That’s WY.

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me “why on earth do you want to move to Wyoming?” I would be sitting big on the pig right about now and could start planning my early retirement. Instead, all I got was a puzzled look and that awful judgemental silence you get when someone thinks you’ve lost your mind. On the contrary, I don’t think I’ve lost my mind, but rather I’ve found it. So here I sit, using that mind to conjure up enough coherent thoughts to explain why I ended up in The Cowboy State.

But first, let me back up, WAY up, to get inside the mind of a young Seth.

There was a point in time when everything I wanted to read either had Jack London or Gary Paulsen printed on the front of it. If I was inside, I was looking out the window thinking about being outside. I can remember being 10 years old, wanting to go live off the land in the wilderness of Alaska. Of course, there is a story of a young man who did just that and his fate turned out, well, not so great. Instead of exploring Alaska, I set out to explore what was around me.

What was around me was absolutely beautiful. The southern Appalachian Mountains truly are something to see and North Carolina is no exception. The summers are lush and booming with life from wildflowers to black bears that roam the hills. But the fall was my favorite. The trees painted the hills with colors of red, orange and yellow as the air started to turn cool and you get those crisp mornings that assure you deer season is right around the corner. The winters were mild, but the occasional snowstorm would blanket the ground. Spring brought its return of green and warm weather, signifying it was time to go trout fishing and knock the dust off the lawnmower. I grew up fascinated by this cycle and explored every part of my home state, from the mountains to the coast.

But as Lao Tzu once said, “he who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.” Pretty soon word got around that the little mountain town I grew up in was the place to be. People started moving from all over the place. So naturally, things got torn down so buildings could be built for the new arrivals. The city grew so fast traffic became terrible. The roads were not planned to accommodate such a high volume of cars. Neither was I. As someone who likes nature more than crowds of people, this really got under my skin. I couldn’t even fly fish my favorite secret stream because people were always splashing around in the creek.

At this point, moving west was still a dream. But a dream that kept coming up in mine and Emily’s conversations more and more. The daily fight through traffic to get to work. The creative ingenuity I had to employ to park at every trailhead. The rudeness from people shopping in the produce section of the grocery store. Pretty soon, I realized everything I used to love about my home was gone. Or perhaps just paved over when new condos got built. Either way, I set my sights westward to the less populated parts of America.

Eventually, the conversation turned into something along the lines of “we could leave when this lease ends.” The question then became “but where?” My vote was Alaska. More bears and miles of land uninhabited by people. The whole “bear” thing didn’t go over too well with Emily. So the realistic choices became Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

Most of the time when I mentioned these states people said: “you know there’s nothing out there right?” To which I politely responded, “that’s kind of the point.” All three have blue ribbon hunting and fishing and a resident license is much cheaper than a nonresident. Plus, I was so sick of the crowds and traffic it didn’t take much to make the sale.

Finally, Emily had a friend that lived in Wyoming. She offered to help us find a place to live, which means we didn’t have to fly out everytime we want to view a house. So the decision was made. We were moving to Wyoming!

To set the record straight, Wyoming is nothing like North Carolina. Instead of trees blocking the view, you have open plains and a sea of sagebrush that seems to stretch endlessly towards those big, massive, rugged mountains that always lumber in the distance. Wyoming has more antelope than people and you can bet money on seeing one any time you drive outside of town. Most of the smaller towns have a decent resident mule deer population that wander the streets as well. The winters are cold, and the wind can blow so hard your hat will be in Nebraska before you realize it’s missing. But I love it here. Life feels so much more relaxed. Every day is an adventure and learning experience. I am surrounded by mountains to climb and fish to catch and can do both without ever seeing another soul. At this point, I’m living my dream and that’s all I can ask for.