Hey, Willie! Beth & Rick are on the road again!

I think Beth Pritchard Brooks, Class of 1978, is what country singer Willie Nelson had in mind when he sings “On the Road Again.”

Beth and husband Rick Brooks will leave their Harter Hill home in Worthington on Sunday, Nov. 1 for Seattle, where Rick’s latest months-long project of setting up distribution center technology will begin.

Writes Beth:

“Busy day today! The Eagle's Nest (their travel trailer they hitch to the truck) is all cleaned up and today we are packing it up! Expecting some family to stop by and dinner later with some old friends. Sad to be leaving tomorrow. It feels like I just got home and tomorrow we are off again and Seattle bound! But I have really enjoyed my first Fall in 3 years at home! And enjoyed seeing family and friends, though we didn't get to see everyone we wanted to. Happy Halloween everyone!”

The upside of Rick’s career is that they get to see the country, from Washington to Arizona to Maine, which Rick is doing his job. And Las Vegas.

Beth’s sisters are Jonna Pritchard Barnett, who was in the first graduation class at North Marion in 1980 after going to Monongah High for three years, married to Shinnston High grad Brad Barnett, and Jane Pritchard Moore, Class of 1975, married to Henry Moore. Their parents were John Pritchard and Mary Jane McDaniel Pritchard, daughter of the famous Ted McDaniel, Monongah Streetcar Stationmaster.

Beth promises to post “lots of pictures.”

As for Willie’s signature song, he wrote it in 1980 about his constant concert courts and it is as much a part of his performances (I’ve been to a half-dozen of his concerts over the years) as “Whiskey River” and “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground.”