretty glints

Occasionally I pass

A patch of ivy-smothered trees

That reminds me of

A Virgil Finlay picture of

Snow-covered mountains

With bogeyman faces,

Or of furniture

In a vacant house

Draped in leafy green sheets

I wonder if this is

The infamous kudzu vine

That is plaguing the South?

At some point

Earlier in the day

I had thought about

Coming across a "Sculf Road" --

Well, sure enough,

I pass a "Scull Road" now

And just past it

I see a black man

Sitting outside

With his profile

Turned to me

As I pass

He raises his hand

And sort of waves

Though there's no one else there,

So I wave out

The right hand window

Without taking my eyes

Off the road

I finally make it to Joan's

And meet little Jock

For the first time --

He's gonna be 4

In about a week

Pow-wow the dog

Is kept in a room

So I don't get to meet her

We go out to dinner,

Catching up on old times

Jock has me hold his hand

As we walk to

The restaurant,

And later to

The Winn-Dixie,

And I'm flattered

Then we relax

Back at the house

The TV's on

And in my split attention

Between chatting

And glancing at the tube

I catch sight of a truck

With the name "Bill Ellis"

In large letters

Along the side --

Recall that

My landlords in Princeton

Were Bill Ellis

And his wife Joan

Day 3 

I'm sitting in Joan's kitchen

Documenting Day 2

Before Joan and Jock get up

Out the back window

Are lots of potted plants

And a bunch of bird feeders

Of all shapes and sizes

A cardinal lands

On the ground nearby

Joan and Jock

Make their appearance

And we talk about

High school and mockingbirds

Jock's wearing

My watch again

As he watches me write

He gives us stickers

For our arms --

A sneaker, a truck, a telephone

Pancakes at Shoney's,

A stop at the tune store

Across the street

So I can replace my Enya,

And I also get

The Little Games sessions

2-CD set,

Yet another

Lost Yardbirds album

Then it's back to the house

We check on Pinehurst

Golf club procedures

And then head into

Southern Pines

So Joan can make

A haircutting appointment

A nice plate

On a car parked in town

Reads "INHEAVEN"

Jock and I

Spend an hour

In the local bookstore

Looking at books about

The teenage mutant ninja turtles,

Young Indiana Jones,

And James Bond, Jr.,

And we find Waldo in puzzles

I'm anxious to play golf

But as the hours slip by

It doesn't seem to be in the cards

Joan and I enjoy

A good lunch

Where we both have

Grilled cheese

With bacon and tomato

And salad

On the ride back home

I'm feeling oppressed as

Joan is going on about how

Everybody's phone is tapped,

She smokes another cigarette,

The radio is playing

Something monotonous,

It's hot,

And it looks like

I'm never gonna get to play golf,

At which point

My gold tooth filling comes out

Uh-oh

But don't panic,

Go with the flow

I try to find

A dentist who will

Fix me up today

Or early tomorrow

So I can be on my way as planned

It's already late afternoon,

So today is out,

But 11:30 tomorrow

Beats 1:30,

And then 9:15 beats that

We have Chinese food for dinner --

This is the 5th time

In a little over a week

That I've had Chinese food:

At Berger's last Sunday,

With Kit Monday,

For work lunch Thursday,

At Gina's Sunday (Ho-Lee-Chow),

And now this

(And that doesn't count when

Deb had suggested Chinese

For dinner on Saturday

Though we ended up at Marcella's),

And I'd only had Chinese food

Once all summer previously,

At a Siemens

Learning Systems

Department luncheon

At a Chinese restaurant

Why don't I just stay

An extra day

And play golf anyway?

But I need to see

If this will work out

With both Mike A. and Bill B.

It's 10:30

By the time we get home

But Mike answers

And it's OK with him;

Same for Bill

In fact, both say

It will work out

Even better this way

Day 4 

I find the dentist's,

Wait a little while,

Get fixed up

With recementing

In only a few minutes

And then it's time to pay

I'm girding myself

For the damages

But it's only $18 --

Alright!

I'm writing down Day 3

In the kitchen

With the perpetual

Stream-dripping faucet,

And the plant-covered table

And the red-nectared

Hummingbird feeder

Attached to the window

There's a cardinal outside again

And Jock the yogurt monster

Is keeping me company again

To Pinehurst for a tee time

I buy electric Madras bermudas

So I'll be properly attired

At the hardware store

Two interesting plates

Sit side by side:

"EXISTING" and "IMTHEMAN"

We have lunch

At the country club

And then it's time to play

I'm thrown in

With two retirees

Who've just teed off

On course 1 (of 7)

And we're off

It takes me til the 15th

To finally get in the groove

But it's a beautiful

Pine-infused course,

As epitomized by "PINEWILD"

In the parking lot afterward

We have dinner at

John's Barbecue

But we can't pay --

He won't take plastic

And that's all we have

Fortunately

He'll let Joan pay

Next time she comes by

Back home we watch TV

And see Jimmy Connors

Win his 40th birthday match

At the US Open

Joan disappears

To get Jock to bed

And never reappears,

Having conked out herself

Day 5

Breakfast and farewells

There's a spot of sap

That won't come off

On my car,

From parking under the pines

In Joan's yard

I'm on my way after 12:30

With many miles to cover

Past the North Carolina Motor Speedway

In Rockingham --

Brother Bob would eat this up

Off and on rain and sun

And a trillion traffic lights

Along US 74

At one point

It's drizzling

And wood chips are raining

On my car

From a truck of loose chips

In front of me

It takes five hours

Just to get to Asheville

Via South Carolina,

Constantly adjusting

The A/C up and down

As the sun comes out

And goes behind clouds,

And the wiper speed up and down

As the rain ranges

From none to a drizzle and back

Again and again

I call Mike

To give him my status --

It's 6 and I'm only in Asheville,

Where I fill my tank of tunes

As well as fuel and food,

And I'd originally worried about

Getting to Lexington

Before he got home at 5

He says it should take

Another 4½ or 5 hours

I zip there in 4 hours,

Bleary-eyed,

Passing through the beautiful

Great Smoky Mountains,

Which are mantled in clouds,

Picking up I75 in 11:11 land (Knoxville)

And doing 75

All the 166 miles to Lexington

I find Mike's house by 10 PM

But there's no answer

Is he so sound asleep

That he can't hear me knocking,

Or maybe he's out

And will return by 11

When I should have arrived?

He did say

To pound the door hard

When I arrive

Oh well,

To kill the time

I'm sitting in the car

Writing this down

After eating a cold

Burger King bacon double

I'd brought along --

Not the greatest dinner

At 11,

After unsuccessfully

Trying to get comfortable

In my stuffed-to-the-gills car,

I figure since Mike hasn't driven up

That he really must be out cold

I'm about to start the car

To go find a pay phone

When up drives Mike

We shmooz and

Listen to music

Til the wee hours

Josh and Chris, Mike's sons,

Are staying with Mike's ex, Becky,

So I don't get to see them,

But I met Max,

Mike's husky,

While trying to see

If anyone was home

Mike tells me about Zina

(Which rhymes with Dinah)

Who possibly portends

The first real romance for Mike

In the five years

He's been back home in Kentucky

Day 6

Mike and I

Are up bright and early

To try to fit in

A trip to the hills,

A tour of town,

And a visit to a tune store

As we head out after breakfast

It starts raining

It's grey and rainy

So we don't go hiking

To the natural bridge

But we go by,

And view Appalachia poverty

In the eastern Kentucky hills

As Chrissie Hynde sings about

Corrugated tin shacks in

"The Middle of the Road"

We go through the Nada

One-lane tunnel

Hewn roughly from the rock

Back to Lexington

And Howard Johnson's

For an all-you-can-eat

On fried clams,

Catching up on baseball and sci-fi

Joan hadn't wanted

To go to Ho Jo's

Though there is one near her,

And I'd resisted the urge

To pull into this one

Last night

When pulling off I75 --

Mike might have met me here

So, stopping at this Ho Jo

Finally satisfies my Ho Jo desires

We go for

A quick drive around town,

Seeing a stretch of

Nice older homes,

Rupp Arena,

And horse farms

Then we hit the tune store,

"Cut-corner Records,"

For some great 99¢ CD's for Mike

And some Sug-man for me

Later it's 38 Special's "Chain Lightning"

