16 Oddities of U.S. Geography

[@GeographyKing]

Hey everyone. I wanted to say thank you for all of the comments on this video. There's been a lot of activity on this channel recently and I've been struggling to keep up with the comments. If you've commented or asked me a question and I haven't gotten back to you, I am trying to keep up but I may not be able to get to them all. But I did want to address one particular topic that represents at least a couple hundred of the comments here. In the video I stated that the only four cities in the country where the city and county are the exact same thing are San Francisco, Philadelphia, Denver, and Broomfield, CO. Many commented on how there are numerous places in the US that have a consolidated city-county government (the most mentioned ones are Jacksonville, Nashville, Lexington KY, Augusta, Indianapolis, Kansas City KS and Honolulu). These were created to have increased efficiency in government services including law enforcement, schools, trash pickup, utilities, etc. The situation in those cities is a little different than the four I mentioned. For example, Jacksonville-Duval County, FL does not include the entirety of Duval County. A few beach communities (Jax Beach, Neptune Beach, Atlantic Beach) opted out of the agreement, so there are portions of the county that are not under the Jax-Duval consolidation. Kansas City KS, Augusta, and Indianapolis also have opt-outs. For Nashville, individual towns have some autonomy for things such as sign ordinances and noise ordinances. Alaska has some interesting outliers where vast areas of wilderness are often under the jurisdiction of the city-borough consolidation. Nantucket, MA is also unique in that the town has a population of 7,400 and the county 10,100, although they are one jurisdiction and MA calculates census places a little different than the rest of the US. Honolulu is different in that a person can be nowhere near the city (like say the North Shore) but still be in "Honolulu". It also includes several outlier islands that are nowhere near Oahu. The situation in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Denver, and Broomfield is different in that the literal urban built up area of the city limits is the exact same as the county. There is no distinction or consolidation of services. A neighborhood cannot opt out. There are no areas that are not 100% built up city that exist within the county. In the city-county consolidations there are many rural areas that are part of the jurisdiction but clearly not part of the city for anything other than efficiency of services. It's a fairly thin line but if you are familiar with SF, Philly, or Denver you know the distinction. The most similar ones would be the Cities of St. Louis, Baltimore, and Carson City NV. These three are independent cities but none of those three is in a county at all. Arlington, VA is different in that it is a county only and not a city. And finally I did not mention in the video but just as strange is the fact that New York City is divided into five counties, with each borough being its own county, making it the only city where the city government is of higher order than the county. Ok so that's a ridiculously long post but it just goes to show how US geography can be weird sometimes. Thanks again for all of your comments.

[@kadenlayne4404]

I am from Monteagle, Tennessee 45 mins away from Chattanooga

[@2realtruthbritton]

Was looking for the NYC oddity...5 counties in one city. Thanks!

[@AkronBaja]

In your discontiguous section there's also a part of Kentucky off the Mississippi that you have to go through Tennessee to get to and surrounded by Missouri.

[@shopshop144]

Philly is certainly completely city now, but after the City's boundary was pushed out to include all of the county, there were very large sections that were not at all built up. NE Philly was built out post world war two. Even after living here 40+ years I still can't predict what services are done by the county, I think because of State regulations, such as some of the courts, and which are done by the City. The differences are in name only.

[@kasisoot]

Thanks for the video

[@mickmccrory8534]

The farther north you go in Florida, the deeper down south you get.

[@mickmccrory8534]

@glad I have white privilege South of Orlando....

[@dexterjettster3683]

Same with maine

[@catholicdad]

True piece of Human Geography (says the Ohioan who's moving to St. Pete in 6 months.

[@Techmonies92]

@glad I have white privilege what if I-10 Is only 10 minutes north?

[@Techmonies92]

@glad I have white privilege Born in Gainesville FL you imbecile of a human being

[@NintendoCollecting]

I don't know what I was expecting when I clicked on this video, but that was pretty quirky

[@willsimmons9098]

i am not upset about it either

[@clickclackkittykat]

hey lithium

[@bronzepkmn]

Same

[@kayskidf1]

@@willsimmons9098 i think the guy is very much an individual moving to his own drummer. he makes these facts fun - one reason being he is so obviously enjoying himself. you go bro.

[@willsimmons9098]

@@kayskidf1 he does a good job!

