As Willie Nelson sang, “On the road again, Just can’t wait to get on the road again.”  I guess I could consider it my retirement anthem, as we prepare for another trip out of town.  For any of you thinking it might be a good time to break into our home, there is always someone here to take care of the pets, and a security system to thwart this kind of selfish behavior.  For what it’s worth, the only thing worth stealing are my thoughts, and I write them down for you every day through this blog, whether home or away.

On this particular trip, we have my wife’s 96 year old mother to visit, and a day of business calls in Chicago, so it won’t be a long excursion.  We’ll be “Back Home Again in Indiana,” after our flight lands at O’Hare, and we drive the familiar route to my wife’s former home, not too far from my hometown.  The part of the song that goes, “Goin’ places that I’ve never been,” really doesn’t apply to this particular trip, but “Seein’ things I may never see again,” is always a concern.

Having lived in Austin, Texas for several years, Willie Nelson always felt like a neighbor, even though I’ve never met the man.  I do marvel at his stamina at the current age of 84.  Unlike myself, he’s still working, and has many aspirations, including the promotion of his own marijuana brand, Willie’s Reserve,” should legalization finally materialize in Texas.  My wife and I attended his annual Fourth of July Picnic about five years ago at The Backyard in Bee Caves, but couldn’t stay up late enough to watch him perform.  That was long before I retired, and in defense, a backlog of performers put him on stage long after our bedtimes.  Fortunately, I had seen him play on several other occasions, and was pleased when the City of Austin erected a bronze statue of him just outside the Austin City Limits studios.

The lyrics to “On the Road Again” were allegedly written on a barf bag, in response to a request from the producer of the Honeysuckle Rose film to compose a song about life on the road.  He also recorded the song with fellow “outlaw” legend, Johnny Cash, as part of a special live album titled VH-1 Storytellers in 1998, just before “The Man in Black” became unable to perform live.  I also heard a version of the song by Canned Heat.  I’ll be humming the song as I begin to pack for our trip back home.