Okay so last weekend I wanted to figure out how far it really is coast to coast, right? Like driving across America. I thought it’d be simple. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.
The Dumb Idea That Started It All
Sitting there with my morning coffee, staring at a big map on the wall. I grabbed a string and went “Aha! I’ll just stretch this from California to New York!” Pressed one end near San Francisco, pulled it tight over to New York City.
Measured the string against the map’s scale bar…
- Boom! Got myself roughly 2,800 miles.
Felt pretty smart for a minute. Posted that number online like “Yep, that’s it! About 2,800 miles, folks.”
Where Things Went Off the Rails
Cue the comments rolling in. People weren’t having it.
One guy was like, “Dude, you ever actually DRIVEN I-80? My truck’s odometer hit way over 3,000 miles.” Someone else mentioned Route 66 being longer. And several folks just said flat out: “Roads aren’t straight, genius. Maps lie.”
Felt like an idiot. My string trick worked for straight lines on a flat piece of paper. But Earth ain’t flat. And roads? They twist and turn all over mountains and valleys. My coffee-fueled “discovery” was junk.
Trying to Fix My Mess
Right, time to actually put in some work. Figured I should look up official stuff.
First stop: U.S. government websites. Found the Federal Highway Administration. Buried in their tables, they list average mileages for routes like I-80. Numbers kept popping up:
- I-80 (San Francisco to New York): Around 2,900 miles
- Old Route 66 (Los Angeles to Chicago): Close to 2,500 miles just to Chicago!
- Driving LA to NYC via southern routes? Could hit 3,000 miles easy.
Big difference from my string! Plus, these distances change slightly year to year as roads get adjusted. Learned that one the hard way.
The “Real” Answer (Which is Still Kinda Messy)
So after messing around, here’s the truth:
There’s no ONE exact number. It depends on:
- Where exactly you start and finish (Santa Monica Pier? Battery Park?).
- Which specific roads you take.
- Construction detours? Forget about it.
But for a decent ballpark based on major highways like I-80?
You’re realistically looking at roughly 2,900 to 3,000 miles to go from a west coast city like San Francisco to an east coast city like New York. Anything between 2,800 and 3,100 miles makes sense depending on your exact path. My lazy string trick actually gave me a lower number, but it was pure dumb luck it was even close.
Moral of the story? Stop trying shortcuts with string and coffee. Sometimes the simple questions have surprisingly complicated, fuzzy answers because real life ain’t a straight line on a flat map. Roads wiggle, official data exists for a reason, and people online WILL call you out if you wing it. Learned my lesson!
