Apr-Jul: I'll be in the South Pacific.
Uneventful drive through (melting) snows
I’m back safely in Springfield. South Dallas was actually the worst place I drove through; I saw half a dozen accidents (mostly on overpasses) this morning. Roads were pretty good the rest of the way home.
Most of the trip between Dallas and Springfield, of course, is through Oklahoma, and I enjoy the drive through rocky, oak-covered hills. Today, patches of snow mingled with the stones and leaves on the forest floor.
Oklahoma is quite different from both Texas and Missouri. If the landscape isn’t enough of a clue, the place names do help: Tushka, Atoka, Checotah, Muskogee, and Tahlequah, for instance. Also distinctive are the casinos scattered along the highway, and the virtually unavoidable toll roads.
I saw a few bison in one pasture, and I listened to some country music to keep myself awake — and because, well, it’s Oklahoma. Some of the lines I heard were golden: “You walked across my heart like it was Texas,” and, “When the last breath of life is gone from my body / And my lips are as cold as the sea / … / I know you’ll have fun at my farewell party ….”
Between Mt. Vernon, Mo., and Springfield, a stone chimney stands beside the highway. I noticed it again today, and wondered about it as I had so many times before. It stands beside a fence, and there’s not another trace of habitation anywhere around. No sagging roof, no fallen walls. It’s just alone.
Who built it? Who cooked over its fires? Whose children warmed their feet around it, and whatever became of them later? How long has it stood there, just a solitary chimney built of stones?
Funny how one’s mind works when there’s little else to do.
categories stateside
Comments
Comment from bajema
Time: February 21, 2006, 12:39 pm
glad to hear the drive went well. and even better to hear that you were listening to the country music! i knew you’d finally come around!
Comment from kjb
Time: February 24, 2006, 1:46 pm
I had a youth group leader who advised us to listen to genres of music we hated at moments we most needed to stay awake.
His choice was rap.
But country music would work as well.
Comment from c
Time: February 28, 2006, 10:14 am
Atoka is actually a really great place…next time you are just passing through stop off at God’s House and check it out.
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