In my old Jeep
With the top down
140 or so
miles south of Fairbanks
driving a ridge from Delta
to the edge
Of Donnelly Flats.
Pause
And look at
The flat, arrow straight ten miles
Of road bisecting alpine tundra,
Clear, absolutely unobstructed view
Three miles or so each side.
No cars, no moose no caribou
Or bears
Or cops.
So...
Let out the clutch
Upshift
Gas pedal tight against the floorboards
Speedometer reading well over a hundred
As I leave the ridge
and hit the flats
Still accelerating.
The numbers stop at a hundred and twenty
The needle passes that point
Before I'm a third across
The flats
And keeps on climbing.
Three quarters across back off the gas
Preparing for the climb and winding
Road through the hills and up and up and up in
To the Alaska Range.

In retrospect
I almost wish I'd gotten a speeding ticket
Imagining the dialogue:
Cop: "Son, do you know how fast you were going?"
Me: "No sir, the speedometer only reads to 120
And I was well beyond that."
Cop: "I clocked you at 140 in a 55 MPH zone but
I'm gonna write you up at 67 MPH."
Me: "Thank you officer."
Cop: " ...'cause
nobody'd believe that '82 Jeep hit 140."
Me: "Thank you sir!!"