As Tim and I drove through Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado a few weeks ago, the sights and scenery sparked all kinds of literary, musical, and familial references in my thoughts, some more obvious than others. Here are lyrics from a favorite old song that my parents used to sing, with some photos I took from inside the van.
See them tumbling down
Pledging their love to the ground
Lonely but free I’ll be found
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.
Cares of the past are behind
Nowhere to go but I’ll find
Just where the trail will wind
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.
I know when night has gone
That a new world’s born at dawn.
I keep rolling along
Deep in my heart is a song
Here on the range I belong
Drifting with tumbling tumbleweeds
The tumble weed menace increases in southern Colorado since the droughts and fires of last year. According to the drought monitor, the south east corner of CO is still stuck, but this spring, COS and areas north are doing much better than last year. It would be a shame for CA to be covered in tumbleweeds like much of southern CO has been. I think there are more tumbleweeds in the Springs than when I lived in AZ.
They do add to the barren look of a landscape.
True. Apparently, they can be purchased for garden decor too.
Hilarious!
And now for something completely different from “The Tune’s so Good, We’ll Spin it Again” department:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoXqJQS2RWQ
BTW, nice looking couple. Somebody you know?
My goodness, the things I didn’t know about Nez–that he was born in Houston and that his mama created Liquid Paper.
As for that couple, I believe they created you. =)
The SOTP were a favorite of my little Polish grandmother. Here’s some more trivia for you, Leonard Slye was an original member of the Pioneers in the early 30s. He later became a singing cowboy in the movies known as Roy Rogers. Also the original group is listed as a NATIONAL TREASURE at the Smithsonian.
I think it’s because of Roy Rogers I learned of The Sons of the Pioneers. They were still rerunning RR/DE shows on Saturdays when I was a kid.
I saw “The Last Picture Show” during TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar a few months back. Some of these shots remind me of the town in that film.
SPOILER! That reference was actually going with a future photo from the trip. I love that movie. I love Larry McMurtry. I like the sequels to the book and movie! That’s how much I love Larry McMurtry.
It’s a great movie. I’m glad I finally saw it.
Way back in ’98, a bunch of us drove from Las Vegas to Los Angeles for Easter weekend. I remember getting very excited when a tumbleweed tumbled across the road in front of us – it really felt like we were in the Wild West then!
Sometimes when driving through such barren landscapes, the road itself is the only modern evidence that it isn’t 150 years ago.