I think "days of apple pie" refers to the singer's childhood or youth, which he associates with days of discovery - nature, hills and trees, birds and flies, and love.
In contrast, the "reward" that has now come to him - maturity - has replaced those things and brought only "gray homes and endless highways", a drab domesticity and/or relentless travel/searching.
The song begins with the speaker entering the pines to reflect, and ends with him deep inside a maple grove, finding it much sweeter than anything the outside world has to offer.
I think "days of apple pie" refers to the singer's childhood or youth, which he associates with days of discovery - nature, hills and trees, birds and flies, and love.
In contrast, the "reward" that has now come to him - maturity - has replaced those things and brought only "gray homes and endless highways", a drab domesticity and/or relentless travel/searching.
The song begins with the speaker entering the pines to reflect, and ends with him deep inside a maple grove, finding it much sweeter than anything the outside world has to offer.