How far to you need to go ...

[kinzel]

How far do you need to go to drive into another country?

I can go northwest for 67 miles ... and be in Canada.

I can go north 110 miles and cross the border into Canada.

Or I can go due East and get to ... Canada ... in around 147 miles.

It takes me 104 miles driving West to reach the US, in the form of New Hampshire.


Meanwhile, the maple on the corner of the property is now about 7 feet tall. This is the one that was run over many times by the Department (of the Interior?) of Environmental Protection while they were cleaning the gas out of our subsurface. Go, tree!

On the flower note ... progress. We have as many as seventy day lily blossoms this year...and given my lack of seasonal travel plans, I may not miss any of them.

Comments

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

The People's Republic of Berkeley is about 15 miles ENE. Do consulates count? Otherwise is it s a long ways to either Baja California or British Columbia.

[topayz4.livejournal.com]

As a crow flies its about 800 miles north to Canada and 300 miles south to Mexico. New Mexico is 20 miles south, Utah is 60ish miles west, and Arizona is 75 miles west and a little south. The nearest ocean, the Pacific, is about 560 miles.

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

"The nearest ocean, the Pacific, is about 560 miles."

That's too far. When we were looking to relocate, "seacoast within a half-day's drive" was on the list. Low hurricane, tornado, and earthquake incidence were also on the list.

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Er . . . if I try to drive to another country, any direction, I fall in the ocean first. Pacific ocean mostly, although we also have a very nice Sea of Japan to one side.

There's something odd about the notion of driving West from Maine to reach the US in the form of New Hampshire. Did you guys secede when I wasn't watching?

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Mainers have long referred to "The Boston States" as something separate and distinct from their native territory.

North -- Canada. West -- Canada. East -- Canada. South -- Wet. We have to go south-by-southwest to connect to anything US, and then it's New Bloody Hampshire...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Sure, but aren't you starting in the US? It sounds as if Mainers aren't quite sure about that :-)

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

We try hard to forget it ... and to be forgotten by it.

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Let's talk alphabet:

Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts

Which of these three states is abbreviated MA?
...as many people *don't know* that's Massachusetts.

That affects a lot of lives; but I'd say there were Congressional initiatives involved to get the current MA higher in the pecking order....

In most of the US, Canadian money is not accepted in stores. In some parts of Maine, money is money. For awhile some soda machines in Old Orchard Beach were rigged to take Canadian coins... might still be the case. There are times that the motel we usually stay at in OOB is about 1/3 Mainer occupied, 1/3 Canadian occupied, and 1/3 from the rest of the US, chiefly Mass, CT, NY and NJ.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Canadian money? Hey, when half our state is owned by J. D. Irving*, beggars can't be choosers...

*HQ in New Brunswick, for you folks From Away.

[magda-vogelsang.livejournal.com]

Stores around here generally take canadian change (quarter or smaller) without any problem, but not paper money, loonies or toonies.

[magda-vogelsang.livejournal.com]

I'm actually closer to the border than you. I can drive 45 miles east and be in Canada. (via Ambassador Bridge to Windsor.)

I can go 340 miles north and also be in Canada (Sault Ste Marie).

Nearest other state is Ohio, which I can reach by going 39.4 miles south.
Going 97 miles southwest puts me in Indiana.
Going straight west would put me in Lake Michigan, but going about 240 miles WSW puts me in Illinios (south of Chicago).

[craig trader (by livejournal.com)]

I can drive 30 miles east and be in Washington, DC.

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Could be a pretty foreign place, I hear...

[patknuth.livejournal.com]

From Heidelberg, it's about an hour to France. It's about 3 hours (depending on the traffic jams) to Switzerland. I think it's about 3.5 hours to Belgium. All of those times assume driving like a German, and not like this small town American who thinks that driving 55 mph behind the trucks and then having to speed up to 75 mph or greater to get around them without being run down by the "low-flying" cars, is just too stressful to manage.

It was about 9 hours to drive from Heidelberg, through Switzerland, into Italy near Milano and across to Vicenza. And then another hour or less to Venice the next day when I went with a friend (and she drives like a German) in March. I know that's not quite what was asked, but I couldn't resist sharing.

However, when I move back to Kansas, it's 748 miles to Pembina North Dakota (closest town I could see to the Canadian border) from Leavenworth. And it's 969 miles to Laredo, Texas, which I think might be my closest route to Mexico.

I had multiple varieties of daylillies planted at the house in Kansas. I'm anxious to get back and see how they did or didn't thrive while I was away for three years. I have confirmation dates for the moving companies, so I expect to be back in Kansas by the middle of September!

[otaku-tetsuko.livejournal.com]

Any chance of a pause in Philly area on your way home, or are you booked direct?

[patknuth.livejournal.com]

Not this time. I'm breaking in DC to spend the night with a friend there. When I moved to Germany, I flew through Philly, but that was before I knew you :-)

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I can drive about 200 miles west and be in Wales, around 300 miles north to Scotland, around 300 miles southwest to Cornwall, or drive south or east and get wet.

How far do you have to go?

[tharkun860.livejournal.com]

If I may interpret your question rather liberally, I note with pleasure that I have several Liaden Universe books in a bookcase only 6 feet away; it also contains "The Dictionary of Imaginary Places" . . . .