I've got the restless feet syndrome again...

[featherynscale]

What I would most like to have on hand today is a program that I could input my current location and how many hours I wanted to drive, and have it output a list of possible destinations that meet those parameters. I'm sure that such a thing exists, but I can't find one.

Any of you guys know of something that works that way? I mean, I can just make a compass circle on a map and get a rough idea, but I'm too lazy for that.

The thing is, I'm looking for short trips to make. I'm realizing again how much vacation I have. St. Joe was far enough away to keep me entertained for a few weeks, but now I want to go somewhere else. I'm thinking of 8-12 hour drives, so Denver is good, Dallas is good, Atlanta is probably close enough, and so on. If I can't get a resource, are there destinations that you could suggest?

Comments

[capriciouslass.livejournal.com]

How about South Dakota? You could visit Crazy Horse and Rushmore. A few hours further and you could go see Devil's Butte in Wyoming.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

10 hours to Rapid City... that might work. I've been there before, but it's been a long, long time.
Thanks!

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

Hannibal, Missouri, is great fun. Some of it's authentic and some of it kitchsy, but it's great fun.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I have never been to Hannibal. That might be fun. Thanks!

[lilia-blackbear.livejournal.com]

Oh, I completely second this one. Been meaning to go back for some time.

[akaashben.livejournal.com]

I would love a resource like that, too. Alas, I don't know of one. So, here are some destinations:

Chicago, IL ~8 hours
Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN ~8 hours
Indianapolis, IN ~6.5/7 hours
Cincinnati, OH ~9/10 hours
Atlanta, GA ~ 12.5 hours
Memphis, TN ~8 hours
Nashville, TN ~8/9 hours
Louisville, KY ~8 hours
Denver, CO ~8/9 hours
Fargo, ND ~8/9 hours
Cheyenne, WY ~9 hours
Albuquerque, NM ~12/13 hours
Green Bay, WI ~10 hours
Grand Rapids, MI ~10 hours
Detroit, MI ~12 hours
Cleveland, OH ~12/13 hours
Birmingham, AL ~11.5 hours
Huntsville, AL (Space museum) ~10.5 hours
New Orleans, LA ~13 hours
Houston, TX ~12 hours
San Antonio, TX ~12.5 hours
Austin, TX ~11 hours

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

You are my hero of the day! Thank you!

Ohio!

[rfunk.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I would expect Cleveland to be more than 3 hours further than Cincinnati; they should be about 4-5 hours apart.
And don't forget Columbus in between those two!

[leiandra.livejournal.com]

What resource did you use to figure these distances?

You did forget the large-ish touristy cities on the other end of Tennessee though. Knoxville/Gatlinburg & Chattanooga.

[akaashben.livejournal.com]

I used the Google maps "get directions" feature, using KC, MO as the starting point. I just started with cities that I knew were at the 8-hour cusp and then randomly moved to other cities that were progressively farther away or in a different direction.

I've driven to Chicago, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Grand Rapids from KC more than once, so those are personal experience, as well.

[rfunk.livejournal.com]

If there is such a thing, it might be listed among the 1000+ mapping-tagged mashups at ProgrammableWeb.com. Though I skimmed through about half of them and none of them jumped out at me as being what you want.

The hard part would seem to be defining "possible destinations" in your range without getting a near-infinite list.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Seems like you could probably limit the list to places over a certain population size, or with a cross-link to a "Notable Places/Tourist Traps" listing...hmmm.

Myself, I'd probably pull out the compass and map. ;)

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Myself, I'd probably pull out the compass and map. ;)

Might do that when we get home. I'm thinking there's a big US map in the garage. We could color out in 4-hour blocks from KC...

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

There is, in fact, a giant map in the garage, that would be almost ideally suited to this porpoise.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Project, ho!

[akaashben.livejournal.com]

While the compass will give you cities that fall within a certain mileage of your starting point, remember that that will be "as the crow flies" and that actual driving time may vary depending on how direct a route you can actually plot.

[ysabel.livejournal.com]

Let us know if you want to come to Denver, with the new house (we're closing on Friday) we'll easily have guest room.

