A road trip through America, where you watch the scenery change up close instead of peering out an airplane window gives me a new perspective. I've had this feeling at many times over the years....look out as we go......there is SO much space.
Every time we drove Route 80 through Pennsylvania on the way west to visit family in Chicago Dave and I would always be struck by the millions of trees, the rolling hills, the seeming lack of housing. We'd talk about what it must have been like to explore that vast area on foot, or horseback instead of moving down the interstate. For us it was the "5 hour state".....how many days on foot?
Out in the western states the sense of "vastness" is even more pronounced. Get off the main highways and you can go for miles before you see another car.....or basically any sign of civilization.
I can almost begin to understand the mind set of our forefathers.....and even of some current citizens .....who have a hard time imagining how we can ever run out of anything? Clean air, water, land, resources beneath the ground.....there just seems to be so much of ALL of it. Boundless and endless and forever available.
And then we cross a dry river bed, or notice a yellow haze over a more populated area, or see a hand printed sign on the edge of a farmer's field saying "Pray For RAIN!" and we are reminded that as stewards of the land.....maybe we should have done a better job or certainly need to start doing a better job.
This is such an amazingly beautiful place....this United States of America.....but it does have limits.
I'm riding along vicariously through you and Dave. Thanks for the trip.
ReplyDeleteBill and I share your thoughts about driving through this country…so much space, so much beauty. We too imagine what early pioneers thought when they saw the Mississippi, the plains and deserts, and then the mountains.
ReplyDeleteDriving across this country always gives me the sense how local politics are—the geography of the land influence the politics of the area. And, then there is the start contrast between the beauty and the poverty throughout our country. Thanks for sharing your insights!