One of the joys of driving vacations is the wide open spaces of America.

We love to take driving vacations. 3300 miles to Yellowstone this month. Before that, vacations to Yellowstone in 2021, Florida this year and 2022 (and many other times), the Grand Canyon in 2020, a few trips to North Carolina over the years. Besides vacations, there are other trips to Houston, Oklahoma, and more.

I remember a friend who used to complain about having to drive 2 hours to see some relatives – 2 hours doesn’t even count as a road trip for us.

On this last trip to Yellowstone, we noticed that a few times on Waze we were in what we (especially our granddaughter) started to call a “white-out.” The map display showed our car, the road we were on, and nothing else. No other roads, no lakes, rivers, other points of interest – nothing!

We love the wide open spaces and the stretches of the journey where there is nothing. Sometimes on the horizon you can see mountains or forests. Sometimes, not as appealing, you can see the windmill forests springing up everywhere. This last trip we saw lightning in the distance (including watching as lightning started a grass fire). We see livestock, antelope, and birds, haystacks, farmhouses, grain elevators. We see long lines of trains, so long you lose count of the cars. We passed through a canyon in Wyoming that we didn’t know even existed, and it was gorgeous (Wind River Canyon if you need to know). Caroline really enjoyed passing through a town in Wyoming with a population of 10 people.

You see, this is what has sometimes been called “Flyover Country.” Lots of big city folks, mostly in the East (which includes too many politicians and news people), have never experienced this. They have no true concept of how big and diverse this country, particularly west of the Appalachian Mountains, is. The thought of driving hours between cities bigger than 10,000 people is completely unknown. And there are so many interesting places and people to see in those wide open spaces.

I remember after our Grand Canyon rafting trip getting out on the highway and just being awed at the vista in front of us. Nothing to see for miles and miles except tumbleweeds and dirt. It was humbling to see and realize just how big and magnificent this country is. The density of much of the East Coast, particularly the big cities, has no appeal for me. As for me, “Give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above.”