Don't Fence Me In!

Day 21:  Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Here we are in Las Vegas, Nevada. I couldn’t wait to get over the Soda and Clark Mountains and cross over into Nevada.  Why?  I knew Whiskey Pete’s and Buffalo Bill’s Casino resorts were there along the road just waiting for me!  I told my daughter last night that I stopped at Whiskey Pete’s and spent all her inheritance in an hour or so.  Some people do that you know!  But I didn’t.

Whenever we come to Las Vegas I drive straight through the Strip (at 65 mph on I-15) and if the traffic isn’t heavy, I try to read the billboards on the various casinos as I pass by.  I noted that Billie Joel was to appear at one of them sometime soon.  I wouldn’t mind going to that show and hearing him sing “Piano Man.”  

Where will we go today after a night in Vegas (not on the Strip, but in a campground to the east of the city)?  We will go to Utah—maybe we’ll stop and see Zion National Park again, or Bryce—or maybe not!  One of the “traveling songs” I sing is “Don’t Fence Me In.”  Do you know the words?  Here they are—sing with me as we travel along together if you like.

Oh, give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above

Don't fence me in

Let me ride through that wide open country that I love

Don't fence me in.

Let me be by myself in the evenin’ breeze

An' listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees

Send me off forever but I ask you please

Don’t fence me in

Just turn me loose, let me straddle my old saddle

Underneath the western skies

On my cayuse, let me wander over yonder

Till I see the mountains rise

How can one share the desert beauty?
  Photos just can't do it!

I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences

And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses

And I can't look at hobbles and I can't stand fences

Don’t fence me in