My trip across six Western states was nostalgic. As the daughter of a professor of Geography, and with family scattered to the four winds, we took many cross country trips growing up, and many of them started out on I-40. This time, with my mom and all my belongings packed into a U-Haul, it was a little different, particularly because my journey this time was one-way.

The beauty of the desert is astounding, colorful and familiar. The sunsets are magnificent, the landscape is dramatic, and the monsoons are torrential. I-40 parallels the old Route 66 through much of California, Arizona and New Mexico. Many of the little towns and roadside stops came into existence because of ‘The Mother Road,’ as it was called in The Grapes of Wrath, and still maintain some of that Route 66 kitsch and character today.

Growing up, we took I-40 almost every time we left Los Angeles – there were several other routes over the years, but I-40 was the most popular. I share my mom’s preference for two-lane “blue” highways, but sometimes the interstate is a necessary concession, especially when a U-haul is involved. Along the way, I took pictures of the smoke from the L.A. fires as it blanketed the sky several hundred miles outside the L.A. basin and I took shots of cacti, tumbleweeds and the desert colors to remind me of the landscape. We have such diversity in this country, and there is beauty to be found in all of it.

Next up, Colorado…

It seemed serendipitous that on the night after accepting the position as morning anchor and reporter here at KSFY Katie Couric would be in Vermillion accepting the Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media. After completing some freelance work that evening, I hopped in the car and raced down to USD to hear whatever part of her remarks I might catch. Arriving late, I caught the tail end of her speech and the Q&A. When they opened up the floor to questions, I raced down to queue at the mic to ask a question.

Despite the fact that I was under-dressed for the event in Ugg boots and a zip up sweater, I was undaunted. I wanted to mention that that very day I had accepted the position at KSFY, and was thrilled to ask her my first official question as a reporter. I decided to keep it light and ask whether she slept in shifts or naps when she was doing morning news, or if she just went to bed really, really early. Other people asked her to weigh in on Afghanistan, health care reform, the evolving climate of broadcast news and other inarguably important issues, but I was genuinely curious about her schedule, considering in just a couple of weeks, I would be altering my lifestyle dramatically.

And then, it happened… just as the woman in front of me stepped up to the mic, the moderator said, “This will be the last question of the evening…”

I was deflated. I thought about interjecting, but that seemed tacky. It’s not like I was covering the story for the station, so I wouldn’t seem like a reporter vying for a sound bite, but it was disappointing nevertheless. Sigh…