I said, that I was reminded of a sign at the Texas/Louisiana border (going west) that says El paso 854 miles and when you arrived there that you were still in Texas.(That was the last I heard from him)
I have several friends in online games from Scandinavia, Germany, Poland, Italy, etc. I tell them I’m from Florida, and they ask how close I am to Orlando. When I tell them it’s a 3 hour drive, they ask if Disney is actually in Florida. Then I tell them it takes 8 hours to drive from Tampa to Key West, and they’re boggled. It’s like they think we’re this little island.
Reminds me of a scene from the movie “Quigley Down Under”. The Tom Selleck character, riding in an oxcart in Australia to meet his employer Marston (played by the inimitable Alan Rickman), asks a minion “How much longer to Marston’s ranch?” That fellow replies “We’ve been on it for the last two days”.
It’s approximately the same distance from Berlin to Moscow as it is from DC to Kansas City, MO, 1000 miles.
Yes, well, I was listening to some New Yorkers while they stood looking into the Grand Canyon as they said, “Is this all there is?”. In response to the lengthy car trip to get to the Grand Canyon, another one said, “I thought we’d never get through Kansas.” A third one answered,”We should have flown. What a waste of time this trip has been.”
I think every American should take a coast to coast car trip. Yes, we are a huge country and we can only appreciate it largeness by walking, biking or car tripping.
I am not sure how everyone can appreciate its greatness if they cannot see.
The first trans continental US Mail contract followed a series of existing routes that combined were “The ButterField Trail” It was the route of the “Overland Mail” from Memphis to San Francisco. It went south to avoid impassable roads in the winter. The mail on average took 21 days.
The route included a section that was 900 miles across Texas.
The Butterfield is being studied for inclusion as a National Historic Trail and there are guides for the whole length.
Two corporations were involved and survive today as American Express and it’s California subcontractor Wells Fargo
Three weeks ago today, I drove the 500 miles from Memphis, TN to Bristol, TN and never left the state. Tennessee is our 36th largest state.
This nation is huge.
I used to think that England was the size of the East Coast. One day I looked it up and learned that England has about the same area as the state of Georgia.
North Carolina is 560 miles east to west.
Of course, Western states are huge.
Great time waster here: http://overlapmaps.com/ , it lets you compare sizes of states and countries by overlaying one on another.