"That's what I love about Utah." But he's also come to love more than the landscape, said Sessions, who grew up in Vernal and now lives in Orem. "I've met a lot of people, and I'm amazed how friendly they all are. We've never been shot at," he added with a grin, "even though we've taken the wrong road and ended up in someone's front yard more than once."

One time they were taking pictures near Middleton, "when a guy in a pickup truck pulled up. I asked if we were on his private land, and he said yes, but it was OK. He just wanted us to know that he was going to be locking a gate up the road, and we might want to get out first. If he hadn't tracked us down to tell us that, we could have been stuck for a long time."

That's not the only close call Sessions has had. Once near Gold Hill, "we were going a little fast, and came up over the hill and there was a herd of buffalo in the middle of the road. We barely stopped in time." Another time, an antelope tried to ram their vehicle. "We were also in the middle of a sheep stampede in Spring City."

And then, adds his wife Nancy, there was the time when he was way out in the middle of nowhere out from Moab and his Ford Explorer broke down. He had to walk miles to the main road and then wait for someone with a big enough truck to pull him out to come along. "He sent notes into town with people that came by. The police ended up calling to tell me he had broken down but was OK — he just wouldn't be home that night."

But if Sessions has been the recipient of good Samaritan help, he's also dispensed it. "A lot of times, we've been the ones to come upon people who need some help. One time we met a German couple in the middle of the San Rafael Swell. They hadn't realized they were 100 miles between gas stations and had simply run out of gas. It's always fun when we can help."

In all, he's put more than 240,000 miles on his Explorer. "I finally had to break down and get a new one. But I haven't had the heart to get rid of the old one yet."

Another thing that Sessions has learned during his quest is that the official Utah highway map is not always accurate. "They keep printing the same map, but it lists some cities that aren't there and doesn't list some that are."

The town of Zane, for example, is shown in Escalante Valley, on a dirt road between Beryl and Lund. "But there is no Zane. There's a utility box by the the side of the road. I was sad to discover that, because I wanted to do Utah towns from A to Z, but there is no Z."