Longing for the Promised Land

Boredom and fatigue overcame me last night. Deciding to watch TV, I found myself glued to a pretty bad movie on WGN. Putting aside the poor script, weak plot, and Meg Ryan playing the role of a drugged out slut (it broke my heart), I was mesmerized by the scenery in "Promised Land." Vignettes showing a car driving across the salt flats and racing a Southern Pacific train through the desert, distant mountains dusted with snow, remote hot springs enjoyed on a winter evening, small towns gas stations, bars and grills, all made me nostalgic for the West. Later, I looked up the movie and found it was filmed around Reno, Nevada and in Utah. Having spent a year in a small town in the mountains of Northern Nevada and over a decade in a small city in Southern Utah, I miss that country. There’s something about sagebrush and the openness of the Intermountain West that gets into one’s soul. Or, at least, it’s embedded in mine, I’m not sure everyone appreciates it.