And Xanth 2 and Neuromancer for Mike

It's back to the house,

Mike shakes Junie-man's hand

So long and

I'm on the road to Chicago

It's rainy and overcast

Til Indianapolis

And I'm concerned about

Really getting slowed down

Since it's a major city,

It's rush hour,

And there's construction

On the interstate I'm on,

But the sun comes out to stay,

The clouds disappearing,

And I flow right through the city

Now I've stopped

For fuel, food, and tunes

And update Bill on my ETA

So, I'm writing this

At a Dairy Queen

In mid-Indiana

At a sunlit table

I restock and restoke

The tune furnace

And it's on into Chicago

And the Bernaths

I meet Bill and Cindy's kids

Jessica and Billy,

Who are 9 and 7 respectively,

For the first time,

And their rambunctious Rotweiler, Daphne

Bill and I chew the fat

For a couple of hours

Day 7

I'm doing documentation

In the kitchen

To country music

After chatting with Cindy

And drinking coffee

And consuming some great big bagels

Bill and I head up to

The first day of

The Michael Jordan/Ronald McDonald

Celebrity charity golf tournament,

Where Bill is going to be a marshall

We're stationed mostly

At the 3rd green

For several hours

On a perfect sunny day

With temperatures in the low 80s,

Blue skies and puffy white clouds,

And a number of celebrities

Play the hole

And walk right by us

I'm kicking myself

For not bringing my camcorder

Or even a camera

Before the parade

Of celebrities begins,

I'm telling Bill about

Watching car racing on TV

All day at Bob and Deb's

Earlier in the summer,

And how at one point

One of the drivers

Had a familiar sounding name:

Walter Payton

It turned out to

Actually be

The great football player,

Who's now into auto racing

Looking at the program

For the day's foursomes,

It turns out that

Ole Sweetness,

Walter Payton,

Is scheduled to play

It eventually turns out, alas,

That Walter is a no-show

We don't see Willie McCovey,

Fred Lynn, Bonnie Blair,

Dr. J., Sugar Ray,

Mike Schmidt, Jon Cusack,

Or Jim Rice,

Who had played by earlier,

But we do see Terry Porter,

Michael Jordan, David Robinson,

Evander Holyfield, Dave Johnson

(Of "Dan and Dave" fame,

The Olympic decathlete),

And LeVar Burton

Dave is taller than I'd thought

And LeVar shorter

I ask Dave for his autograph

And as he is signing my program

I say "I hope you take it in Atlanta"

And he replies "Me too"

And I finish with

"We'll be rooting for you"

As he walks off

As fate would have it,

Today Dan (O'Brien)

Is in Talence, France

Setting the world record

In the decathlon,

His picture appearing

In tomorrow's paper

I also ask LeVar

For his autograph

And he obliges,

Walking as he writes,

Looking over at me intently

As he hands back the program

Perhaps he wants to

Get a good look at me --

I'm asking for his autograph

Instead of that of Charles Barkley,

Who is in the same group

Perhaps he wishes he had

Geordie's "visor"

After I get a good sunburn

Bill and I leave

To finally play

Some golf of our own

A plate I like is

A red on white

Wisconsin "JAY 191" --

Mr. Sculf's first name is Jay

And my full name

Translated into numbers

Adds up to 191

We don't tee off

At Downer's Grove

Until almost 5:30

The group in front of us

Is very slow

And after one hole

An inter-racial couple,

Delmer and Cindy,

Catch up to us

And join us

I borrow Bill's

Slice-reducing metal driver

And hit the ball quite far

We play as it gets darker

And have to pick up after 8 holes

Because it's night time

Bill and I stop for dinner

And afterward

I have a moment of panic

When I think I've lost

My new AT&T

Universal card,

Which I've been relying on

For the whole trip --

But I haven't checked one pocket

Which I normally wouldn't

Put my card in

Sure enough,

It's in there --

I'd put it there

To free another pocket

For tees and a ball

Back home I try

Calling cousin Alan

And we set up

A get together

For tomorrow afternoon

Then Bill and I

Relax in the basement,

Listening to ZBS

And munching crackers

While we watch TV

Day 8 

We're up at 7

So we can maybe play 9 holes,

Eat something,

See Chicago's skyscrapers,

And stop at the golf store

For a bag and

A slice-reducing driver,

All before getting over to

Michael Jordan's Tournament

By 12:30

It's overcast as we play 9

At Green Meadows

I finish with a par

We head downtown

And I film the 'scrapers

As we manoeuver through

Bears opening game traffic

We just have time to

Gobble an english muffin

And then rush up to the tournament,

All four Bernaths

In "DA VAN 4"

