For anyone unfamiliar with Texas Country music, there’s a singer named Pat Green, who really helped put the Texas music scene on the map in the early aughts. Now, that’s not to say that he was the one who got Texas music started; far from it. The Texas music scene has been around in much the same capacity as it has been since Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, and even Jimmy Buffett roamed the Texas landscape. Green’s popularity, however, helped put Texas Country, also known as “Red Dirt Music”, out in a position of prominence again and helped shine a light on so many talented musicians which call this area home.

(Of course, by the same token, this is a singer who also said he’d never want to go to Nashville…until Nashville told them how many zeros they wanted to add to his record deal. I guess everyone has their price. Yet, I digress.)

Anyway, Green has a great song, entitled “Carry On”. The chorus begins with these lines:

“Everybody’s gotta get away sometime,
Forget about yourself for a while.
Seems to me that all you need
Is a ragtop car and a ride with me.”

It speaks to the simple joys of escapism. Everyone has a place they hold dear to them, some place of significant happiness and peace, where they often return by some means to rejuvenate their spirit.

For me, that place is northern New Mexico. If you can’t find serenity here, you’re doing something wrong. I could stare at the Brazos Cliffs and the Pedernale all day and never tire of the experience, or lack thereof. The stillness is magnificent.

We took advantage of the holiday weekend to come back here for the first time in over a year. Customers can grind you down, as can the day-to-day of running a shop and an aviation business.

Fortunately, it also comes at a time right at the transition point between two points in my webcomic’s story, whose second chapter begins Thursday. It’s an incredibly fortunate position for me, and I plan to take full advantage of it, recharging myself and planning out the run of this next story chapter. I’m excited to be here.

Mental health is incredibly important, and if you’re struggling to maintain yours, find your getaway as soon as you can. Find your escape, and even if it’s only in your mind, get there and revel in joy it brings you.

Where is your escape, comrades?

-The Retail Explorer