[@DuckOfRubber]

My favorite US geographic oddity is the fact that Virginia extends further west than West Virginia.

[@geoffroi-le-Hook]

The westernmost point in Virginia has seven? state capitals closer than Richmond.

[@TheObservationlounge]

@Sponge Bob 😂😂😂😂😂

[@daleftuprightatsoldierfield]

@@geoffroi-le-Hook it’s actually 8: Frankfort, Charleston, Raleigh, Nashville, Columbia, Atlanta, Columbus, and Indianapolis, and it is only 6 miles further from Montgomery than it is from Richmond

[@donotneed2250]

At one point West Virginia was part of Virginia.

[@TheObservationlounge]

@@donotneed2250 That is the true context! But that fact is the *_reason_* this becomes a geographical oddity.

[@adventure2073]

My favorite US geographical oddity is that Alaska has not only the northern and westernmost points in the US, but technically also the easternmost. Semisopochnoi, one of the Aleutian Islands, lies about ten miles beyond the 180th meridian, making it the easternmost US point in the eastern hemisphere. The westernmost point is the Aleutian island of Amatignak, which is only about 71 miles from Semisopochnoi in opposite hemispheres.

[@brent829]

Did you mean the Easternmost point in the northern hemisphere?

[@snuffysam]

⁠@@brent829Well both are true in this case lol. Specifying the easternmost point in the US in the eastern hemisphere was probably just to remind people that it’s further east than, say, Guam.

[@cjfree4616]

I love this one.

[@MichaelMcMahon1969]

It is the eastern most part of the United States, North America, the Eastern and the Western Hemispheres

[@TheBatugan77]

​@@brent829 He meant what he said.

[@davidwilliams3285]

There is an area of SE Oregon that is in the Mountain Time Zone and the western part of the Florida panhandle is in the Central Time Zone, thus parts of Oregon and Florida are only one hour apart!

[@billpg]

And during the DST switch, those two areas have the same time for an hour.

[@chuckinhouston9952]

Wow. That is amazing

[@roguekoala71]

Wow 😱

[@koori3085]

Going from Pensacola to Atlanta and forgetting that can get you in a big heap.

[@danielreigada1542]

Here in Arizona we have no daylight savings time. During the summer we are 3 hours behind the east coast and during the winter we are 2 hours behind. It can get a little confusing.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

My favorite fun fact is that Portland, OR is further north than Toronto. Which also means that Seattle and Vancouver are also further north. All three PNW cities are known for rain and moderate weather, while toronto is known for snow while being further south.

[@kymanipazamor3162]

I'm from Portland and never heard this. Interesting

[@Ricalloo]

Yup. The entire state of Washington is north of the entire state of New York. Portland is about equal latitude to Montréal; 45°30'.

[@timm1583]

check out Madawaska ME real north

[@rogerwilco2]

Have you looked at Europe? I live 53 degrees north with similar weather as the north west USA. I live about 530 miles further north than Portland OR. And even places like Denmark, Scotland and Sweden are quite a bit further north.

[@gavintrenholm3721]

It’s because they are beside the ocean

[@howardbaxter2514]

Fun fact: North Carolina is the only state with EXACTLY 100 counties.

[@howardbaxter2514]

@Jrod Jrod there are a lot of smaller counties in terms of population out by the coast and mountains, but you have counties like Durham, Mecklenburg, Guilford, and Wake that have several hundred thousand residents.

[@howardbaxter2514]

@Jrod Jrod it's also not excessive when you consider the fact that 96 out of the 100 counties have at least 10,000 people.

[@samuelmcclung120]

Here, Georgia has 159 counties. Even weirder, Kentucky has 120 yet only 4.5 million people. Then Texas has over 250 yet some counties have less than 1000 people in them

[@joebond2099]

Iowa has 99

[@LeftSideDown]

Iowa has 99 counties, and it's only because we have one county that's twice as big as the rest lol

[@jamesingleton4963]

I love how this guy just powers through his presentation , without a ton of distracting movie clips or sound effects. Interesting stuff, without wasting time. Thanks GeoKing!

[@spacelemur7955]

I really like your low-hype presentation. It is very refreshing compared to rankings etc.

[@ejb7969]

I feel exactly the same way!

