Was it the romance of wood fires, the discretion of heavy coats that attracted my mother to the northern and unpeopled places of Europe?

NEWYORKER: Naima

The first day of the trail crosses the wide open desert panoramas of Euro Ridge, advancing to the breathtaking, unpeopled expanse seen from Brinkley Bluff on day four or five.

BBC: Walking through Australia��s pure desert heart

But from the saddle and far into the heart of the Dixie Dude's 750 acres, I'm looking at a landscape crafted by Wayne and Eastwood: dried creeks, prickly pears, untamed, unpeopled hillsides of brush inflamed with a red-orange covering of the flower known as Indian paintbrush.

BBC: The perfect chilli con carne in the heart of Texas