High Country News gets it

"Unlike the Eastern bride I knew who cried in fear when her husband first drove her into the high desert he loved, I felt liberated by landscapes where fences, phone lines, buildings and people were scarce. As Wallace Stegner, the elder statesman of Western literature, put it, in all of this space, Westerners feel 'the dignity of rareness.' It is also true that people chosen by Wyoming need tolerance for the claustrophobia of cabin fever. They need to be enjoying doing things that make staying inside on a winter day feel like a gift. They also need to be the kind of people who couldn’t care less about the lack of big shopping malls or gourmet restaurants."

Read the full story here.