I think sometimes people forget how big certain states are as well. For example I live in mid-michigan. I can drive for 9-10 hours and be in the northern most point in the Upper Peninsula (Copper Harbor). Or I can drive that same amount of time and be in Washington DC.

Living in Spain for a few years, I had the opportunity to visit Portugal, as well. I'm from a relatively small U.S. state (Indiana), but it was about the same size as Portugal. South Korea, too. It's interesting to see how your perceptions of distance change with where you are. When I was stationed in Texas, driving 2.5 hours to run to to the nearest shopping center was no big deal. Back outside of Indianapolis, I couldn't imagine driving that far now just to go shopping.

At the same time, it’s amazing how much a landscape can change in just a short distance. Where I currently reside is mainly flat farmland and light prairie. In Indiana, I can drive two hours and be in the middle of a bunch of windswept, sandy dunes on the lake. I can drive an hour and a half the other way and be in the middle of a hilly, lightly-populated woodland. I drive just a bit more and I’m among a bunch of old river port towns on heights overlooking the Ohio River. That's all in a not-very-large state.

Quote from: Omega;758433But it is factors like these that decided me to go with 6 mule hexes.

I have never heard of a map scale measured in mules. How does that work exactly? Is kind of like horsepower only with mules?

Quote from: Exploderwizard;758510I have never heard of a map scale measured in mules. How does that work exactly? Is kind of like horsepower only with mules?

Well 60 mule train divided by 10. Works every time!

It always saddens me that Americans never study geography at school, especially speaking as a former geography teacher.

Quote from: jibbajibba;758582It always saddens me that Americans never study geography at school, especially speaking as a former geography teacher.

It depends on the school system. Where I grew up we had geography classes.

Quote from: Ravenswing;758484Well ... New Englanders have an innate European sense of distance.  Your average Bostonian doesn't have a mental scope much past Rte 128 -- for those of you not native to the area, the innermost circumferential highway around Boston, about 20 miles from the city -- and Worcester, 45 miles out, is pretty much the frontier.  I live 90 miles from Boston, in a county seat no less, and one of Massachusetts' two major east-west highways starts just north of Boston and goes through my town, but your average Bostonian gasps with horror at the thought of making that trek in (shudders) a single trip.  As the journalist Joel Garreau put it, the only place in North America with that sense of distance is West Virginia, and at least West Virginia had the excuse of having every road built on a mountain slope.

Going past 128 is like going to Mordor. Going into Boston itself from the North Shore a little less bad than that.

I have to laugh, as I scale whole areas of space with sci-fi.

As far as America vs Europe goes, go to Russia, it isn't postage stamp sized.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;758586It depends on the school system. Where I grew up we had geography classes.

Same here; I had some geography in school. However, I sure have met a ton of people that would not know where a foreign country was if it bit them on the ass.

In all fairness, I certainly don't know the exact name and place of every country, but I do know where Kurdistan is supposed to be.

Nobody here has seemed to mention that Texas isn't even the largest state. Alaska is nearly 2.5 times the size of Texas.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;758589Going past 128 is like going to Mordor. Going into Boston itself from the North Shore a little less bad than that.

Asked of Isabella Stuart Gardner:

"How are you getting to California, Mrs. Jack?"

"Why, by way of Brookline!"

If you are actually *from* Boston, this is hysterical, I assure you.

-clash

I lived in Arizona. Driving cross country scares me not even a little. BUT-- love the convenience of the Valley

Quote from: jibbajibba;758582It always saddens me that Americans never study geography at school, especially speaking as a former geography teacher.

It's not just Americans.  Most everyone has seen versions of the "Dumb Americans try to identify European countries on geography test with hilarious results" riff, right?  A couple months ago I saw a similar test from the UK of students trying to identify American states, with similarly wacky answers.

Quote from: Ravenswing;759015It's not just Americans.  Most everyone has seen versions of the "Dumb Americans try to identify European countries on geography test with hilarious results" riff, right?  A couple months ago I saw a similar test from the UK of students trying to identify American states, with similarly wacky answers.

That kind of implies that US states are as important as other people's countries. Would you expect US or UK students to be able to identify the states of other federal nations like Mexico or India?

Quote from: Ravenswing;759015It's not just Americans.  Most everyone has seen versions of the "Dumb Americans try to identify European countries on geography test with hilarious results" riff, right?  A couple months ago I saw a similar test from the UK of students trying to identify American states, with similarly wacky answers.

Because no Americans ever use "England" to refer to the entire mainland UK, right?