As always in the high, Big Sky country, the clear air and wide endless view is inspiring. Once you've lived in the West, the sense of space is always with you. And wherever you go after that—unless it's the middle of the ocean—things always feel just a little more closed in, a bit more restrained.

As I checked into the motel, I got an upgrade to a better room because the place was packed. I was delighted until I found out they were having a memorial service for a teen who died suddenly and tragically. That sort of put a damper on my image of Driggs as a place that lets folks "get away from big-city problems way out in the country."