[ysabel.livejournal.com]

And if you want, I'll take you for a spin on the newly-even-more-scary motorcycle while you're here. *evil grin*

[ysabel.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm not sure what the drive time looks like, but you should take a trip down to Chaco Canyon, NM at some point.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I would, of course, love to come to Denver. I believe that I also speak for the rest of the household kids as well. Thanks for the hospitality offer. (I'll have to pass on the bike, though. I'm mortally terrified at the idea of riding on a motorcycle. You could take triadruid out, though.)

[ysabel.livejournal.com]

I'll take you out for a spin in my little red sports car, then. My goal is fun, not terror. (Unless you find the terror fun, in which case I may also be able to accommodate.)

[rio-luna.livejournal.com]

yes come to denver!! ysabel seems to have more room than we do,but I'd love to see you and yer thirds!! and you should see mis ninas.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Definitely. I love having people in faraway places. :)

[closer-to-fine.livejournal.com]

zerself and I are strongly considering New Orleans for our summer vacation. We want to give our tourist dollars to an economy that sorely needs it, plus there are good deals to be had on hotels and such since they are trying to attract tourists. We also want to see first-hand some of the hard-hit areas and see if we might be able to volunteer some time to help with the clean-up. I have heard that a good majority of the attractions were either undamaged by the storm or are now back up and running.

Just an idea, since I saw it on one of your comment lists. :)

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I love New Orleans. I would totally recommend that you make a visit. I haven't been there since Katrina, but becky_gardens lives there and is back now -- she could probably give a better report of what's working and not working now.

I would also recommend that you not try to make the drive there overnight. It's a fine drive in the daylight, but at night is positively soul-sucking.

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

Especially the causeway over Lake Ponchartrain. Eep.

[kellan-m-solan.livejournal.com]

Brillian icon... mind if I steal it?

[closer-to-fine.livejournal.com]

Feel free. :)

This another one of my favorites.

fat 'lot of good this does:

[chayam.livejournal.com]

I swear there is a site that does what you ask--but I can't remember where.

Get thee to the atlas!

[crookedface.livejournal.com]

Many atlases have a mileage chart that provides distances from one city to all the others on the chart--usually a collection of major cities throughout the country. My atlas has a chart on each state page providing mileage from city to city within the state. At the end of the book, it has a large chart doing so nationwide.

It's late enough in the year that many truck stops will have the atlas books on sale. I picked up the 2006 edition last year for $5.

On to the data...assuming a radius of about 700 miles, these are the cities listed:

Cheyenne, WY
Chicago, IL
Columbus, OH
Dallas, TX
Denver, CO
Des Moines, IA
Fargo, ND
Indianapolis, IN
Little Rock, AR
Louisville, KY
Memphis, TN
Milwaukee, WI
Minneapolis, MN
Nashville, TN
Oklahoma City, OK
Omaha, NE
Rapid City, SD
St Louis, MO

I drive a route every other week into the Dakotas. The northern plains are an interesting experience by themselves. The Badlands are within reach of your drive time. Heck, the Canadian border is within reach--Fargo's a nine-hour drive straight through, Grand Fork's an hour or so north of that, and Winnipeg might be within twelve; I enjoyed Winnipeg on my one short visit there.

Driving across Nebraska to Cheyenne is a bit tedious; I didn't find the vistas as impressive as those in the Dakotas. Cheyenne is a nice little city, though.

The Twin Cities are the easiest to drive in during rush hour, though I doubt that qualifies as an enticement for tourism. Driving through Chicagoland at any time is a pain. Yeah, lots of tidbits stuck in my head; most of my OTR work last year was in this part of the country, and all of my OTR work currently.

Re: Get thee to the atlas!

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Hey, Canada. I hadn't thought of Canada.
I wonder if they'll let me in or not -- I hear they're at their redheaded bisexual witch cap up there.

Also, I'm very fond of the Badlands. That's a fun trip to make, but I've never done it by car. That might be good.

Thanks for all the ideas.

Also and

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Having got my stub today, I have 135H of Vacation and 237H of sick time.

Re: Also and

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Good to know. I also got my survey dates, 7/11 - 7/13.