Rural Route #3

It was one lane in and one lane out

A country road they built around

A general store and last stop for gasoline

A paved carpet where we rode our bikes

How the mail came in and how our town survived

A hundred miles from the city's cold concrete

Yeah, 'round here old rural route number three

Is more than just a crossing for tumbleweeds

She's taken sons to foreign shores

Brought some back home to their front porch

She's how we come together when the church bell rings

A quarter inch on a fold-out map

How we live, love, cry and laugh

I hope my kids can grow up just like me

On a country road like rural route number three

♪

The first memory I do recall

Is momma walkin' with me to my first bus stop

She thought I didn't notice but I saw her cry

A place we parked and fogged windows

A way to college and Christmas back home

The shoulder I broke down on when a good friend died

She's taken sons to foreign shores

Brought some back home to their front porch

She's how we come together when the church bell rings

A quarter inch on a fold-out map

How we live, love, cry and laugh

I hope my kids can grow up just like me

On a country road like rural route number three

♪

The sun is hot, our flag it waves

We've dreamed for years about this day

When we'd take those five yellow ribbons down

And riding the blacktops hot heatwaves

Black boots marchin' through ticker tape

Our boys from overseas are back in town

Yeah, today old highway three is hallowed ground