Lost in the Vastness

Long distance driving could be, if one were in the mood to view it as such, the most frustrating thing on earth. Where else can you go screaming over the asphalt for hours and only move a couple of inches? Yet it can also be a wondrous thing when driving through some of the most beautiful country on earth. My favorite road to have ever driven is I-70 between Vail and Glenwood Springs, CO. It is carved straight through the Rocky Mountains. The road sluices along next to the Colorado River with sheer rock on either side which comes alive with color in the afternoon light.
If there is one thing we have an abundance of in this country it is Space. Driving through the Midwest I am overwhelmed by the simple emptiness. There are actually places where over 100 miles separate interstate exits. It is a vastness so great that it seems to take on its own personality, to be reaching out to us begging to be filled. Or maybe these are just the crazy thoughts of a man feeling the weight of his own smallness surrounded by so much yet unable to see beyond the glow of his headlights and the little yellow fuel light on his dashboard.