What can you learn about America after traveling through eight states over the past four weeks?

         Perhaps the biggest shock to a Wyomingite is that there is so much empty space out there in other states other than the Cowboy State.

         We live in the least populated state. And I am among the busiest drivers in a state that includes the drivers who travel the most miles of any state in the country. Based on that, well, you just assume that Wyoming is different and has more empty space than other states, right?

         Well, no. Nope. No way. Nada. Nyet.

         Compared to some of the stretches I have driven in the past 28 days, Wyoming is positively metropolitan.

         Kansas is the flattest, most boring state ever.  Its windmill population provides the only diversion along Interstate 70. There are plenty of them and they are big.

         Oklahoma has more trees than you might think but again, you get to experience long, long stretches of empty space. 

         Texas is a gigantic state with vast empty areas. One of the most famous is the Llano Estacado. It is a vast flat plain that is so much like a tabletop; water can barely run out of it. It covers 32,000 square miles and slopes a tiny 10 feet per mile. The Spanish explorer Coronado discovered it. He wrote the following to the king of Spain in 1541, describing the area:

         “I reached some plains so vast that I did not find their limit anywhere. No landmarks. It was like the sea has swallowed us up. There was not a stone nor a bit of rising ground, nor a tree, nor a shrub.”  Now, that folks, describes a barren land!

         We did not travel on just vast empty spaces. One of the most scenic roads in America is Interstate 70 from Denver to its terminus in Utah.  Now, this is not flat and it is not boring. Huge tunnels and long stretches of highway built as bridges through the canyons make this a terrific trip at any time.

         Many Wyoming folks have never been on this stretch of Interstate 70 because we use Interstate 80 as our means to travel east or west.  

         I am always complaining about the semi-trailer trucks in Wyoming on Interstate 80.  Well, this time, we dealt with 30,000 Subaru compact cars heading to the ski areas west of Denver on a Friday afternoon. Yikes.

         The first 80 mph highway sign I ever saw was in the middle of Utah on Interstate 15.  Good reason for it. Scenery is better than Kansas but still we endured long boring stretches of highway.

         Arizona and Nevada feature incredible locales of “nothing,” which stretch from north to south and east to west. Again, some of these areas make lonely Wyoming places look as busy as Colorado’s front range.

         So, what is the cure for boredom on these long stretches? For me, it is an audiobook.

         We just finished listening to a terrific audiobook by Mark Spragg of Cody called An Unfinished Life. Now I am going to rent the movie, which stars Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman and Jennifer Lopez. Great book. Hope the movie is nearly as well done.

         Prior to that, I finished listening to The Way West by A. B. Guthrie Jr., a sequel to his wonderful The Big Sky (which included a lot about Wyoming, rather than the assumed Montana theme, because of the name.)

         Hard not to like Guthrie’s books.  One of his main characters, Dick Summers, always cannot wait to get back to a place he loves most along the Popo Agie River (present day Lander).

         Among my destinations during all this were two conventions, the annual Wyoming Press Association get-together and the Governor’s Tourism Conference, both in Cheyenne.

         Congratulations to longtime AP writer Joe McGowan for being elected into the WPA Hall of Fame. Well-deserved. Check out his book, From Fidel Castro to Mother Teresa, for a real insight into an amazing journalist career.

         Also congratulations to John Johnson of Casper for winning the Big WYO award, the top award given to folks in the hospitality business. Johnson has been a stalwart in the state when it comes to creating jobs and being an innovator.

         Many Wyoming legislators attended these functions. We were able to get a feel for how painful their efforts are in cutting state jobs and programs to balance the budget. Nobody appears to be enjoying the process.