h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Bel, you'd make a lot of your American friends happy if you would visit. The major problem is that we're so scattered, it is really hard to find any one spot for us to have a US meet.

Oh, I'd love to come one day. But North America is so big, I wouldn't know where to start.

You should start in the South. Best time is to come is in the fall, when it's not so hot, the weather is nice right now. If you choose to come in the winter and you want to see snow, the East Coast is the place to visit. You should definitely come and visit North America

Oh, but it's a vicious circle: if you have the time, it means you're jobless, so you don't have the money. And if you could somehow scratch the money together, you don't have the time because you work.

Yep. The US is a big place and Canada is even bigger. Add us together and you have a lot of ground to cover. One thing I envy about you guys is how easy it is for you to hop from one European country to another. That's why I'd love to live over there, even for a couple of years. There are so many places I want to visit, but having a pesky ocean to cross each time makes it difficult.

I feel the same way you do Hypatia, the Europeans are lucky that their countries are close enough to where they can go to many different countries just by driving. Where in Canada are you from

I'm not from Canada, jzzyprin93. I'm from Missouri.

Oops! I'm sorry, i don't know why I thought that you were from Canada. What part of Missouri are you from?

I'm in the southwest corner of the state in a small town called Webb City. It's just north of Joplin, which you're more likely to have heard of. I'm just a few miles from both Kansas and Oklahoma and only slightly farther from Arkansas.

Cool! I'm going on a cross-country road-trip soon and I want to visit places that I have never heard of. Does your city have a scenic route?

We are on Route 66, so a lot of people drive through. As to scenic, not really. We're in the foothills for the Ozark Plateau. The pretty scenery starts about 30 miles south of us. Too far south to be on the prairie and too far north to be in the mountains, but very close to both.

Oh, that's ok, I still am going to visit. I wan to see the Ozark Plateau

Let me know when.

You should read this absolutely fascinating uni project Broelan once wrote, starting with: A3456065 (The Main Street of America: Route 66)

Thanks Bel for the article, Hypatia it will be sometime in March of next year.

it's what hootoo excels at: really well written, useful articles which inform and entertain.

hm, i'm wondering, what is it that makes you think europe is so much easier to travel around in? we have so much water between us. in the US all you need is a car

On the world maps it looks so easy, but then again it doesn't show all the bodies of water that surrounds you. I still believe that it's much easier to travel through Europe than America. But what could I know, I know for sure when I travel through Europe this summer. Do you have any suggestions of what place I should visit first?

Pierce, what I meant is that it is easier for you to visit all those European destinations than it for me to visit them. That's why I'd like to live over there for a while so I could go to Rome and Vienna and all those other places without spending 7 hours flying over the Atlantic every time.

As to driving through the US, it takes a long time to go coast to coast, but there aren't any border crossings and the interstate highway system is pretty good. So I suppose it is easy to do.

There are so many places in Europe I've never been, so it's hard to tell.