Americans who spend all of their time on the coasts tend to forget just how vast this place we call home really is. Anyone griping that the country is too crowded is either a fool or a couch potato.

In far west Texas, it’s possible to drive 80 mph down a two-lane highway for half an hour and not encounter a single other vehicle. There will be a few ranch gates with dusty driveways leading off to the horizon, maybe some cattle huddled around a windmill and cistern, and more than a few turkey vultures, but no fast food joints, no gas stations, and no habitable human dwellings.