Why would any rational visitor to the United States choose to visit eastern Oregon instead of some place like Orlando or Las Vegas? Actually, the typical tourist would be much happier in Las Vegas or Orlando. This is exactly as it should be. Eastern Oregon has none of the services and facilities required by the crowds that come every year to any of America's major tourist attractions. We are here for those travelers who seek something different. Things that are not included at an all inclusive resort. Destinations that will never be found on the itinerary of a Caribbean cruise. It all gets back to the question "Why travel?" If the goal is entertainment, if travel is just the most expensive form of dinner and a movie, eastern Oregon does not offer much. But if the goal is discovery, we do have something special to offer. We have some things that by their very nature can only be offered to a very small percentage of the world's travelers. Among these are space, distance, remoteness and solitude. The millennia-long human migration from the country to the city is now almost complete. The great majority of my readers live in cities, many of you in mega-cities and the remainder in urban areas where everything in your surroundings is heavily influenced by human activity. A person in a crowded environment lives differently from the way that same person would in isolation. People around here do live and think differently from their city cousins. A few weeks in eastern Oregon is not likely to change you a lot but it will change you a little. Those who come here will experience things that they are not likely to find anywhere else. Things that are unfamiliar and challenging which will leave them a little bit different from when they set out. Isn't that the true goal of all the best journeys?