When I was a teenager working on my uncle's farm in southwest Iowa, we listened to a lot of country music. My cousin and I preferred rock, but most of the radio stations that came in clearly were of the country variety. So I was exposed to Merle Haggard at an early age.
The song Okie from Miskogee starts off:
"We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee
We don't take our trips on LSD
We don't burn our draft cards down on Main Street
We like livin' right, and bein' free."
We listened to a bunch of Merle on the way north from Fredericksburg, Texas. Over time, I've grown to appreciate traditional country music and bluegrass. To me, lyrics are everything. They don't have to be about something that I agree with, but they should be interesting. Merle Haggard has a lot of interesting music.
When we drove into Muskogee at the end of our travel day, we immediately noticed some things have changed. For one thing, there were marijuana stores all over the city. We counted at least a dozen as we drove through. The song was released in 1969. Nothing lasts forever.
I don't have strong feelings about the legalization of marijuana. Neither Julia and I use it, but the criminalization of a practice that seems pretty far down the list of damaging behaviors...well, we definitely don't need any more non-violent offenders in our nation's jails and prisons.
Fortunately, while the marijuana dispensaries held little interest, Muskogee has a really good brewing company.
Brewpubs and microbreweries have become very popular in the last decade, but not all produce exceptional beers. A lot of times, the beer is just mediocre. Sometimes, the focus is on the food instead of the beer. It isn't enough to brew different styles; the execution is important too. I was really happy with the quality of the brews here. Julia loved her wheat beer "Mama Tryed." I ended up with the Okie IPA, and it was very good.
After a long day of driving, sitting down with a fresh-tasting beer and watching some local musicians perform was exactly what we needed. The bartender was into his job and offered to let us taste/sample whatever we wanted before making our choice. Well, the chocolate peppermint stout wasn't to my taste, but I'm sure that somebody likes that flavor combination. The sours were really interesting and pushed some envelopes, including a Hibiscus Sour.
On the next day, we made the final leg of our journey home. That concludes the Texas trip in the spring of 2021. More adventures are on the way--some in places just as unlikely as Muskogee, Oklahoma. The Scamp is ready to go, and I'm ready for some hiking.
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