[@jamesa.holman2634]

One of the best things is that there is no music. Thank you for that.

[@utopiaOKC]

He's being himself not trying to create an image. That's why I listen. Plus he makes sure to hit all the points

[@akshanshchauhan7594]

This guy's straight to the point, accurate, no filler content at all, and has genuinely interesting videos. He's like the anti-youtuber.

[@organicalgorithms]

We should add him to the intellectual dark web. Someone call Eric Weinstein!

[@mrbobawesome]

No annoying/distracting music. It's a really great thing.

[@mrbobawesome]

@Duke of Markus Completely accurate because he says in the contiguous U.S.

[@mrbobawesome]

@Duke of Markus I figured as much. I actually went back before I replied because I thought he said it that way, but wanted to be sure.

[@mrbobawesome]

@Duke of Markus 🤣 Alaskan like "Come on, man! Give us our due." It's on my list to get up there one day.

[@williamhubel4643]

It’s amazing flying out of Vegas and you can literally see where one person’s backyard ends and 100s of miles of vast empty desert begins

[@Rileyrage7]

“And now, the quirks and features of U.S. Geography.” - Doug Demuro

[@GeographyKing]

THIIIIIIIIS is a geography channel!

[@1Guason3]

And now its time for the dougscore

[@louiswincheski1089]

@@GeographyKing I’m so happy you got that! You’re the best!! Fun video to watch and I’m not that big into geography but that definitely had my attention

[@sethsteener]

@@GeographyKing haha you just earned a subscriber for that 👊😂😂

[@Federalist2159]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@reachthroughreality]

My favorite weird quirk is "The fastest way from Detroit to Buffalo is through London."

[@stevejacks8389]

That's London, Ontario, of course. Back when my alma matre, Wayne State U (Detroit) had an ice hockey team, they had a tournament in Niagara, NY. They wanted to bus through Canada, but because they had a player from Russia, who couldn't go into Canada, they had to bus "the long way" through the US.

[@toddniehaus]

@@stevejacks8389 Yep, the 401. Quickest way to Niagra from Detroit.

[@Zerbey]

In England you can drive from Boston (my home town) to New York in about 30 minutes. New York is a tiny village, Boston is a port town.

[@drew2251]

FINALLY someone calls out West St. Paul and its crimes.

[@tigerofdoom]

I feel like there's more I need to learn about West St. Paul...

[@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music]

I've heard it's moving soon.

[@TheKeksadler]

If I were to guess. West St Paul got its name because it's on the West bank of the Mississippi

[@herranton]

@@TheKeksadler It's also sorta on the east bank. The mississippi forms basically the east, west, and northern boarder of West St. Paul. Though, you're right, technically it is on the west bank of the river.

[@callmebigdog]

@@herranton West Saint Paul is named that because it it next to the area in St. Paul called "The West Side" which is the section of St. Paul that is West of the Mississippi River. The rest of the city of St Paul is east of the Mississippi River.

[@johnhoswald]

Your section on cities and counties reminded me that New York City has five counties inside of its city limits. The five counties correspond to the five ""boroughs" of NYC, but the boroughs and the counties have different names, with one exception. Here are the five boroughs followed by their county name: Manhattan/New York County; The Bronx/Bronx County; Brooklyn/Kings County; Staten Island/Richmond County; and Queens/Queens County.

[@jesuschristiskingandsavior461]

2 exceptions , Bronx and Queens

[@Jose_Hunters_EWF_Remixes]

@@jesuschristiskingandsavior461 No _The Bronx_ is the name of the borough and _Bronx_ is the name of the county

[@allanrichardson1468]

The three most important capitals in Egyptian history, Memphis, Alexandria, and Cairo, all on the Nile River, have American namesake cities on the Mississippi River: Memphis, Tennessee; Alexandria, Louisiana; and Cairo, Illinois.

[@billybrossette2651]

Alexandria is not on the Mississippi river

[@allanrichardson1468]

@@billybrossette2651 True, but it is close. I think there is another Alexandria, maybe in Missouri, that is right on the river. I’ll look it up when I have some spare time..

[@christopherx7428]

@@allanrichardson1468 Yes, there is: It is right on the river. The Alexandria in Minnesota is not.

[@Jaykman]

Yeah sure, but Cairo Egypt is pronounced Cairo, whereas Cairo Illinois is pronounced KAY-ro because southern illinois doesn't pronounce a lot of things right. Cf. Vienna Illinois being pronounce VAI-enna.

[@allanrichardson1468]

@Christopher Smith And of course the plantation owners thought they were Pharaohs! ;~}

[@fatherstevek]

El Paso, TX is closer to San Diego, CA (724 miles) than it is to Houston, TX (773 mi)!

[@MrSRArter]

Beaumont, Texas is also closer to Jacksonville, Florida (786 miles) than it is El Paso, Texas (827 miles).

[@jdanon203]

@@MrSRArter Wow I had never heard that one. That's crazier than the San Diego one - Beaumont is closer to the east coast than the western part of its state.

[@KingfisherTalkingPictures]

I’ve had to drive from Houston to San Diego. Had to stop in Texas overnight.

[@itsnodawayitustabe5654]

Texas is bigger than most countries lol it takes 18 hours to drive from the red river to rio grande

[@MikeV8652]

@@KingfisherTalkingPictures "The sun have riz, the sun have set, and here we is, in Texas yet."

[@DuckOfRubber]

When daylight savings time ends in the Central timezone and 2am CDT becomes 1am CST, for 1 hour it is the same time in western Florida and eastern Oregon.

[@brickswisher7672]

Nice.

[@been2all505]

That’s a good one.

[@natewilson111]

I wonder if that would get under the skin of Oregonians... 🤔

[@lelandroth635]

Also, parts of AZ and IN (?) either observe no DST or a 1/2 hour difference.

[@KnownasBake]

@@natewilson111 Nah, it's kinda cool.

[@julianlineham]

As a structural engineer I’m pleased you’re telling people about seismic risks outside the West Coast. Great video,as always, thanks

[@HarleySLA]

There's a fault line around the blue ridge mountains. Idk how people don't know, mountains don't just make themselves. This coming from a dude who knows nothing about this stuff aka me.

[@johnfast1015]

South Detroit only exists in Journey's song "Don't Stop Believing".

[@barrylieberman5611]

Correct South Detroit = Windsor

[@yinzernation84]

@@barrylieberman5611 I feel like journey was giving off a more Dearborn kind of vibe

[@sheepdavis]

South Detroit is Delray

[@barrylieberman5611]

@@sheepdavis SW Detroit, but yes.

[@theoneandonlyrustyshaklefo6256]

Dix Winger Insane Clown Posse.

[@chrisalley6282]

There are 6 state capitals west of LA: Juneau, Honolulu, Olympia, Salem, Sacramento, and Carson City.

[@SlidellRobotics]

19 state capitals are west of LA. Only six are west of L.A.

[@herranton]

@@SlidellRobotics lol, pedantics.

[@johnknapp952]

@@SlidellRobotics I'm from L.A. and I don't mean Lower Alabama. This is what I use to tell people all the time years ago.

[@gatleystone2480]

@@johnknapp952 LA is the state abbreviation for Louisiana

[@Jerubarbaruah]

Wow, bless the KZbin algorithm for bringing me this video today. I loved how straight to the point and no nonsense you are. This was both entertaining and informative.

[@Jerubarbaruah]

@@jasondial9274 taking my comment as anything other than a joke is insane.

[@phoenix21studios]

Lexington and Louisville, KY both are cities that annexed the entire county for what is called County-Urban I believe. The first city I heard of doing this was Jacksonville, Florida and is one of the reasons it had such a large land area for a city.

[@GooberM47]

There's a small portion of Alaska that crosses the international date line, making it further east than maine, so its the furthest north, east, and west state in the US

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

Ok...my mind is truly and irrevocably scrambled. LOL

[@HugeWolf1]

The International Date Line is and imaginary line so that makes Alaska an imaginary Eastern state.

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

@@HugeWolf1 all the lines are imaginary.

[@louf7178]

@@deborahdanhauer8525 All lines are not imaginary.

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

@@louf7178 The Earth herself doesn't have those little lines that make up countrys, states, longitude, latitude or international date lines etc... That was what I was talking about. What are you talking about?

