Paint Your Wagon

The modern American motorhome is in a direct line of evolution from the covered wagon that once rumbled across the western prairies and high plains. Opening new horizons for the traveller/explorer, leaving the safety and surety of the suburban way of life, developing and enjoying self-sufficiency, getting together with fellow spirits around many a campfire, changing lives irrevocably.

The main difference is that covered waggoners sought to settle, to metamorphose into farmers. Like Ben, the character played by Lee Marvin in 'Paint Your Wagon', the contemporary motorhomer aims to travel for ever into that slowly setting sun. 

Conversation between Ben (Lee Marvin) and a passer-by.

“I guess there's two kinds in the world, Ben. People who move, people who stay. Ain't that true?
No, that ain't true.
Well, what's true?
Oh, there's two kinds of people - them going somewhere and them going nowhere, and that's what's true.
I don't agree, Ben.
That's cos you don't know what the hell I'm talking about.

I'm an ex-citizen of nowhere, and sometimes I get mighty homesick.”

“I was born under a wanderin' star

Wheels are made for rollin
Mules are made to pack
I've never seen a sight
That didn't look better lookin' back

Mud can make you a prisoner
And the plains can bake you dry
Snow can burn your eyes
But only people make you cry

Home is made for comin' from
For dreams of goin' to
Which, with any luck
Will never come true

Do I know where hell is?
Hell is in hello
Heaven is goodbye forever
It's time for me to go

When I get to heaven
Tie me to a tree
Or I'll begin to roam
And soon you know where I will be.

I was born under a wanderin' star
A wanderin', wanderin' star.

Got a dream, boy
Got a song
Paint your wagon
And come along.

Where am I goin? I don't know
Where am I headin'? I ain't certain
All I know is I am on my way.
When will I be there?
I don't know
When will I get there?
I ain't certain
All that I know is I am on my way.

But who gives a damn?
I'm on my way.