making drastic changes in life

[north woods gal]

There is no doubt that geography and the land shapes and molds us. I spent most of my life on the prairies of the Dakotas and Nebraska and even though I dearly love our north woods of Wisconsin, where we live, now, I do miss my wide open spaces. I think you have to be raised there for it to really get in your blood, though if you live there long enough you can certainly appreciate it. If you're new to these vast landscapes, though, it can be intimidating and even unsettling. As kids, I remember cousins from Pennsylvania visiting us in North Dakota and they were genuinely terrified to be able to look miles in any direction without seeing a tree. Me, I loved it and still do.

When it came time to retire, I knew my husband would have a hard time adjusting to such vastness, since he spent his whole life east of the Mississippi. We compromised and headed to the north woods and are quite happy, here. Still, I am haunted by my prairie memories and long to see and feel the wind blowing over miles of grassland. Of course, that prairie wind was an ever present factor in my bicycling. Calm days were a rarity.

[Blueberry]

Ah yes. Wide open spaces. I officiated RAAM last year and it was my first time seeing lots of open space. There was a fire on the course in the AZ desert, and the headquarters folks asked me to find it (yes, in fact, drive towards a brush fire in the desert with high winds). I was on the phone with emergency dispatch. They kept asking me how far away the plume of smoke was, and I had to quite frankly say I couldn't tell. They pushed for an estimate, and I was about 20 miles off. So hard to tell distances out there.

I loved it, though. I prefer my large distances over water as opposed to land, though.

[Pax]

So many different geographic areas, they really do seem to distill into a preference or a comfort level for many of us as we age. Wide open spaces are absolutely a part of me; if I go to the beach often enough I can get my fix, but when I can't get there for a while I start feeling really claustrophobic, it's very closed in here with trees and vegetation... as soon as I get back to the prairie and can see for miles, I feel like my mind can rest and I can breathe again.

[emily_in_nc]

Since I've lived all my life in the east and usually surrounded by woods, forests always comfort me, even with the snakes, bugs, etc. I love the beach too, though, and am always drawn to water, be it an ocean, creek, lake, or river. The first time I visited the southwest US, I was absolutely enchanted by the desert and its special beauty; ditto for the first time in the plains and prairie with the big sky I'd never really seen in its entirety before. I love and appreciate all the different environments but do feel vaguely uneasy whenever I am in a place where there's a larger chance of tornadoes (and that can include my home state of NC at times as well, Florida, etc).

When we moved to the KC area for a year, my mother was so worried about tornadoes that I had to do some research and determine that KC itself actually has very few tornadoes; most in Kansas are in the western half of the state where it's dead flat. In fact, the greater KC area is full of huge deciduous trees and hills! It's gorgeous and not easy cycling as I thought it would be at all. I sent Mom lots of stats I found online and eased her mind.

[Crankin]

I know I could never live in a prairie/open environment. One of things that bothered me the most about Miami and Phoenix was the flat brownness of each place. I love the desert, but unfortunately, like the song, "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot." You could see the mountains, but you had to travel a ways to be in real desert. So sad. The last time I was in AZ, we stayed in Cave Creek, which is far, far north of where I lived. In the boonies. But, it felt like real AZ. I also loved northern AZ, but alas, always said it looks just like NH! The beaches in Florida were nice when I was a teen and in college, but over the years, I have become less of a beach person, and more of a mountain person, thanks to cycling. I need to live near a coast, but not necessarily to sit on the beach! I like to walk on the beach, and observe the scenery, but beach towns hold no allure for me.
I learned a lot, though from my moves. I like diversity of scenery and the ability to drive places that are different within 2-3 hours.

[Jolt]

I don't think I could live in a prairie-type area either…no privacy when there aren't any trees! My grandparents, who are from Montana, have always said they feel claustrophobic from all the trees when they have visited us on the East Coast so it's definitely a matter of what one is used to. I just moved into a beach town, so will probably become more of a beach person just because it's so easy to get to…will be interesting to see how crazy it is around here now that summer is starting!

[Pax]

God, I love Montana, the sky is so wide open it's like being inside a drop of water, the sky seems to drop away beneath your feet!

[north woods gal]

I know I could never live in a prairie/open environment. One of things that bothered me the most about Miami and Phoenix was the flat brownness of each place. I love the desert, but unfortunately, like the song, "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot." You could see the mountains, but you had to travel a ways to be in real desert. So sad. The last time I was in AZ, we stayed in Cave Creek, which is far, far north of where I lived. In the boonies. But, it felt like real AZ. I also loved northern AZ, but alas, always said it looks just like NH! The beaches in Florida were nice when I was a teen and in college, but over the years, I have become less of a beach person, and more of a mountain person, thanks to cycling. I need to live near a coast, but not necessarily to sit on the beach! I like to walk on the beach, and observe the scenery, but beach towns hold no allure for me.
I learned a lot, though from my moves. I like diversity of scenery and the ability to drive places that are different within 2-3 hours.

Of course, in the remote areas where most of those plains and prairies are, you'll only have cows or maybe antelope for company. Some of the counties in this region have the lowest population density in the U.S. That lack of population, though, can also add to some folk's unease.

[emily_in_nc]

Of course, in the remote areas where most of those plains and prairies are, you'll only have cows or maybe antelope for company. Some of the counties in this region have the lowest population density in the U.S. That lack of population, though, can also add to some folk's unease.

But would make me very happy indeed!