The Long, Long Texas Road

We took a trip to Muleshoe Texas last week to visit AJ's side of the family. The drive there is long, almost 9 hours, and the landscape changes quickly from hills and oak trees into farmland and vast flat expansiveness. Sometimes the scenery, or lack of really anything that meets the eye except neverending sky can be a bit tedious, but it has its own type of beauty.

As we approached the western side of the state, the hillsides were lined with windmills. Not your old quaint looking windmills, but monstrosities that look more like they are made from airplane parts. They stand like giants in the cotton fields, spinning away. Although I know there are those environmental groups that complain about bird deaths from these things, I can't imagine birds coming anywhere near them as big as they are and as fast as they move up there in the sky. Even so, it is good to see alternative energy sources being used and on such a large scale.

Muleshoe itself is a small town set in the heart of farm country. As a native Californian and city girl, a small Texas town is completely foreign to me. It feels strange to be somewhere where everyone knows everyone and the highlight of the week is the local highschool football game. Although, I guess there is also alot of comfort in that too. The town has a definite sense of community that I am glad to have our kids visit since we live in a larger town that often lacks that feel.

Farmland has its perks too. I found out that pumpkins are one of the local crops and after the harvest they leave all of the pumpkins that don't meet up to those high commercial standards. Although for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what they were because those orange beauties were fantastic looking. So we had the joy and priviledge of running through the fields and picking as many pumpkins as we could and even smashing a few that were on the mushy side.

My dear mother in law was gracious enough to try and arrange all kinds of fun things for the kids to do. But there turned out to be no need, because the kids found much entertainment in the space and quiet of their beautiful land. And of course in playing with their grandparents. As my wise husband said, we come to visit the family, not to be entertained by activities.

It is this sense of family, of communal bonds I wish to cultivate, not only for my children but for myself. Family is like being inside a strong home during a storm. It is to our family we go when the winds of life push us around and try to uproot our determination. It is family that gives us the strength to go on, that builds us up when life is knocking us down. To be with one's family is to be home even when you are far away. And since both of our families live quite far from us, it is often these long Texas roads we must take to see them. But that is ok, traveling is good for the spirit and I am proud to say our kids have been out of state more times than many people have in their lifetimes.

So on the way there I was inspired enough to write a poem. But I must admit the drive home proved less exciting. Isn't traveling always that way? The beginning of the trip was full of excitement and anticipation and the ride back exhaustion and desperation to get home. But here is the poem that came from the former.

Driving down a long Texas road
trees line the lonely asphalt
uncut, unmarked with spray paint
and orange flags
to make way for shopping malls
and houses
just space and then
Below, blood
from some creature’s unfortunate
meeting with technology
spattered and baked brown
in the west Texas sun
Setting
in the sky beyond the horizon
small towns crop up like
sprouts in a cornfield
Behind
quickly vanishing
in the rearview mirror
Above
18 hawks spotted
beacons of the wild
or maybe
something more