Eight o’clock rolls around. Along a wide open highway in Utah, bolts of lightning off in the distance illuminate the sky. Gentle rain taps on my vehicle. Yet, straight above, stars can be seen dotting the night sky in a manner that instills wonder into the hearts and minds of all who are paying attention to what is around them.

I wonder too. The lights of the car in front of me provide tiny clues as to what is actually there, but reveal preciously little. The rest is left to the imagination of all who travel at night on an unfamiliar highway.

I imagine a scene that could be out of a movie. A ranch house with a gigantic yard and one of those large swirly structures that starts twirling in the wind, like the one in the movie Twister. Miles and miles of endless open range with a mountain range that can be seen off in the distance. A 9-year old boy with his younger sister looking out the window, with a sense of wonder, at the storm rolling through a typically dry place. Dogs barking at tumbleweeds. A community of people alone together in a dry, isolated place.

I typically would not chose to travel at night, especially in a place like this. Utah is a place of abundant natural beauty, always shifting with the season.

In March, the spring sun at mid-day shines bright upon the white snow on the mountain tops, brown forests and red rocks below.

The reddish looking glow, revealed by the headlights at night, gave but a small indication of what Utah actually looks like in the middle of March. Some combination of memory, imagination, and reasoning would lead anyone to conclude that the land was not dull, flat, barren, but how many would have imagined the cut out canyons, the rock structures, salt washes, and many viewpoints of unique natural features.

The other thing lost in my imaginative narrative about the family on the ranch in the storm is the fact that, with the exception of the occasional small town, there are no people here at all. Sure, there are the people who are driving along the interstate overlooking the various features. Five miles in either direction, there are no farms, ranches, or even people, just rocks, sagebrush, and wildlife. Had my imagination been more accurate, it would have been a story about moose, bighorn sheep, or perhaps a family of black bears getting in an argument about when to wake up from winter hibernation.

Still, there is something to be said about leaving some things up to the imagination. Much of what we experience today; movies, art, and even technology, began in someone’s imagination. While some people are naturally imaginative all the time, and some people only resort to their imagination quite rarely, not having all the facts can help trigger people imagine more. This makes it ironic that some of our present day technology, born of imagination, actually causes some people to engage their imaginative abilities less!

My imagined scene, of a family in a ranch house near Green River, UT was not nearly as spectacular as what actually is Central Utah’s unique landscapes. However, that will not always be the case. Sometimes our imagined world is, in fact, better than the actual reality we are experiencing. And, sometimes, there is something beautiful about being given but a small hint and riddle to solve regarding what is in front of you.

Sometimes, it is good to have the opportunity to travel at night.