[HPforGrownups] Texan scale for poor Simon

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 9739

Simon wrote:

> All these minor problems caused by such a small state! Texas covers a tiny
> amount in the map book I got out earlier and the UK takes up pages. I do not
> see what the problem is! <VBG> - from the person who has just ignored the
> whole idea of scale to make what can only be called a poor joke (if people
> are being generous).

My parents had a friend from Wales (who teaches at Cornell now), who lived in
San Antonio, had just bought his first car, and saw the sign that said "El Paso,
8++ miles," and was so intrigued that anywhere in one state could be over eight
hundred miles from anywhere else that he drove there. Right there and then. He's
still an inveterate road-tripper.

Driving from San Antonio to Los Angeles, over half the journey is in Texas. When
you ask a Texan how far away someplace is, you get an answer in hours, not miles
(i.e., Houston's four hours away, Austin's an hour & a half, etc.). And most of
it is woeful flat boring stuff to drive through, too. God's ping-pong table.

--Amanda