I drove all night. I drove all day. I kept myself awake bypopping Dexedrine and mainlining gas station coffee. Istopped only to fill the car, empty my bladder, grab fast food,
and dispose of stuff from the boat. I scattered evidence inmunicipal dumps across three states. When I was running lowon gas I avoided small service stations, sticking to the big crowded truck stop plazas that lined the highway. I paid cashfor everything. I was on the road for nineteen hours. I blared heavy metal on the car radio to stay awake, paying scant atten-tion to the passing landscape. I concentrated on numbers.
Interstate numbers: 95 to 78 to 76 to 70. I bypassed New York and Newark and Harrisburg and Pittsburgh and Columbus and Indianapolis and St Louis. I never exceeded the speedlimit. I never switched lanes suddenly. I never tailgated. I did nothing that might draw attention to myself. I just kept mov-ing west.
On the outskirts of Kansas City, my brain went haywire.