And me following

Though he said he would,

Bill doesn't wait for me

At the three toll plazas,

Which is nontrivial

Since I don't know how to

Get where we're going,

And I have to keep catching up

Doing 75 in traffic

On roads under construction

Where the speed limit is 45

I manage to catch him

And we get to the 3rd hole

In time to watch Terry Porter

And then John Denver

This time I've got

My camcorder

And pocket 35mm camera

Michael Jordan

And Charles Barkley

Come through together,

With soap star Jack Wagner --

I get good shots of 'em all

Willie McCovey and Jim Rice

Are in what turns out to be

The final group

And we can leave

Originally we had expected

To be there til maybe 4:30

Which is why I brought my car,

Since I had to be at Alan's at 5:30,

But it's only 1:30

With time on our hands

And another beautiful day after all,

We head into Long Grove for lunch

I pay for the group

And the waitress neglects to

Bring my AT&T card back

Fortunately I notice this

And another crisis is avoided

We traipse around the

Little touristy town

I ask Bill how to

Get to the golf store,

As I still have 2 hours

Til I'm due at Alan's,

And he says he might as well

Lead me to the parking lot

Where the store is located

We get there

And say our farewells

I get a nice new blue bag

And a Captain Hook

Slice-reducing driver

I dump out my old, mildewy bag

In the parking lot

And some curious items fall out --

An ice scraper/snow brush

And some shards of glass

From my 1986 accident

It's time to head to Alan's

I get there right on time

And chat with Alan,

Then Brenda and the boys get home

I meet Benjamin and Daniel Sussna (6 and 4)

For the first time

And get reacquainted with Brenda

I shower,

We have a nice dinner

On the patio in the backyard,

And then I play ball with Benjamin

He's very bright

And we hit it off

Then we're inside

Alan and I are

Talking about our work,

And Daniel asks me if

I would like to watch "Hook"

About Captain Hook

Hmm...

Bedtime and documenting

Yesterday and today

In the family room area

Day 9

Alan makes pancakes

For the boys and me --

Brenda is playing

In a tennis tournament

So I only see her

On her way out

We watch the movie "Hook,"

Which is wonderful

And consolidates the coincidence

With my new driver,

But the coincidence intensifies

Because it turns out that

The movie is actually about Peter Pan,

Who came up repeatedly

With Jock in North Carolina

(I even referred to

"Going for Peter Pancakes"

To Joan and Jock)

A number of familiar faces

Appear in the movie,

Including Robin Williams,

Julia Roberts, Bob Hoskins,

Maggie Smith, Phil Collins,

and David Crosby

It isn't til

I'm taking a morning shower

On Day 10

That I remember that

Another famous star

Is supposed to be in the cast --

Dustin Hoffman

I never suspected

During the movie

That he was Captain Hook,

Though I even wondered

Who was playing the captain

Interestingly, Joan had told me

About once seeing Dustin Hoffman

Walk by with his little boy

As Joan was sitting down

In downtown Pinehurst

I was going to spend the day

With Alan, Brenda, and the boys

But the club where

Brenda is playing

Doesn't allow guests

On holidays

And today is Labor Day,

So it's time to get on the road

I never get to

Say goodbye to Brenda

But Alan says

They'll visit San Diego

I retwist my right ankle

Taking my suitcase out to my car

I'd twisted it

Playing basketball

At Harry Sepp's

The weekend before this trip

I'm into Wisconsin

For the first time

Past Milwaukee and Madison

In the afternoon

There are bursts and spurts of purps,

The bluish-purple flowers,

Along the roadside

Between Oconomowoc and Ixonia

I'd always liked them

When living in upstate New York

And had seen them this summer

In Princeton

I'd wanted to photograph them

But hadn't,

And saw them

When back in Dutchess County

Visiting Renate

Two weeks ago,

But hadn't photographed them

I saw them again

In Kentucky

But hadn't photographed them

Finally, yesterday, I did,

In Long Grove

With the Bernaths

After a period of steady rain,

Where I have to choose between

Cruise control or windshield wipers

At more than a slow rate,

There is a traffic jam

More appropriate for

Rush hour on an LA freeway

Than for an interstate

In the sticks of

Western Wisconsin

We crawl at 5 mph

Or stop dead

For 5 miles before

The two lanes merge

Due to highway construction

This kills the better part of an hour

And I'd been hoping to

Make it well into Minnesota

Even though I hadn't gotten started

Until after lunch

A couple of times

I pass curious signs

For the "Pine Cone" restaurant

That say "start smiling"

And of course I do

("Sussna" means "pine")

There's an interesting

Use of words

At one point

For a religious center:

Trinity Divinity

By 7 and sunset

I've reached La Crosse

At the western edge

Of Wisconsin

And stop for dinner and gas

I decide to try

To cross the 280 miles

Of southern Minnesota

Before I call it a day,

And hurtle at a steady 75,

The 3/4 moon, Jun, and tunes

Keeping me company

Crossing the Mississippi

Signals more than

A change of states --

The land starts rising

Into the great western plateau,

And indeed we are now in the West

Only an hour and a half after dinner

I stop to use the facilities

And can't believe

How cold it is --

I'm in shorts

Per the 80-degree plus days

We'd had in the Windy City

And it must be

30 degrees colder now

Than it was at dinnertime

I see my first two Iowa plates,

Which have numbers of 764 and 191

(764 is 4 x 191)

