Space

One of the hardest things to convey about living here is the grand scale of space. I haven't found any image anywhere, or any writing that really describes the dual experience of the immenseness and intimacy of the land. When people ask me what's most unique about this place, I think about the border culture, the climate, and the desert, but coming from the cozy midwest, it has to be the feeling of space. Though I'd done a lot of research before I first visited the region, I was unprepared for the vastness of the land. Frontier isn't somewhere else on a map or back in history, but it is right here. You're living it.

Besides the population figures (Johnson County, Iowa has 180.7 people per square mile, while Culberson County, TX has 0.8 people per square mile), there's one other interesting fact that attempts to describe the feeling of scale and our intimacy with the land, and it comes from a ranger at Big Bend National Park. (photo above is from the South Rim Trail in the park.) It also says a lot about the national park experience. He told me:

"Say you put everyone who visited Yosemite National Park last year in that park at the same time. Each person would have a piece of ground about the size of a sheet of paper, 8 1/2" x 11" to stand on. Now, if you round up all the people who visited Big Bend National Park last year and put them in our park at the same time, they'd each have a piece of land two ACRES all to themselves!"

If you wanted to get away which park would you visit? The thing is, even when you're outside the park you still feel you've got the land to yourself. That's an increasingly rare experience in our country, you should come experience it. And visit me!