This, for some reason, has been bugging me for a while. Wolfram Alpha and Google haven’t been very receptive to my inquiries. I’d imagine that such a town or location would be proud to boast that it is the worst location possible in which to run out of gas.
Anyone?
There are a number of places in both Wyoming and Nevada that are a good distance from a road. So in a general sort manner I’ll suggest someplace in one of those two states.
Maybe not THE answer, but according to Wiki:
My educated guess is smack-dab in the middle of the River of No Return Wilderness Area in Idaho. By my eyeballing of it, you can get about 50 miles from the nearest town that’s on a paved road.
There’s a 60 mile stretch of U.S. 59 between Freer and Laredo TX that has nothing on it - no restaurants, no hotels, no gas stations.
I’m going to submit there are parts of North-Central Pennsylvania and Northern Maine that would qualify at least for the East of the Missisippi title.
This is a photo (not me) taken near the Nevada/Oregon border. “Next Gas 100 Miles”.
There is a similar sign in SE Nevada where it is about 140 miles or so.
I am unable to locate a picture, but on US Route 6 there are no services anywhere between Tonopah and Ely (about 168 miles). There used to be a gas station where 6 met 375, but it has been gone for several years.
Due to a mudslide on Highway 12 west of Yakima, Washington, there are about a dozen folks that have been cutoff from basic services such as grocery stores and gasoline. Using an alternate route put in by the state DOT, it is about 120 miles to get to the nearest gas station. If Highway 12 west of them at White Pass is closed, the trip is about 200 miles.
As my kids will tell you:
On any road trip, the farthest known place from a gas station always coincides exactly, and has been scientifically proven to be, that point on a map where they have to pee the most! :eek:
nevermind
I’ve driven that way multiple times, to Corpus and back. It’s even worse when it’s late and it’s dark and you have no way of knowing what (or who) is going to pop out of the brush.
I’ve been on this road, and it was going to be my guess. Somewhere along the way on 6 there was some guy with an above ground tank who sometimes sold gas at about 1.5 times the going rate. They say Highway 50 is the loneliest highway, but it looks like Interstate 5 compared to 6. I didn’t see another car for about wht seemed like 2 hours.
This was probably 15-20 years ago but I was traveling North of the Grand Canyon and there was nothing out there. I had hit a deer and it was over an hour before I saw a house to be able to call someone about the animal (the poor thing’s leg was broken).
Well, I’m gonna go out on a limb and argue that there’s probably a big correlation between McDonalds restaurants and gas station. This is a helpful assumption, as someone has figured out what’s the spot in the contiguous 48 that’s farthest from a McDonalds. Presumably, when you go there, you’ll also be pretty far away from a gas station.
The map was posted on strange maps: linkhere
Cool link. I wonder if McDonalds people are looking into filling those gaps, as well as enterprising gas station owners.
Close to that area is Southeast Utah which was one of the last areas in the US (lower 48) to get fully mapped . There is very little in that area even now.
That reminds me of a Bob Stevens cartoon.
‘Gliding distance: One-half the distance between an aircraft and the nearest safe landing place at the time of an engine failure.’
That’s Kenedy County with a population of a mere 400+ people. Much of it was King Ranch at one time. It was established as a county in the 1920s to stave off the influence of farmers in the valley. I would think this is easily the longest stretch of road without a gas station in the lower 48. You might find something farther if you stand in the middle of a national park.
What is “King Ranch”? I’ve seen that several times and it’s never in the same context.