I think they say things like that to smooth over their departure, to make the appointment where they inform the group owner of their intentions more friendly.

Hey, maybe their wives threw them back on the road as being a nuisance to the neat little home she'd built in their absence. Perhaps "some time off the road" worked out to be "very short time off the road."

In the years that I was on the road almost continuously, my wife very ably kept a regiment with the children that I seemed to disrupt when I came home with a tired body and a bag of dirty laundry. It was also frustrating with the children having to answer to a different commanding voice.

The road indeed presents a marriage and a household with unique challenges even when two people are very much in love. While my wife appreciated the help of having the father in the house, she felt that she should surrender the reins of authority to her husband while he was in attendance. That had to be frustrating to both her and the children.

But our love brought us through and our family remains a loving unit, even though the children are now grown and raising their own broods.

There is one other factor that comes into play here. If you DO something long enough it becomes ingrained in who you ARE. These singers who announce that they are getting off the road, soon realize that they are being asked to change their very personna. The temptation is to return to . . . who you are. So they latch on to another group and, while it makes them look unsettled, they again take on their own perceived personna.

Take it from a fifty-year veteran road man, the road gets into your blood! I'm just eternally grateful that the Lord gave me a best friend, soulmate and partner in marriage that understands my calling and fully endorses it. I'll always love you, Baby!