# Some fun with a map and mileages **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 22, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148 "2014-10-22T14:14:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/1 "2014-10-22T14:14:49Z")
There may be easier sites to use than [Distance Calculator](http://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-distance-calculator.htm) and if you have a better one, please share its address. But at least this one works for what I had in mind. As a matter of curiosity I wanted to know which of the major large bodies of water in the USA was closest to my home. Here’s what I learned: ================================== From \*\*Nashville \*\* to closest point in miles on \*\* Gulf\*\*: 394 \*\* Atlantic\*\*: 440 \*\* Lake Michigan\*\*: 386 \*\* Pacific\*\*: 1749 =================================== I didn’t do anything fancier than clicking on two points at a time on the map there and reading off the calculated distances. I used _miles_ and _as the crow flies_ measures since all I wanted was a rough idea. Wanna play? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/2 "2014-10-22T15:13:55Z")
With me, it’s a trivially easy question to answer. I live eleven miles from Lake Ontario. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/3 "2014-10-22T15:32:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > With me, it’s a trivially easy question to answer. I live eleven miles from Lake Ontario. Most likely you’re nearer the Atlantic than The Gulf, right? ---
**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:** [October 22, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/4 "2014-10-22T20:57:40Z")
108 feet from home to Caribbean Sea? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/5 "2014-10-22T21:24:12Z")
I would guess I’m about 120 miles from the Gulf of Mexico (Atlantic). Actual… 135. Great Lakes: Guess: 1,100 miles Actual: 1,058 (Lake MI) Pacific Ocean (staying within US): Guess: 1,200 miles Actual: 1,112. Pacific Ocean (going across Mexico, assuming the body of water between Baja California and Mexico counts as the ‘Pacific Ocean’) Guess: 750 miles Actual: 768 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/6 "2014-10-22T21:33:38Z")
I’d say you’re good at estimating mileages, **JohnT**. Impressive. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/7 "2014-10-22T21:57:24Z")
Well, I knew the mileage to the Gulf because I’ve driven it before… same with the Pacific Ocean. The Great Lakes was a guess (but an educated one), and the same with the Gulf of California. I used to do routing for my family’s old business so got pretty good at estimating this stuff. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/8 "2014-10-22T22:09:59Z")
About 30 miles to the Mississippi River, 365 miles to Lake Michigan, 450 miles to the Gulf of Mexico, 630 miles to Atlantic Ocean, and 1450 Miles to the Baja California. 1575 miles to the Pacific Ocean at San Diego. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/9 "2014-10-22T22:40:44Z")
Cool site, Zeldar! I spent most of my first 44 years less than 43 miles from Lake Michigan- in northern Indiana, western Michigan and eastern Wisconsin. I finally said “I’ve seen enough lake-effect snow to last a lifetime.” So I moved to just outside Albuquerque. Now I live 1,130 miles from Lake Michigan. I like the weather here much better. Distance to the Pacific Ocean- 622 miles To the Gulf of Mexico- 758 miles To the Atlantic Ocean- 1,490 miles To the Gulf of California- 463 miles To the Rio Grande- 4.5 miles ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/10 "2014-10-22T23:04:22Z")
I’m ~1 mile from the North Sea, and ~85 miles from Loch Ness. The nearest ingress of the North Atlantic is probably Kinlochleven at the end of Loch Leven at ~110 miles and it’s ~440 miles to Dover and the English Channel. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/11 "2014-10-23T03:16:00Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Most likely you’re nearer the Atlantic than The Gulf, right? Much closer. 274 miles to the Atlantic and 967 miles to the Gulf. And 2228 miles to the Pacific. And .366 miles to the Erie Canal. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2014, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/12 "2014-10-23T03:37:14Z")
4 miles to Long Island Sound (Atlantic) 229 miles to Lake Ontario 2528 miles to Pacific Ocean 3583 to the Mediterranean 6925 miles to Indian Ocean about 200,000 miles at closest to Mare Insularum ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2014, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/13 "2014-10-23T04:52:52Z")
22 miles from my door to the Pacific shore. Not exactly close, but at least the train’s only a couple of bucks when I don’t feel like using the car. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2014, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/14 "2014-10-23T16:11:22Z")
Gulf of Mexico 21 Mexico 176 Pacific Ocean 698 Atlantic Ocean 938 Great Lakes 1034 Canada 1204 South America 1879 Timbuctoo 5904 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/15 "2014-10-23T16:17:49Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Gulf of Mexico 21 > Mexico 176 > Pacific Ocean 698 > Atlantic Ocean 938 > Great Lakes 1034 > Canada 1204 > South America 1879 > Timbuctoo 5904 Ain’t it fun? Some clever mileages from several of you. Let’s dream up some sort of game using that map and mileage calculator toy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2014, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/16 "2014-10-23T17:20:20Z")
.70 miles to Puget Sound 83 miles to Pacific Ocean 1427 to Lake Superior 1442 to Hudson Bay 1996 to Gulf of Mexico 2433 to Atlantic Ocean 7743 to Indian Ocean I’ve spent all but the first two years of my life within 3 miles of Puget Sound in various locations. My baby years were spent within 16 miles of Lake Erie. ---
**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:** [October 23, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/17 "2014-10-23T17:51:07Z")
50 miles to the Pacific 1275 miles to the Gulf of Mexico (but only 197 to the Sea of Cortez) 2081 miles to the Atlantic 69 miles to the Salton Sea 8.45 miles to Mystic Lake, the nearest body of water 6 inches to the bottle of water on my desk ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2014, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/18 "2014-10-23T17:57:42Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > 50 miles to the Pacific > 1275 miles to the Gulf of Mexico (but only 197 to the Sea of Cortez) > 2081 miles to the Atlantic > 69 miles to the Salton Sea > 8.45 miles to Mystic Lake, the nearest body of water > 6 inches to the bottle of water on my desk That last one reminds me of [Ira Hayes - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ira_Hayes) (see the section on his death). > [@](#): > > … drowning in 2 inches of water … ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/19 "2014-10-24T16:12:16Z")
From my front door: 76 miles to the Pacific (the Golden Gate, San Francisco, CA) 1591 miles to the Gulf of Mexico (just north of Corpus Christi, TX) 2313 miles to the Atlantic (mouth of the Ogeechee River, south of Savannah, GA) 2033 miles to the Arctic (just east of Kugluktuk, NU) 11,534 miles to Bluest Glail Lake, Grande Terre, French Southern & Antarctic Lands 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-fun-with-a-map-and-mileages/702148/20 "2014-10-24T19:22:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > With me, it’s a trivially easy question to answer. I live eleven miles from Lake Ontario. Are those Canadian miles, or American?