With quarter 4 looming large on the horizon, it is becoming pretty apparent to me that the majority of my traveling days for 2025 are finished. Yes, I do have two more camping trips planned, and I have a conference at the end of October I will be heading "up north" for, but any big trips are off the table. That realization has me thinking about the time over a year ago when @mrsbozz and I drove out to Colorado for the Fourth of July holiday.
Actually, there is a lot of stuff that gets me thinking about that trip. It was an amazing time and even though it took us a lot longer than flying, I am glad we rented a car and decided to drive the 1300 miles one way. It gave us a chance to see some new towns and countryside that we have never seen before. It also gave us a lot of bonding time and funny stories to share over and over again.
Road trips are good for that aren't they? Whether it's some crazy driver you run into, or the world's largest "whatever" on the side of the road, there is always something new and exciting to see.
Especially in the US, a good old fashioned road trip really gives you an idea of just how big the country is. It also gives you an idea of all the infrastructure that is in place to keep the country moving forward. From our horrendously slow railways, to truckers running three wide down the expressway. Then you have all the small towns that dot the road along the way.
I was looking at some of my Google Keep notes the other day that contain future story ideas and I came across a comment I made to myself about small towns and how many times the largest building in a small town across the United States is a grain elevator.
Either that or a windmill. That's definitely the case in the area of the country where I live. With that in mind, I decided for this #threetunetuesday sponsored by @ablaze I am going to share songs with the name of a city in their title. That's the theme, simple yet effective. I have three great tunes all planned out though there are countless songs I could pick. I hope you enjoy all of them!
"Omaha" is one of my favorite songs off the Counting Crows debut album August and Everything After. The title of the album actually comes from the lyrics of a song they were working on before they became the cohesive group that we know as Counting Crows. I think they later released it on one of their anthology albums or some live album. I have them all, I just don't remember right now.
According to wikipedia, Omaha is the most populous city in the state of Nebraska. It sits right on the banks of the Missouri river and boasts a population of about 500,000 people I would guess by now.
It was founded in 1854 and was host to the World's Fair in 1898 which introduced a lot of people to the great wild west. Apparently World's Fairs still take place, but I can only imagine what it would have been like to visit one of them back in the day.
The closest I have ever been to Texas is Oklahoma. I will be the first to admit that. I don't want you to think I am trying to fool you by talking about all the places I have been. In fact, if you want to be technical, I've never actually been to any of the places I am going to share with you today. I have been through Omaha, but if I remember correctly, it was raining as we cruised down I-80 on our way to Denver.
"Amarillo By Morning" is a great classic song by the king of country George Strait. It's pretty simple and isn't that complex, but it is a great tune and really gives you that old country feel. As you listen to it, it is pretty easy to imagine yourself as a rodeo rider traveling to the next town to do what they love the most.
Amarillo Texas was established in 1997 and is the 17th most populous city in the state of Texas and the most populous city in what is called the "panhandle" of Texas. Again, according to Wikipedia, it was originally called Oneida, and it is home to Pantex which is the only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility in the US.
"Tupelo Honey" is one of my favorite songs by Van Morrison. I just recently had the chance to introduce my niece to the magnificence that is Van Morrison and this is one of the handful of songs that I made sure she listened to. I've actually never seen this video of this performance, so this is a special treat for me as much as it is one for you. He would definitely be on my bucket list to see live enough though I know he probably doesn't sound as good now as he did back then.
Tupelo Mississippi was founded in 1870 in an area that had earlier been settled as "Gum Pond". Also according to Wikipedia, Tupelo was the first city to receive power from the Tennessee Valley Authority. You might recognize that name as they recently entered a deal with my favorite nuclear power company NuScale for manufacture of some small modular nuclear reactors.
In 1936 most of the city was devastated by a tornado and to date it remains one of the deadliest tornadoes in US history.
It actually has a quite rich history and though I have never been to Mississippi that I can remember, I think Tupelo is one of the spots I would like to visit if I ever find myself down that way.
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