ARIZONA
We were hungry and tired but we decided to drive a little further east into Arizona’s desert plain. At this point of our story is where we accidentally ran into a rodeo, just at the side of the road, and got to know our cowboy friend we mentioned earlier. We were lucky to see first hand the traditional cowboy way and how they handle wild horses and cows. Their gestures and bravery made us think about those early days when the USA was still a largely rural country and people had to rely only on themselves for almost everything. Europe passed that point in history much earlier and so the United States still feels fresh.
Somehow the USA differs to Europe by its relationship with the wilderness. I talked a lot with my girlfriend about this topic during our trip. As Europeans we were really impressed by the scale and degree of intactness that most American landscapes display. There’s rarely anything like that in Europe. Nevertheless the way nature is tamed and controlled up to the highest degree in the urban environment clashes with the idea we have of the USA – the country of the great outdoors. We began to understand the reason behind the motto “Keep the country country” and agreed with it. America is a beautiful country. Better to keep it country.
In the next days we grabbed the chance to explore the windsurf and windSUP potential of many lakes and basins around Arizona and Utah, starting with the magnificent Lake Powell, which proved to deliver good conditions almost everyday. Windsurfing is definitely not confined to the coastal regions in the USA. And this is even truer for windSUP. Its versatility and the fact that you can use it for paddling too make it really a great option for exploring the fresh water basins of the States.