The High Country - "Joy Comes in the Morning"

 Sing praise to the Lord,
you saints of His,
And give thanks at the
remembrance of His holy name.

For HIs anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life;
Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.

Psalm 30:4-5

The upper north region of North Carolina is called "The High Country" because of the Blue Ridge Mountain range.  There are a many old trucks left abandon and empty old farms. They become entangled with vines and shrubbery and are part of the landscape.

Old Southern Pickup Trucks

 

 

You are not a true southerner if you don't like old run down wooden houses with a rusty pickup truck in the front yard.  That is true southern landscaping.  This old red rusty truck is located off of highway 82, 60 miles south of Columbus, Georgia.  At Christmas, it is decorated with Christmas lights and is part of a real country Christmas.  I am always on the outlook for true southern traditions and customs.  Rusty pickup trucks is an authentic southern tradition and you can usually find them all over the south.  Cowboys like trucks too.  Here is an excerpt from 'Rodeo Red' by Lucky Whipple from Cowboy Poetry at the Bar-D Ranch website.

 

Rodeo Red

"Ol' Rodeo Red
Was a Cowboy's truck
No maintenance involved
We just run him on luck.

He's a '52 Chev
With a flathead six
There's everything broke
But there's nothin' to fix.

From Fort Worth to Cheyenne
On to Spokane we sped
He was soon dubbed the title
Of Rodeo Red.

He was quite well renowned
That old pickup truck
Here comes Rodeo Red
Powder River let's buck.

The floorboard was muddled
With mud, cans and trash
To-bacco spittle
And cigarette ash.

The hub caps are missin'
The left runnin' board's gone
And the right lamp's burnt out
When the headlights are on.

The emergency brake
Would never apply
So a rock hind a tire
Was our safety reply..."

Field of Dreams - Earthly Vines and an Old Red Truck

As we were traveling this summer, I was looking for an old red truck that had been left in a field to become part of the landscape.  I saw a painting once and really liked how it was true to life.  Old trucks have been around for a long time and rural farmers don't want to get rid of that old truck in case they can always use one of the parts.  That was the case with my Uncle Rufus who left an old car sitting on the side of my grandmother's yard for years.  It was an late 1940's model and I played in that car and pretended that I was driving.  That is how I learn to shift gears at the age of 8.  Outside of Arbingdon, Virginia We came across this red truck that the vines and Mother Earth decided to make part of the landscape.  It was in a pasture and several donkeys were in the background grazing.  This was not the image I had.  The vines and brushes were consuming the truck.  I am still in search of that perfect springtime pastoral picture of an Red old truck in an open field with tall grass growing around it.