Yellow flowering field under pale blue sky, minimalist prairie landscape on the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles, No Man's Land series by The Nikon Kidd

There's something fascinating about traveling through the American west, tracing a warm line through a land so wild and unspoiled.

It is a great comfort to me to know that there are still places you can go without seeing another human for hundreds of miles. Crossing the vast emptiness of the great plains causes me to think about the pioneers who saw this landscape more than 100 years ago, and the natives who were driven from their homes. This series of panoramas, taken on a motorcycle trip through an area formerly referred to by the US Government as "No Man's Land" (now the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles), attempts to convey just how big and varied these places are.

Honda dual sport adventure motorcycle beside blurred freight train tank cars, motion and stillness on the Panhandle plains

It's surprisingly rare to find candidate spots for photos like this, where there is truly nothing for as far as the camera lens can see. I spent a week on this trip following the Trans-America Trail through Oklahoma, before dipping into Texas. My goal with these photos was to have them printed big, so that you could put your nose right in the middle and feel like you were there. Maybe that's silly, haha.

Anyway, I'm really happy with the results! These photos were definitely worth the trip. If you like, you can order prints here.

Minimalist landscape of wide open prairie and pale sky on the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles, No Man's Land series by The Nikon Kidd Wind turbines on distant horizon above tilled brown field, minimalist High Plains landscape Oklahoma Texas Panhandle Green grassland and soft pastel sky with clouds, open prairie landscape Texas or Oklahoma Panhandle Arid pale plain with sparse desert shrubs and clear sky, minimalist No Man's Land landscape photography Dry tan prairie grass and wispy clouds over flat horizon, wide open High Plains landscape

And here are a few photos from this trip that aren't minimalist landscapes. It was a lovely trip on the Honda CRF250L Rally. It's a small engine, but it never complained about the hours and hours of abuse I asked it to withstand. The Trans-America Trail is a nearly all-dirt route from sea-to-sea and it made for one of my favorite motorcycle trips ever.

Honda CRF250L Rally dual-sport motorcycle with panniers and auxiliary fuel, parked beside a yellow blooming field and distant wind turbines on the Oklahoma or Texas panhandle Loaded Honda CRF250L Rally adventure motorcycle on bright white alkali flats under a clear blue sky, No Man's Land panhandle motorcycle trip Historic wooden railroad trestle bridge crossing a dry grassy valley in the Oklahoma or Texas panhandle high plains Honda CRF250L Rally parked on a red dirt road winding through scrub hills toward distant mesas, Trans-America Trail style riding in the panhandles Honda CRF250L Rally dual-sport on a curving red clay dirt road through rolling brush country, Oklahoma Texas panhandle adventure ride Honda CRF250L Rally motorcycle at a crumbling stone homestead ruin on an open high plains prairie under a vast sky Long straight unpaved road with fence lines through brown and green fields toward a cloudy horizon, remote panhandle dirt route