Sunday, January 14, 2007

Jerry Jeff Walker - Driftin' Way of Life (Vanguard VSD521 - 1969)




"Old Road" came up on my iPod on the ride in this morning (7/8/08) and realized that I might know more about it than I ever realized. Here are the lyrics as I pulled them off the web at sweetslyrics.com.

Old road she keeps callin' to me,
Old road she keeps callin' to me,
Travel on down,
Travel on down,
Travel on down and see.
(Harmonica)
13 and 3-0-1,
13 and 3-0-1,
250 West,
250 West,
250 West to 9.
(Harmonica)
Lonely, so cold and blue,
Lonely, so cold and blue,
Tired and hungery,
Tired and hungery,
Tired and hungery too.
=======

13 and 3-0-1 could easily refer to the intersection of Rt. 13 and Rt. 301 near Odessa Delaware. 301 is a spur off of US 1 (which certainly qualifies as an old road). 301 West crosses the Chesapeake near Annapolis and heads south to Richmond where VA 250 has largely been replaced by I-64. VA 250 heads west toward Waynesboro and Afton where I've had pleasant bicycling experiences. I can't really see where 9 fits into this itinerary but basically this little sub-two-minute song seems to chart a backroads trip from somewhere in the Delaware Valley area into the Shenandoah Valley area. I've probably had this album for more than 30 years and never made that connection. Huh!

No comments: