The Journey's End

The journey has ended.  We covered just under 800 miles in 3 days.  There are so many places I know very little about.  Books only give a small view of what is beyond our own door.  You can't feel, taste or touch through a book.  I have a greater appreciation for those eager individuals who were the early explorers that moved through the west.  They had determination, endurance, curiosity, and  the courage to walk into the unknown.  In spit of the bleak and barren landscape, they kept going.  Perhaps those early settlers had the faith that there was more than met the eye.

 So much of the western United States is inhospitable.  It moves from lush forests to dry deserts in a matter of miles.  High mountain ranges open to wide dry valleys.  As one travels across Wyoming,  you see  the remnants of farms and ranches long abandoned, and the dreams they were built on, once so bright and full of hope, are scattered in the dust.  It is a story repeated through out the west. 

Where the desert gives way to fertile ground, however small, the land has been cleared and planted.  Idaho tells the same tales as Wyoming.  I could see beyond the harsh dry land and find a quiet beauty in the in the mountains.  Massive rock formations pushed up from the desert floor thousands of years ago provide a rainbow of colors--rust, purple, shades of gray. 

It is refreshing to still find small towns that stand on their own; clean, well kept, with vibrant main streets,  busy stores and small cafes.  Life moves slower and you feel the ease that comes with slowing down.  The best part of American is hidden behind the the interstates.  The original highways let you see more of who and what we are as a country.  There is still more of Highway 20 to see and this was just a very small taste--enough to wet the appetite.  Will we venture on and work our way clear to Boston?  I hope so.  There is too much to see and it would be a shame to miss it.  Nolan and I are too curious  about what we don't know to let the grass grown under our feet.  The best is sharing it together.