Sweet summertime

[Rick336]

Today in central North Carolina the temperature was 85 degrees and the sky was deep blue. Some Sunday afternoons are perfect for rocking on the front porch and lazily watching the clouds roll by as I drift in and out of my naps.

But not today.

Today I needed to get out and drive wide open through the green Carolina countryside. Early in the afternoon I jumped in my pick-up truck and drove out past the city limits to a two lane blacktop that winds past tobacco fields, cow pastures, and piney woods. I rolled down both windows of the truck and tuned into a local country music station. With the summer breeze blowing through the open windows and the Blue Ridge Mountains ahead of me, I cranked up the volume when this song by Darryl Worley came on the radio.

I'm tired of working every day for a dollar
About to choke on my own blue collar
This ain't gonna last

Misled by the grand illusion
I've come to this conclusion
I can't make a move too fast

It was written in the sky today
By the morning sun
It sure looks like a good day to run

wide open down a two-lane highway
It's about time that some things went my way
Throwing troubles out to the wind and
I'm praying that they never catch up again
I'm gonna say my worrying days are done
And this looks like a good day to run

My baby's been working as a cashier
Didn't get a vacation this past year
Now it won't be long

We don't need no destination
Just a tank of gas and a good clear station
Playing our favorite song

There're some places that we ain't been
Some things we ain't done
And it sure looks like a good day to run

wide open down a two-lane highway
It's about time that some things went my way
Throwing troubles out to the wind and
I'm praying that they never catch up again
I'm gonna say my worrying days are done
And this looks like a good day to run


Sweet summertime.

Rick

[nowvoyager]

Rick, I rushed onto allmusic to get a sample of the song so I knew what you were talking about. Very cool.
Had I been there, I'm a JT fan, so it would have been "Carolina on my Mind". Is that just too corny for a Carolina dweller? I claim a foreigner's enthusiasm :D

[Rick336]

Nowvoyager,

Nope. "Carolina in My Mind" aint corny at all and would have been another great one to have heard this afternoon.

I'm a JT fan too. I was born and raised in North Carolina but lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota during the Seventies. Even though I loved Minnesota I was still homesick for my friends and family back home. Sometimes at night back then I'd put on my James Taylor album and listen to "Carolina in My Mind" with my headphones. I loved this verse:

Dark and silent late last night
I think I might have heard the highway calling
Geese in flight and dogs that bite
Signs that might be omens say I going, going
Im goin to Carolina in my mind

I'm glad you liked "Good Day to Run" by Darryl Worley. It's a great song to drive to on a summer afternoon.

Rick

[Vanessa White]

Your description of your drive, and the words to that song, created a picture in my mind of what that day was like for you. I was living through you on that drive, which would have been a good relief from my daily troubles here. Sounds tremendous! I am headed to the Outer Banks with family in September for a much needed vacation. I have spent many vacations on the NC coast, and it revitalizes me every time.