Happy Trails to You

A friend emailed me a couple of days ago and asked me several questions concerning the generation of ideas for my blog. She is new to the blogging world and is struggling to know what to write about. As I typed a response to her, it caused me to think about several things in relation to blogging and to writing in general. I shared with her a characteristic of this blog that other writers have told me is rather odd ... the titles always come to me first, and the subject matter follows. I guess most writers write about a subject or write a chapter in a book and then title it after the material ... the meat of the premise, if you will ... is already composed. I can't explain it, but without fail, whether it is this blog or poetry or books ... the titles come to me first. And those titles come to me at differing times through very different means. Like today's, for example.

Driving into work yesterday, I passed a truck with a logo emblazoned across its side that said, "Happy Trails." I don't remember what the business was ... it was the words "Happy Trails" that caught my eye and caused me to think of the old song by the same name made famous by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans on their television show that was popular in the 1950s. Which I watched in reruns, by the way, lest some of you deem me older than I actually am. The song was always sung over the closing credits of the show, and I still remember the words to the tune even now ... yes, many years later.

I'm sure you are more than a bit curious as to where I'm going with this ... quite honestly, when I added this title to the list of titles that have come to me for blogs yet to be written, the same curiosity worked its way into my brain as well. Last night, after a particularly arduous day at work and thinking that I could use a happy trail or two, I decided to Google the words "Happy Trails." As I went down the path of following links, I wound up at royrogers.com on a page that listed the lyrics to the old song. Now here's the lesson ... the reason God caused me to think of a television show from years gone by ... also on the page was a listing of the rules for the "Roy Rogers Riders Club." Ten short rules that I believe God wanted me to think about ... to ponder on ... to muse over ... rules that fit amazingly closely with the guidelines for living that He gave me in His Word.

     1. Be neat and clean.
      2. Be courteous and polite.
      3. Always obey your parents.
      4. Protect the weak and help them.
      5. Be brave but never take chances.
      6. Study hard and learn all you can.
      7. Be kind to animals and take care of them.
      8. Eat all your food and never waste any.
      9. Love God and go to Sunday school regularly.
     10. Always respect our flag and our country.


So, cowboys and cowgirls ... "Happy trails to you, until we meet again."