A new poem from Chopper Kate

I feel so much regret when I travel I-40, that I was never able to travel it's predecessor..the old Route 66...I try to imagine what a road, what a trip that might have been. She was narrow and winding, but full of magic it seems to me. If I could take a step or two back in time, I would take that trip...get my "kicks" on Route 66.

Anyway...I wrote this in my head on the way back..because I was feeling like I never wanted to end that ride, just turn around and go back, taking my time and exploring all those places that we never seem to have time to.

Channeling Route 66

Mother Road,
spinner of wheels and dreams,
bearing us forth into this land of wonders,
bursting at the seams,
"Freedom!" her gift and lullaby song
beckoning us still further along
than we've ever been before.
Can you take me there,
back in time, when and where
you were more than just a memory?

Ghostly echoes in the wind,
Peter Pan voices from backseats begin.
Highway games and singalong songs,
rib jabs and pigtail pulls,
"Don't make me stop this car!"
"Are we there yet? How far?"
Long before Ipods and DVDs;
brothers and sisters talked and teased.

Look to the left, look to the right!
Enticing as a siren's song,
Rainbow rows of advertisements
vied for our attention and sight.
Begging us to stay and linger,
To search for treasure and marvel
at those amazing sights with each new point of a finger.
"Hey, did you see that?"

Oddities and anomalies the old highway
wears as easy as fringe on old buckskin.
Moving and shaking, tantalizing, she draws us in.
We wrote our names with black lava rocks
on pale desert sand. A legacy to all who pass,
"I was here and still I am!"

Old route towns lay cracked and emptied
like countless eggshells from forgotten diners.
Falling all too thoughtless from our hands.
Feel the hunger pains, for all that's past.
Longing for that feeling, like a first kiss
and we wished again that you would last...
forever.