Last Sunday I took my younger son back to college - estimated (by Google Maps) at 235 miles, and 4 hours and 15 minutes. From there, I swung by my older son's place in Bloomington, IL. Another 106 miles and 2 hours 30 minutes. Finally, I headed home - 158 miles and 3 hours. Total trip: 600 miles and 9 hours 45 minutes. I was actually on the road for 9 1/2 hours, making the afore-mentioned stops, plus one for dinner and two for gas.
I was alone for more than half that trip - though I had my cell phone and took a couple'a calls from home. Plus, I had my I-Pod! So, other than listening to a couple of different preachers on low-power AM stations I got to re-discover Carolyn Arends!
I didn't go through the whole catalog, of course, but I did make note of two Christmas songs we
must play at church this year:
Come and See and
Angels We Have Heard On High.
I'm always on the look-out for "jazzy" versions of Christmas tunes. I consider "Angels" to be on par with the better-known version of
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings done by Sara McLachlan and the Barenaked Ladies. Heck, even people who don't like most Christmas songs like their version. I'm willing to bet that Carolyn's cover would be as popular as that were it to get the right amount of airplay.
And you have to consider the scene: it's dark, there are few cars traveling north on I-39 and there's a little Honda speeding by (at exactly seven miles-per over the speed limit so as not to attract un-due attention). Inside, the driver is singing out loud, and not even trying to cover up that fact - first the lead, then different harmony parts of the chorus - as the odometer counts off the miles: 1.2 each minute. But we've probably all been
there, haven't we?
And besides the Christmas songs there were other favorites from
Travelers and
This Much I understand. And no, I didn't "Dance Like No One's Watching" in my car, though I do, sometimes, at home).
Suffice it to say that I made it back home alive and in one piece, at 12;30 AM, without once even feeling like I was falling asleep. Thanks for the great music!
P.S. And Thanks!, I-Pod for the great battery life!
This is a revised version of what I had posted earlier. I ended up thinking that the first was too busy, so I cleaned it up a little and changed some of the fonts so that it could be read more easily. These are going up around Kent on Friday -- but I'm holding one back, at least, for autographs by the rock stars and, eventually, framing.
