234 Miles of I-26

Drive drive drive

Three lanes to two lanes 

the corridor of Pines 

Police has pulled one over

everyone over to the left 

drive drive drive 

brake lights all ahead 

jump off at the exit if you can. 

A 30-minute detour is always 

better than being parked for five. 

As you approach The Hot Place 

the road undulates. 

widen back to three 

malfunction junction 

Then the Chapin construction canal. 

White Knuckle for 20 miles. 

Next marker is the split off at Clinton. 

Not too much farther down 

on a clear day 

you can start to see the mountains. 

Pray you breeze through Spartanburg 

you're almost there 

last wee bit of South Carolina has cheap gas 

and then as you cross the border 

the cell phone coverage has gaps 

and your audiobook pauses. 

And then up up up 

past the lumbering big rigs on the right 

and you weave and up and down a bit 

and, boom!, off you go: the exit

and you roll the window down 

and you smell the mountain smell 

Sweet Air 

and up the Steep Chisholm Hill 

around the bend the tire thumps 

as it drops from asphalt to dirt and gravel 

down the driveway 

parked in Incline 

step out and breathe deeply 

and raise your hands 

over your head to stretch

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