Page 176 - "Mississippi in the 1st Person" - Michael James Stone (Demo/Free)

BIG SKY SYNDROME

Or at least that is what I was told it was called. The Midwest has plains and flatlands that run
seemingly for days and the sun rises in the east on the flat and sets in the west on the flat and

that open sky actually has driven some people mad.

I had seen flats like that driving across Canada from Alaska to New York. I saw flats like that
in northern Texas and central to northern Alaska.

The marshes in May are so revealing of the sky and horizons it felt that way all over again. Be-

ing a mountaineer more than flatlander I could tolerate flats traveling, but could not live where
I could not at least see mountains in view. Where I lived in Utah my eastern flanks were 10k
and I had western and southern mountains to boot.

This was beautiful to see and experience, but I knew I was just passing thru and figured that
explained how much distance I paddled that day. What being flat felt like a lot to me, might
have been a whole lot less to those who live there.