# At the state line **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 6, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325 "2016-01-06T14:46:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325/21 "2016-01-06T21:00:29Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Hell, I did the jumping back and forth over the border thing LAST MONTH, between Canada and the US, as my daughter **elfbabe** recorded the event. A mile + east of Rouses Point, NY is Line Rd, a barely used gravely road dividing VTfrom Canada. I swerved over it like a drunk; I’m in Canada, I’m in the US, I’m in Canada, I’m in the US, I’m in Canada, I’m in the US, etc. Stopped & took a picture in the middle of the road. Now, when someone accuses me of doing something half-assed I can pull out that picture & reply that not only am I half-assed, but I’m half-assed in two countries! ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325/22 "2016-01-07T05:13:56Z")
Grew up in Texarkana. Ordinary trips to church or the grocery store involved crossing from Texas into Arkansas. The post office and train station straddled the line. One of my friends lived in Arkansas but his mailbox (on South State Line Avenue) was in Texas. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325/23 "2016-01-07T08:04:09Z")
Yeah, but I also lived in towns that were in multiple states. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325/24 "2016-01-07T10:39:32Z")
I’d suggest stopping and taking your picture whenever you get the chance to cross into a new state at the new state’s sign. It’s annoying, time consuming, but makes an interesting collage later on. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325/25 "2016-01-07T11:25:59Z")
There is a road which weaves in and out between Navarre (road maintenance paid for by the Navarrese government) and Aragon (road maintenance paid for by the central Spanish government). Nowadays the maintenance is all performed by the Navarrese, but going “now we’re in Aragon!” when the road got worse and “now we’re in Navarre!” when it improved is part of the memories of many locals over age 30. I have no idea why, but our central government seems to enjoy using lack of road maintenance as a political weapon. Now if we could get them to pay what they owe us for that maintenance and other jobs… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325/26 "2016-01-07T11:35:28Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > …We used to play the alphabet game, find signs with words that start with all the letters. Usually the game stalled at Q until I figured out that you had to look at gas stations for Quaker State signs. Funny story: My wife and I played the alphabet game on our honeymoon. We got into a huge fight when she wouldn’t grant me an ‘X’ for a ‘Deer Xing’ sign. That was 32 years ago. I’m still pissed. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325/27 "2016-01-07T13:28:47Z")
Bars that straddle state lines > **[3 Bars Where You Can Get Drunk In Two States At The Same Time](https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/3-bars-where-you-can-get-drunk-in-two-states-at-the-same-time/)** > > There's is nothing more patriotic than drinking in two states at the same time. Thankfully you can do just that in these three bars. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325/28 "2016-01-07T16:49:17Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > I can think of one other entertainment-related activity associated with proximity to state lines and that occurred during late adolescence. You see, the legal drinking age in Wisconsin was 18 at the time and… That was YOU! Damn flatlanders invading our bucolic (look it up, chump) idyll. I swear there are still empty bottles and pools of puked-up potato pierogis near the border… an area we made sure to stay well away from on weekend nights. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325/29 "2016-01-07T19:08:32Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > We used to play the alphabet game, find signs with words that start with all the letters. Usually the game stalled at Q until I figured out that you had to look at gas stations for Quaker State signs. Tell me if this brings back any memories: **BRIDGE FREEZES BEFORE ROAD SURFACE! I WON!!!** ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325/30 "2016-01-07T21:00:29Z")
I’ve commuted to work across a state line for several years – Missouri to Kansas. There are a few misplaced pieces of states that I have visited – the part of Delaware that is on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River, and a couple of pieces of Illinois that are on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River. There is an entire city (Carter Lake) in Iowa that is on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River On some rivers, the state line is on one bank, not in the middle. The Ohio River is all Kentucky right up to the dry land on the Ohio bank. Same for the Potomac. Step into the water in Virginia (or onto a pier), and you’re in Maryland. There are almost no Arkansas-born residents of Texarkana, Arkansas – the only maternity hospital is on the Texas side. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325/31 "2016-01-07T21:50:48Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I swear there are still empty bottles and pools of puked-up potato pierogis near the border… an area we made sure to stay well away from on weekend nights. Your description of the Brat Stop (in Kenosha circa 1981) and its surroundings sounds spot-on. yeah, that musta been me ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325/32 "2016-01-07T22:03:03Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#): > > My family does that, too. Our other favorite, established a few years ago on a road trip to PA, was the license plate game. My kids like that one so much, they still jokingly point out out-of-state plates whenever they see one. It’s kind of funny, when we’re driving up and down the parking lanes at the mall, and one of my kids will exclaim “Montana!” and point. Ah yes, the license plate game. It’s gotten harder in the past few years it seems to me. A lot of states have caught on to the fact that if you have 174 different special plates you can charge another $50 or so for them and people will pay it. Sometimes strange things happen. A couple of years ago we were leaving Phoenix because it had finally warmed up at home. We decided to play and I looked at the first two cars we saw and they were from Connecticut and Delaware. We were in Hawaii this last November and Ms Hook commentated that the license plate game wouldn’t be much fun there. A couple of minutes later we saw a truck from Alaska. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325/33 "2016-01-08T01:18:30Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > I can think of one other entertainment-related activity associated with proximity to state lines and that occurred during late adolescence. You see, the legal drinking age in Wisconsin was 18 at the time and… State laws often creaate a market circus at the border. Growing up in Wisconsin, where it was illegal in the 1950s to sell colored oleo-margarine. So on the Illinois state line, there were shops with last-chance signis selling colored oleo to Wisconsinites driving home. Hudson and Hurley Wisconsin were state line towns up north with wild-west type saloons and taverns up against the state line, because of Wisconsin’s lower drinking age and more forgiving sales hours… Hurley was particularly notorious, being right across he line from a heavy-drinking mining town in Michigan, and once boasted 75 bars. The Mississippi River bridges had Illinois signs on them warning people coming from Missouri of the fine for carrying cigarettes into Illinois from Missouri, where the tax was much lower. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325/34 "2016-01-08T05:04:16Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > There are almost no Arkansas-born residents of Texarkana, Arkansas – the only maternity hospital is on the Texas side. That’s a very recent development, so the statement would only apply to those under 23 or so. St. Michael’s moved from (two blocks into Arkansas) to the new building out on I-30 about 1993. Lots of us who grew up on the Texas side are stuck with passports saying Arkansas because we were born at St. Michael’s before it moved. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2016, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325/35 "2016-01-08T08:29:20Z")
> [@SandyHook](#): > > AWe were in Hawaii this last November and Ms Hook commentated that the license plate game wouldn’t be much fun there. A couple of minutes later we saw a truck from Alaska. Last week I stopped for gas at a station near Barcelona. There was a pickup truck there with Spain plates mounted over Montana ones 🙂 (ours are wider and shorter, you could see the top and bottom of the American plates easily) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/at-the-state-line/742325.md?page=1)