My friends warned us before we left for our road trip that Google Maps often underestimated total driving times when traveling in the west. I knew that places were far apart, but my understanding of far changed dramatically. Wyoming is immense. One of the best things that happened to us was getting lost on the road from Devil’s Tower to Thermopolis. We traveled through some amazing landscapes in the Big Horn mountains and the High Plains. It was a bit unnerving because there are few cellphone towers, so our Google maps didn’t work. Thankfully, we had a map. Even so, the signage was not always clear.
To give you a sense of the distance, we drove through a remote area that had been devastated by a wildfire. We drove for at least thirty miles before we left the charred landscape behind. The breadth of the destruction is mind//boggling, especially when you consider how frequently they occur.
I am still trying to grasp what the distances signify for people living in the region. How long do school sports teams have to travel for games? What does it mean if you have a medical emergency? How do you cope with the loneliness?
Getting lost was a lucky break. But man is it FAR!!!
Thanks for tuning in!
Margaret
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