The Long Run

The Long Run

Don and I love the band The Eagles, we spent many a summer afternoon in high school at Archer Park playing tennis while “Take It Easy” played on the loudspeakers at the pool. How could we travel so far and not stand on that corner in Winslow Arizona? We couldn’t! So after leaving House on Fire it was time to make the long run south, from Blanding Utah to Winslow Arizona. We could go two different routes; back toward Page and down, or we could go down 191, near the New Mexico border. This route would take us into new country, a little bit of prairie views. We opted to travel the New Mexico route, and it would take us about 4 hours to get to Winslow. But we had one more photo to shoot up north; the “Forrest Gump” shot. On the Utah side of Monument valley is the iconic view of the monuments and the straight as an arrow highway. Forrest Gump stopped running here, The Eagles used this shot for an album cover, as well as Zeppelin and Bob Seger. So we really made a triangle and headed back toward Monument Valley to get this iconic shot. Interestingly, one of the photographers from House on Fire, the guy from France, was also there to shoot the same shot. It was an odd “don’t I know you” moment. From there, we headed back toward Kayenta and went south through the prairie toward Winslow. The drive was certainly one of the straightest routes this Kentucky girl has ever been on. The skies were varied and it was odd to often see visible rain showers out of the left side of the window and brilliant blue skies toward the right. Our mountains sure do limit our visibility! We felt a sense of freedom running down that road. Miles and miles of open plains rushed under our wheels as we passed small homes and cabins. Occasionally we would see a sign indicated that we were in open range and free roaming cattle or horses were possible. And we did see that many times. One time we saw a small herd of pinto horses and we stopped and they scattered like the wind. We arrived at Winslow at the edge of darkness and found our motel; we were tired and hungry after a long drive with no restaurants for hundreds of miles. A cheap pizza, showers and an early bedtime were just what we needed. The following morning we got up to go take our picture at the iconic corner. The statue is actually of Jackson Browne who wrote most of the song. Glen Frey, a former roommate of Browne’s, heard the song and like it but Browne had gotten stuck on some of the lyrics. The story goes that Browne wrote the part about Winslow during a road trip to Sedona that took him through Winslow during which his car broke down. Glen Frey’s contribution was the line, “it’s a girl my Lord in a flat bed Ford, slowing down to take a look at me.” The result of this friendship and collaboration is one of the 500 Most Influential Songs of Rock History. We drove down to the corner early the next morning, our last full day out west. It was a little emotional to stand on the corner and reminisce about our many years together and how many good times we had while listening to The Eagles. The town had set up some loudspeakers that played the best of the Eagles and we heard “Hotel California” while we were on the corner. On this trip alone we had been on “The Long Run” and a “dark desert highway”. We had many a “peaceful, easy feeling” while encountering some “Desperadoes”. A stranger walked up and offered to take our picture using my camera. Here’s a good travel tip; always give your camera to someone you can outrun if they decide to swipe it. This good ole boy took our photo and I took his and his lovely wife’s photo with their camera and we left Winslow with a song in our heart.

Our flight home was the next day so it was time to already start to reflect on what we had seen and what we had done. It’s easy to make a list of the sights we saw, but it’s almost impossible to put into words how this trip changed who we are. We both talked about how our experiences broadened our horizons and how very thankful we are that we dared to dream. We grew closer together, we laughed and learned and loved it all. I love our little home in Prestonsburg and this is home to me, but it was amazing to have just a glimpse of another world. My advice is simple; life is so short - get out and live it!