IN THE RV parks, along interstates and at the bottom of canyons in the desert West a distinctive species of American can be found. Lexington recently joined them, driving a trailer around Nevada, Utah and Arizona for ten days, a fine red dust forever between his toes. These folk come for the scenery and also for something else. This something is hard to define, but easy to picture: it is the feeling that comes from travelling down a straight, empty road, sand on either side and some improbable rock formation shimmering on the horizon. This looks like freedom but, since there is nowhere to turn off and nowhere to stop, it could just as well serve as a pictogram of its opposite. As more Americans move to the desert West, attracted by cheap housing, permanent sunshine and a taste for the sublime, this is sometimes how it seems.
Californians annoyed by the current restrictions on their use of water might consider themselves lucky: in Utah the collection of rainwater is always carefully regulated. Water rights are strictly enforced by the region’s many water lawyers, who argue over precedent and interpretation in the University of Denver’s...
from The Economist: United States http://ift.tt/1DmSj8m
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