I’m very fortunate to travel as much as I do as part of my job, and not just around our beautiful state but to different locations across the country.

While most of these trips are work-related, it’s exciting to visit new places and see new sights.

However, a recent trip that took me across the country will be one I will not soon forget for many reasons. Occasionally, my wife will travel with me as she did on this particular trip as we flew to Utah for a national convention. While there was work to do at the convention, we discovered how beautiful this part of the country is.

Unfortunately, we both became ill while on the trip, so much so, that when the day came to return home, we were too sick to fly.

That left us with two options: stay until we felt better or rent a car and drive the 1,600-plus miles home. We chose the second option.

To say it was a big adventure, may be a bit of an understatement, and the first few hours felt as though we were driving on a treadmill, going along at a steady pace but not seeming to get anywhere.

But I tried to remain positive and focus on our goal of getting home. Somewhere along the way I began to notice the landscape around me. I started taking note of how beautiful this region is. I realized I was seeing sights I had only seen in books up to this point.

I felt like a kid again witnessing one amazing view after another. From the foothills of the Rockies in Western Wyoming to the Great Plains regions near Cheyenne and into Nebraska.

For the first time, I saw wild horses grazing near the highway and their mule deer neighbors. I saw rock formations that jumped off the pages of travel magazines in full view as we traveled. We experienced long stretches of highway with scenic vistas on both sides that seemed to go on forever.

The cattle ranches seemed too big to imagine as we made our way closer and closer to home.

These are all sights I may have never seen had it not been for our unfortunate turn of events.

We found ourselves making the best of the situation and found, between the coughs and sneezes, a certain amount of enjoyment with our travels.

However, it was great to get back home to rest and recover.

Having made this journey made me realize a few things. There is so much of this beautiful country I haven't seen yet and now I have the urge to travel more of it. This trip also made me appreciate home a lot more.

We may not have the Rockies, but our eastern mountains are just as scenic to me. We may not have ranches that encompass tens of thousands of acres but the farms we have are the best in the world.

And while we may not have the same terrain as I saw along Interstate 80 out west, nothing was more beautiful than Interstate 64 that led to my front door.

May we all take note of the beauty around us even in the toughest of situations, but I hope we all can appreciate the wonderment found in our own backyards and as we travel down the backroads.

Tim Thornberry
Editor, KFB News