Long draft alert! More editing is needed, including chopping, consolidating, and working on the verse order.
Driving west on I-40
A long way from Arkansas
He never thought this beat up jeep
Could get him this far.
He's not chasing gold,
Not chasing a girl,
Just putting some distance
Between his new and old worlds
He just passed Black Creek
For a minute it feels like home
He's six thousand feet high
And two days on the road alone
Deer signs and 18 wheelers
A bridge over a wash
He just keeps driving west
No destination so he can't get lost
He sees signs for Indian ruins,
Clean restrooms and fry bread,
Purple Heart Trail and Fentanyl kills
Put images in his head.
So much untamed land
Must be ranches not farms
He imagines horses and riders
Buffalo and six shooters.
The New Mexico rain
Wasn't as bad as he thought it would be
No worse than the hurricanes
And rains in Arkansas and Tennessee.
Exit signs for towns and roads
With names foreign to him
A few look familiar,
Forgettable and boring.
Sagebrush and power lines
They say it's the land of the Navajo
No big city for miles
Getting close to Arizona
Maybe he'll stand on the corner
Be a regular tourist
Check out Jack rabbit road
Souvenirs and local beer.
Not sure where he'll stay
He'll know when he gets there
Not sure how this started
Just knows he's headed west.
Go west young man
Feels good to be driving west
A long way from Arkansas
He never thought this beat up jeep
Could get him this far.
He's not chasing gold,
Not chasing a girl,
Just putting some distance
Between his new and old worlds
Go west young man.
