I have added this video to the MUSIC page, but it also relates to the "Long Trips" page. It is on the MUSIC page because my identification with the music goes-back-a-ways. Here is the story:
In my senior year of High School, my Dad turned over custody of his 63’ Chevy II Super Sport to me. Upon Graduation he gave me the title. But a week later I was on my way to Navy Boot-Camp; so it wasn’t going to get used. He kept it while I was in Boot-Camp. On Boot-Camp leave I went home, and took the car as my “first car”. And it was during that two-week leave that I almost made it to Woodstock, but that’s another story.
When I left Rhode Island for electronics “B” school at Great Lakes Naval Training Command in Illinois, I left in the Chevy II. It was then that the reality of my departure from “home” really kicked in. About an hour and a half out, a song came on the radio station that I was listening to. It was the song “500 Miles” by Peter, Paul, and Mary. The piece of music, the lyrics, and the reality of my life hit big time. It was a moment that I have remembered my entire life.
SO – when I started out on my cross-country trip in Calypso; the one where I retrieved my Mom and Dad's ashes for the Ash Casting ceremonies across the country. The music had to "fit". This piece was one that I added, along with the other music selections I had received from my friends.
Now then, in the song “500 Miles”, it emphasizes the words 100 miles far more frequently. So as I approached the 100-mile mark on my departure THAT was the song I selected for that section of road.
Then by strict coincidence, because I had selected Interstate 8 as the initial road for the trip, another “thing” happened:
I had selected Interstate 8 because I wanted to get video of the Solar Farms in the California desert, east of San Diego. I wanted to get a video of the flatness of the desert and the Solar Farms primarily for my niece who has not driven (to the best of my knowledge) across a desert yet in her life. AND, I wanted to get the video of the Solar Farms for my East Coast family, so they can see that we are taking Solar Power seriously out here.
I hope you enjoy the video – 500 Miles.