One of my favorite artists as a kid was Merle Haggard and one of Merle Haggard’s favorite artists as an artist was Jimmie Rogers. He recorded a whole album of Roger’s songs and I spent a lot of time listening. In the song he wrote that might have made him famous Haggard had this line – “the first thing I remember knowing was a lonesome whistle blowing and a young’uns Dream of growing up to ride, on a freight train leaving town not knowing where I’m bound and no one could change my mind but momma tried”. That longing homesickness for something that you don’t know and a place you have never been lends itself to romance and sometimes tragedy but always some excitement. Haggard identified with the sentiment and the song so much he called his album “Same Train; A Different Time”. Rogers songs are about that same need to be going somewhere even if you don’t know where it is or what you will do when you get there. In Roger’s song, “Waiting for a Train” there is another great line after a railroad boss puts the singer off a train. “He put me off in Texas, a state I dearly love The wide open spaces all around me, the moon and the stars up above. Nobody seems to want me, or lend me a helping hand. I’m on my way from Frisco, going back to Dixieland. My pocket book is empty and my heart is full of pain I’m a thousand miles away from home just waiting for a train”.
So I’m in Tokyo waiting for a plane and there are a lot of interesting sights and I got it in my head that it might be possible to see Mount Fuji from here. I got it on my maps and figured out where I was in the airport and used my compass to help me see where it might be located from the airport and sure enough, where I was looking would be the likely place to see it if the clouds are not too bad. Then I looked over and saw this crowd of people with cameras looking at that spot and I figured those folks were looking for Fuji. Japanese tourists around the world are remarkable for their photography. I thought this was kind of a shared adventure; they wanted to see Fuji and so did I. Trying to get the cloud cover to move and unveil the peak was maddening.
Anyway the clouds never moved and the crowds haven’t either. I just heard some body say he thinks the crowd is waiting for the landing of the first Japanese Airbus a380, so who knows. We are all waiting for a plane and some adventure, so I can take that too. I am waiting for the long flight to Seattle so maybe I’ll see Fuji from the plane.
