Map of the Day: Where is McFarthest Spot in U.S.?

Carpe Diem ^ | 23 Sep 2009 | Mark J. Perry

[BGHater]

The map above is a visualization of the contiguous United States, colored by distance to the nearest McDonald’s, courtesy of Stephen Von Worley (via Felix Salmon):

For maximum McSparseness, we look westward, towards the deepest, darkest holes in our map: the barren deserts of central Nevada, the arid hills of southeastern Oregon, the rugged wilderness of Idaho’s Salmon River Mountains, and the conspicuous well of blackness on the high plains of northwestern South Dakota. There, in a patch of rolling grassland, loosely hemmed in by Bismarck, Dickinson, Pierre, and the greater Rapid City-Spearfish-Sturgis metropolitan area, we find our answer. Between the tiny Dakotan hamlets of Meadow and Glad Valley lies the McFarthest Spot: 107 miles distant from the nearest McDonald’s, as the crow flies, and 145 miles by car!

[La Lydia]

Poor thangs. No Angus Deluxe for them.

[knarf]

I dunno ... stretching my memory of the way the US is layed out ... isn’t that one, lonely lil’ ol’ MacDo’s in the middle of Utah?

[Talisker]

Seems like it would be in Nevada.

[Crazieman]

All I know is there’s something like 25 in my city, many places where you can drive less than a mile between mcdonald’s.

[reagan_fanatic]

I tried one of those - it sucked. Stale bun, and the meat was awful.

Hardee’s Angus burgers run circles around McDonald’s. Much, much better.

[La Lydia]

The bun I had wasn’t stale, it was OK, I guess, I don’t eat very much meat. Anyway, when I absolutely have to eat a fast food burger, I like Burger King’s gigantic Angus. We don’t have Hardee’s where I live now. I used to like their swiss and shroom burger.

[fso301]

That dark area in West Virginia is interesting. I wonder why that is?

[BGHater]

I guess the population in that area isn't high enough to support the Mcdonalds.

Monongahela National Forest takes up a large junk of land.

[conservative cat]

I remember a looooong stretch between Las Vegas and Reno when we passed a fast food place and thought we would just go to the next one.. Ha. I swear it was at least an hour or more later before we finally saw a McDonalds and were so excited to be able to finally eat lunch (and use the facilities!)

[MaxMax]

That’s area 52. Don’t tell anyone.

[mylife]

The First Mc Dodos drive thru was in Sierra Vista AZ, which was in the middle of nowhere than and still pretty much is today.

It was created to serve soldiers at Fort Hauchuca.

[Domandred]

Pass, spend the extra and get a Carl’s Jr (Hardees)

[Roscoe Karns]

[buccaneer81]

Angus from McDs sucks. And Big Macs are small and dry compared to 30 years ago. The Quarter Pounder w/ cheese is the last surviving burger on the roster.

[La Lydia]

We don’t have Hardee’s/Carl’s Junior here. The next best is Burger King.

[buccaneer81]

We don’t have Hardee’s/Carl’s Junior here

You must be on the East Coast.

[airborne]

Whereever it is......stay the hell away from my place!!

Cuz if’n yunz cum up’n ma porch, ma trig’r fing’r mite get itchy!!

[Jessarah]

I remember a looooong stretch between Las Vegas and Reno when we passed a fast food place and thought we would just go to the next one.. Ha. I swear it was at least an hour or more later before we finally saw a McDonalds and were so excited to be able to finally eat lunch (and use the facilities!)

The same thing happened to us on the Interstate in southern Wyoming (Interstate 80?). We passed one city and decided to wait until the next one and it ended up being hours. The first fast food place ended up being a Subway. We got in line to order and the cash register broke! So they stopped serving. Half the people in our group had got their sandwiches so they started dividing them amongst us (about 14 of us). Not something I want to ever re-live.

[Freedom4US]

And the fries are practically inedible now, don’t know what they are doing or not doing, but oh well.