By Scott Shephard

I live in South Dakota and now that I am mostly retired and my wife is soon to be mostly retired, people often ask if we plan to move away. To me, the question is really, "Now that you aren't forced to live in South Dakota, why aren't you moving somewhere better?"

I'm not puzzled by the question given that many times this winter, facing more cold and snow than I like, I wondered, too, about why we live here.

Today, the answer lies in the landscape you see here, which is somewhere well west of the Missouri River and somewhere slightly west of the Cheyenne River. It was a blustery, gray day when I stopped my truck along the side of the road to take this photo.

I am a long way from a city of any size. I am down a gravel road that curves ocassionally but then goes straight as an arrow for miles. I have not seen another human for close to two hours. There is no sound of traffic, or of farm machinery or even of cattle. I hear only the sound of my breathing, the soft click of my camera shutter and the rush of the wind along the grassy hills.

And I am not in the middle of nowhere. 

Canon 5DII 1/800s f/10.0 ISO400 70mm