US Highway
Somewhere in Ohio
At night it looks like any other lonesome country road
On the shoulder
Sits a little down home shack
Long haul trucker steps inside to rest his weary bones
He's been headed from the Great Lakes down to somewhere deep in Tennessee
Right now he's 15 miles from the Indiana line
What he is doin' here, the reasoning is not quite clear
This roadside stand survives from another time
The interstates had long ago just passed this county by

Inside's a farmer
Who couldn't sleep tonight
Waitress seats the trucker by a couple factory guys
Nearby's a soldier
Who finally made it home
She wanted to be somewhere where they'd just leave her alone
The quiet hum is broken by a chorus of teenage laughs
It's coming from a table that is somewhere in the back
Village of vagabonds, not quite misfits not quite cool
I'm sittin' with my friends, at the truck stop where I hung out in high school

Chorus:
But I ain't been back and it's been almost 20 years
Didn't linger 'round the doorway and the dusty souvenirs
In the rearview mirror is a reflection of a fool
And my thoughts begin to turn
to the truck stop where I hung out in high school

I'm just a kid
It's 1990-somethin'
Drinkin' coffee 2 am just itchin' to begin
I watch the window
Lookin' for a boy
Who never seemed to see me in the way that I saw him
Then through the doorway walks this man I've never seen
A stranger in a place where they are few and far between
My heart is broken, now this night feels cold and cruel
I’m alone with all my friends, At the truck stop where I hung out in high school

Chorus:
But I ain't been back and it's been almost 20 years
Didn't linger 'round the doorway and the dusty souvenirs
In the rearview mirror is a reflection of a fool
And my thoughts begin to turn
to the truck stop where I hung out in high school

I was a good girl
Whatever that might mean
Didn't cause much trouble, just about to turn eighteen
I watch that trucker
And wonder what the old man knows
I ask my friend where that ol' highway really goes:
"It cuts through the mountains once it blows past all these plains."
"Me too," I laughed, but what I meant I never did explain.
The waitress clears my plate and looks at me and cracks her gum:
"I don't know where you think you're goin', hon, but this is where you're from!"

Sorry if I never turned around
Waited my whole damn life to leave these little towns
My grandfather said, “You can go anywhere from here…”
And Lord, I tried, I tried, I tried

It's years later
I'm worn out by it all
I'm not where I thought I would be
But where that is I can't recall
Then I remember
A little down home roadside shack
And suddenly those memories I buried rush on back
I guess like that trucker I just took the scenic route
Although the years don't seem to knock that country clay from off my boots
Before he left that night he spoke a single truth
His words have taught me how to breathe so I'll survive
"There is no destination, and you never quite arrive!"
2 3 4
Sorry if I never turned around
Waited my whole damn life to leave these little towns
In the rearview mirror is a reflection of a fool
And someday I may return
to the truck stop where I hung out in high school