# How far are you from anywhere? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 12, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531 "2016-12-12T17:13:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/1 "2016-12-12T17:13:54Z")
I was bored this weekend, and my mind wandered and brought back an interesting thought. I live about 10 miles from the county seat. If I were to draw a circle 10 miles in radius around my home, it would encounter another county. If I drew a circle with a radius of the distance from my house to the state capital, it would encompass parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico. A circle with a radius of my house to Washington, DC, would encompass parts of Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. How about you? I’m sure there are people who live outside Austin who could do the first two without encountering anything but Texas. But what about New Englanders? Or Alaskans? How much of the world can _your_ circles encompass? ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/2 "2016-12-12T19:39:13Z")
Not quite the same thing, but I once used Google Earth to draw a line from my backyard to the north pole. Aside from a couple road crossings, I didn’t cross any civilization at all; no towns, no cities, nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/3 "2016-12-12T20:08:30Z")
I live about a mile from City Hall and half s mile from the provincial legislature, so circles based on those radii wouldn’t even get outside the city. ( We don’t have counties.) Distance from Regina to Ottawa is another story. That circle would sweep in parts of Ontario, a bit of Quebec, Manitoba, Nunavut, NWT, BC and Alberta. Going south, it would include parts of Washington, Montana, Idaho, ND, SD, Wyoming, Minnesota and maybe other parts of the upper mid-west like Michigan and Wisconsin. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/4 "2016-12-12T20:15:36Z")
I’m about 24 miles from New Orleans proper. Almost all the Causeway Bridge. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/5 "2016-12-12T20:16:12Z")
There is another entire different city and county across the street from my house. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/6 "2016-12-12T20:20:41Z")
City for me, but it’s difficult to notice where one city ends and another begins on the Space Coast. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/7 "2016-12-12T20:23:05Z")
I’m about 25 miles from Bellingham, WA, and about 35 miles from Vancouver, BC. I’m 110 miles from my office in Seattle. I’m about 1,200 miles from my native L.A., and about 1,350 miles from my childhood home in San Diego. ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/8 "2016-12-12T21:00:31Z")
I’m not remote from anything, and yet I have to drive 20 miles to work. Check out [Project Remote](http://remotefootprints.org/project-remote) and see if you have anything to contribute. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/9 "2016-12-12T21:06:11Z")
I’m 2.5 miles from the county courthouse, 49.4 miles from the state capitol, and 687 miles from DC. I can’t figure out how to draw the circle though. Certainly the first would still be within the county, and the second would go through Georgia and part of Alabama. ---
**Author:** ![Buttercup\_Smith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buttercup_smith/32/473_2.png) [@Buttercup\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buttercup_Smith)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/10 "2016-12-12T21:09:11Z")
I would encounter both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean in both circles and no other states except my own which is Florida. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/11 "2016-12-12T22:38:06Z")
Here in Northeast Ohio I am equi-distant from Cleveland and Akron. The same county as Akron, though. I’m only 50 miles from the Canadian border (in the middle of Lake Erie) but 120 miles from the state capital, Columbus. Being that my neighborhood is nestled inside of one major east-west highway and one major north-south highway, I am generally a 20-30 minute drive from anywhere I ever want to go in Northeast Ohio. Some towns may be closer to, say, downtown Cleveland, but it takes longer to get to a freeway so it takes longer to drive. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/12 "2016-12-12T22:45:26Z")
I’m about 3 miles from the Mississippi River and therefor another state (and obviously county). I’m slightly closer to the county line to the north. I’m ~25 miles from another state line I’m ~20 miles to the county seat, and ~100 from the state capitol. Brian ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/13 "2016-12-12T23:26:39Z")
For about 11 of my 13 years in school, I walked across the county line every day to school. The city school district ignored the county line, which ran right down the middle of Main Street. For three years, I lived and worked in the same state, but drove through another state in my commute. Then I moved, and for three years, I lived in one state and worked in another. Now, I live more than 180 miles from a state line (Tamaulipas), and not near an interstate, so it is actually quite rare to see a car with out-of-state plates. The nearest unrestricted state line is 240 miles. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/14 "2016-12-12T23:42:32Z")
For eight years, when I lived in Canada, I was 600 miles from the nearest provincial border, and 1130 from the US border. I was closer to France, than to any other Canadian province, and closer to Greenland than to the US. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/15 "2016-12-12T23:44:52Z")
I live in Panama’s capital city, and am about 3 miles from the Presidential Palace (which I can see from my window) and the Legislative Palace. I’m within about 4 miles of the boundary of the next closest province. A 250-mile circle will reach two other countries. Probably the most interesting bit of geography is that a 50-mile circle will reach both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/16 "2016-12-13T00:03:27Z")
I’m 800 miles from the nearest country in either direction, and probably 800 miles from the nearest beach as well. I can cross the street and be in another county, though. The mailing address of those houses is the same city, however. Having lived all my life in the west, where states tend to be large, it was very strange to be driving in the northeast. The maps were the same size but you can easily go through three states in the time it would take you to get to one state line where I’m from. And there wasn’t nearly as much space between towns. In some cases, no space at all. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/17 "2016-12-13T00:09:04Z")
In Anchorage, we were about 400 miles from the Canada border and about 1300 miles from the Washington border by road. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/18 "2016-12-13T02:00:11Z")
I live on the east tip of Grand Cayman. 25 miles circle gets the entire island of Grand Cayman. 100 mile circle gets the other two islands comprising the Cayman Islands. And nothing else but open water in a 160 miles circle. That’s about 82,400 square miles of the earth’s surface with only about 60,000 people. 162 miles to Cuba. 192 miles to Jamaica. 226 miles to the Swan Islands of Honduras. About 325 miles to mainland Honduras which is slightly closer than Key West, Florida (326 miles) and the closest point of mainland North America. Coincidentally I am almost exactly equidistant between Mrs. Iggy’s home in Colombia and my family’s hometown in South Carolina, 1070 miles to each. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/19 "2016-12-13T02:16:20Z")
A 25 mile circle around my house would encompass mostly water. I keep my neighbors distant and everyone’s happy. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531/20 "2016-12-13T02:57:59Z")
A fifteen mile circle that would put me at my couty courthouse would also put me in two other counties in other directions. The twenty seven mile circle that would put me at my state capitol would also take me to five other counties. The 664 mile circle that would get me to Washington, D.C. would also take me to 2/3 of the country and a bit into Canada. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-are-you-from-anywhere/774531.md?page=2)