At one point,

After seeing a sign saying

To tune to a specific station

For weather information,

I switch on AM radio,

Which I still have set to

WABC, New York

From listening to Yankee games

The last couple of weeks

Of my stay in New Jersey,

And the radio blasts out

"WABC 770" here

In the middle of Minnesota

I even catch the news that

The Yanks have scored 4

In the 13th inning

To beat Baltimore 6-2

(Sorry, Oriole fans)

I pull into

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Exactly as

The Himalaya 3+ T's end

After 11 PM

To jump in bed exhausted

The Himalayas are

My favorite songs,

72 tapes worth --

The 3+'s are the lowest level

Of these highest songs,

And the T's are

The songs whose titles

Begin with the letter "T"

The T's have been on

For 2+ days

And 8 or 10 90-minute tapes

I've entered 3 states today

That I've never been in before

Day 10

Breakfast of 5 pancakes at Perkins

And I'm off to cross

The 400 miles of South Dakota

To the Black Hills

Along much of the way

There are those funny

Cylindrical bales of hay,

From 3 to 6 feet across,

Sometimes solitary

Like petrified sequoia logs,

Sometimes aligned end to end

Making enormous tootsie rolls,

Sometimes stacked

To 2 or 3 levels

Like cannon balls

Right after the second

Antiabortion billboard

A sign for the town

Pukwana

Seems appropriate

On a grassy hillside

A bunch of light boulders

Distributed randomly

Turns out to be cows

Lying down at various angles

From a couple of hundred miles

Before the actual exit for it,

A bazillion signs,

Each one different,

Proclaim the virtues of Wall Drug

I stop there for lunch and gas

And browse for a while,

Only picking up a few

Pretty polished pebbles

Now it's time to

Locate Mount Rushmore

There are many signs

Advertising a place

Where they tell

The story of the carving

The person who did it,

Whose name sounds like

A science fiction alien's,

Was Gutzon Borglum

The mountain is over 20 miles

Off the interstate

But that's OK,

It's only early afternoon

I get there

And do my camcord thing,

Obliging an old gent's request

To take his picture

With the big boys as background

Passing numerous signs

On the way in

For several caves and caverns,

I plan on going to at least one,

Perhaps "Crystal Cavern"

Since I'm so far

Off the interstate

And the only cave nearby

Is the "Mt. Rushmore Caverns"

I figure I'll go there

But, since Joan had insisted

That I see the Crazy Horse

Mountain face sculpture

And there are signs for it

And for yet another cave,

The Jewel Cave,

I head for Crazy Horse

This is almost 20 miles

Even further from I90,

Through the beautiful Black Hills,

So I imagine that

I won't be heading back to

Mount Rushmore Caverns,

Let alone that stretch of I90,

And I'll go to Jewel Cave

And continue on into Wyoming

On the US highway I'm on

And connect back up with I90

Way into Wyoming

Crazy Horse is very disappointing,

Especially after

Just seeing Mount Rushmore,

Being barely started and crude

It's getting to be 4 PM

And I rush now

On the back road US 16

To try to get to Jewel Cave

As soon as possible,

Thinking they might close by 5

I get there about

Quarter to 5

But the last tour

Had been at 4

The info center

Is still open

So I browse

There are neat maps

Of Jewel Cave and Wind Cave

And fascinating

Mineral and crystal displays,

But it looks like

I'm not going to see any caves

After all

Now, looking at my route,

I realize that I've already

Gone somewhat west

Of Devil's Tower,

Which I'd planned on seeing,

And would have

A long, backroad trip

To get to I90

And from there to backtrack

On another back road

To get to the Tower --

If only I'd ignored Crazy Horse

And headed back from Mt. Rushmore

To one of the original caves

And back to I90

East of Devil's Tower

Now I fight the setting sun,

Doing 70+ on these back roads

Through the northeastern corner of Wyoming

To try to reach the Tower

Before the sun sets

Somehow I just make it,

Though it's touch and go,

With big clouds blocking the sun

Much of the way

As I start back

A deer strolls across the road

As if to slow me down --

I am going kind of fast

Now I get back to I90

And head west

To see how far I can get

Towards Montana

Before calling it a day