I was surprised to learn there are many people that live in tracts out of fear. Fear of animals, unlit nights, intense quite, being away from people, strange plants & insects, fear of the unknown. They've seen "the country" at summer camp as kids, or in the movies and it scared them. :alien:

Marichiko, I don't worry too much about whether or not I've remembered everything correctly, because I've found that if I should happen to get it wrong, there always seems to be someone around to help me out with the facts. ;)

Bruce, I've known people just like that. I used to take friends from Dayton along when I went to visit my parents. After they retired, they had bought a hundred acres back in the West Virginia hills (cheap land at the time) and built a nice little A-frame overlooking the trees. I thought my friends would enjoy the quiet retreat, but I could feel the fear building every step of the way. "Boy, this sure is isolated." "How far to the nearest neighbor?" " Nobody would hear you scream out here!" Then the Deliverance jokes would start. :eek:

I'd never thought about that before, but, yeah, that's the suburban mindset. Its only a small leap from that to the gated community, us versus them life style. I am the complete opposite. I feel happiest and extremely safe when I'm camped out by myself somewhere on a place like the Uncomphagre Plateau in western Colorado. I can feel all the tensions of the city leave my muscles. I'll sit by my campfire and just gaze up at the stars so long that when I close my eyes to go to sleep I still see the imprint of the heavens in my mind. In the morning I'll wake up to a meadow of wildflowers. To me that's sheer happiness, but lots of folks think I'm crazy to go out there alone.