Friday, August 31, 2012

Singing Cowboy Songs


Grand Canyon for Thanksgiving has much of its framework in place.  We will be sharing space with llamas, and frighteningly for us, the trip involves connections through Newark.  But Norway, Nome, Houston, and NH will all converge on Williams by various routes.

I am starting off by visiting one son in Houston, from whence we will take the Sunset Limited along the Mexican border for 27 hours to Maricopa, AZ a small city almost completely surrounded by Indian communities. We like each others’ company well enough, but this may be more than our personalities were designed to bear.  Fortunately, we both like our own company for long stretches as well.  We’ll have books, he’ll have a laptop and podcasts to supplement.  Hmm, perhaps I need to find something that can play into my ears as well.

6 comments:

Sam L. said...

I like Riders In The Sky for cowboy songs. If you get to Tucson, and like airplanes, go to the Pima Air Museum. Also, the Titan Missile Museum south of town.

Texan99 said...

I'll wave as you pass by my coastal community just north of Corpus Christi.

I took my niece and nephew on a tour of the area near Flagstaff years ago, including a day-trip to the Grand Canyon. It's an amazing area: cliff-dwellings, volcanic cones, petrified forests, old lava flows, asteroid craters, and I'm sure I'm forgetting several other day-trips. One minute you'll be in a hot desert, and half an hour later on a cool mountainside with fir trees.

Michael said...

If you do not own an IPod or an equivalent product, I would highly recommend it. It has freed me from the bonds of over-the-air radio during my daily commute and is a great motivator when it is time to mow the lawn. There is a great universe of choices for podcasts that could keep you entertained for hours!

Assistant Village Idiot said...

I know that. I think I resent having to explore another universe.

james said...

iPod/MP3 players are also isolating. You and unseen others share the same radio experience, but the MP3 player is solitary. (Yes, I know you can hook it up to speakers...)

It is also one more thing that needs protecting. A clamshell phone is pretty robust, but other models are delicate and I have to think about what goes in my pocket with my phone. Will my wad of change scratch the clear window?

And it represents another set of rules you have to play by to get it to work for you. ("Two soaps?!")

And the sound from earbuds hurts my ears, but maybe that's just me.

Texan99 said...

My cellphone holds a playlist, so I don't have to worry about a second device. I've been spending 5-6 hours a day outside painting a series of big signs, and the lectures stored in my phone are my mainstay.