Vernon, Texas

I was in Vernon, Texas yesterday, some 350 miles northwest of Austin. Vernon is out in the plains, the Great Plains, the wheat fields, and the big sky. It is just 50 miles west of Wichita Falls.

No trees. No trees. I thought I would not like it.

But I was wrong. To see the earth unadorned, in plain view -- to see the true shape of our planet -- this infinitely lovely curve that shallow sophisticates call "flat" -- this was quite fine.