Riding Against the Wind

By Jeanne Moseley

As we pulled onto the interstate heading north toward home, we could see the towering, fan-filled stadium over our left shoulder. The strong colors worn by the crowd looked surreal ... almost like dots made from an artist's fine-pointed brush on a sky-blue canvas.

Our state flag whipped in the strong, blustering wind as though dancing to the tune inside my head, "Texas, Our Texas." Having just left the state Capitol a couple of miles back, I couldn't seem to think of much else except how much I love being a Texan.

We knew there was no time for dilly-dallying as we joined the traffic flow up I-35 because win or lose, we'd be in the way of those loyal college football fans as they, too, made their way home.

On the radio, the DJ repeatedly distinguished his station by saying, "Sounds like Texas." And, I began to think what that meant. Having just come from the melting pot of Austin, I tried to pinpoint exactly what Texas sounds like ... or looks like, for that matter.

For sure, this is a place where our songs make everything rhyme, whether meant to or not. Only here do the words 'hair' and 'ear' sound the same, and according to our music, we say "ain't" a lot. (But, that just ain't so.)

The radio spots reverberate that everything here is bigger than anyplace else and that eating, drinking and even looking for a job are more fun and made easier when partnered with the word "lonestar."

Not a connoisseur of country music, I still found it easy enough to sing along as we passed black cows grazing beneath huge billboards advertising "custom homes." Another half-mile away was my first sighting of the many communications towers we'd see along our way. Perhaps most representative of Texas was this 21st century technology side-by-side with old farmhouses and dilapidated barns.

As we rode against the strong wind blowing due east across the heart of Texas, big trucks and cars harassed us as if to say, "Real Texans don't drive the speed limit." So when we could, we pulled into the slower fast lane to enjoy the sky as it darkened into twilight ... just about Waco.

But as it always is, my favorite part of any trip is taking the exit sign marked "Waxahachie." The road dipped down across the viaduct, and the light shining from the old courthouse helped guide us through familiar streets toward home.

Our day stretched from the pink Texas granite of our state Capitol to that same stone here in Ellis County, and gave us all a reason to be thankful, one more time, that Texas is our home.

Copyright ©2000 Jeanne Moseley