[@JerryDLTN]

The interior of the Nashville Airport (BNA) has its own zip code but as soon as you step outside of the terminal, you're in a different zip code

[@kyley4003]

🤣

[@intrepidnick2939]

Wut

[@BillSmith-rx9rm]

Nothing unique about that. For example, banks and universities can have their own ZIP code.

[@robertewalt7789]

Some buildings in NYC, such as Empire State Bldg, are in their own zip code.

[@DerekWitt]

Edwardsville, Kansas has the same zip code as western Kansas City, Kansas. Also Shawnee Mission is not a real town. It's a postal destination for multiple cities on the Kansas side of the KC metro

[@Hillers62]

My favorite quirk is that the most eastern state of the U.S. is...Alaska...the Aleutian Islands cross the 180th meridian...where east begins...this makes Alaska the most northern, western, and eastern state...With Hawaii as the most southern...

[@theevermind]

Or that Maine is the closest state to Africa.

[@edwardmeade]

East and West don't 'begin" anywhere. East is defined as being towards the rising sun and west is towards the setting sun. The Eastern most point, i.e. the furthest you can go in the direction of the rising sun is in Maine.

[@larrybe2900]

@@edwardmeade What about Greenwich Mean Time? Doesn't that "define" East and West?

[@edwardmeade]

@@larrybe2900 No

[@edwardmeade]

@@larrybe2900 Think about it. GMT and the International Date Line are less than 200 years old. East and West as concepts go back millennia. Just to hammer home the relational rather than positional nature of east and west, the easternmost point in the U.S. is "West" Quoddy Point nr. Lubeck ME. Why "West"? Because it was named by sailors and because it's on the western side of Quoddy Narrows. East Quoddy Point is in New Brunswick.

[@LKW549558]

Another interesting fact is how the earthquake mentioned in Missouri rerouted the Mississippi River causing fulton county Kentucky to become landlocked by Tennessee and Missouri. Also it’s always been mind blowing to me that the entire mainland United Kingdom is north of the entire contiguous United States

[@jesuschristiskingandsavior461]

Ofc it’s north…. Do you mean like directly north?

[@amberbydreamsart5467]

@@jesuschristiskingandsavior461 because the weather in the UK is milder than a lot of the north USA, people expect the uk's latitude to be even with new england or so, not realizing that its latitude is far enough north to not overlap with the contiguous usa. I certainly was surprised, considering london hardly gets snow meanwhile in minnesota where I grew up it reaches -20F windchills on a yearly basis. that's air currents and ocean proximity for ya, though!

[@paulburley7993]

Every resident of the UK lives further north than almost all of the population of Canada.

[@soslsi3592]

Here's another one: the southern most tip of Ontario is at the same latitude as the nothern most tip of California 🙃

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Toronto is further south than Paris, that is what always impresses me.

[@eavn9684]

Only parts of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are further north than the northernmost point of the United States

[@DuckOfRubber]

27 states are partially or entirely north of Pelee Island in Lake Erie, the southern most point in Canada. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.

[@dogie1070]

Well! That’s interesting!

[@charmainejames9539]

Do you mean the southern most tip of mainland Ontario or are you including Peelee Island north of Ohio in Lake Erie?

[@Savage3OO6]

I love #2. I live in the Detroit suburbs and when I was in the US Marines, I would tell people that I lived just north of Canada. Everyone assumed that meant that I was from Alaska.

[@50buttfish]

Heard on a quiz, "What COUNTRY is directly south of Detroit?", I started looking at So America, til I looked CLOSER.

[@donniefleuryy.29]

ayy 313

[@simonadams5073]

I remember talking to an exchange student from Detroit while at university (in England). When I said how cool I thought it was that Detroit was north of Canada he swore blind that I was wrong. Imagine growing up your whole life and never looking at a map of the city you live in.

[@Savage3OO6]

@@simonadams5073 Oh man, that's embarrassing. I hate it when others represent us poorly overseas. Unfortunately, it happens too often!

[@simonadams5073]

@@Savage3OO6 Hehe. I know what you mean. He was a pretty cool guy. If we’d kept in touch I imagine he’d laugh about it now.😊

[@michaelsennett7540]

“Well, ain't this place a geographical oddity. Two weeks from everywhere!” 😂

[@kenliljekvist255]

Having lived in Alaska, I kept hoping to hear of some of the 49th state's peculiarities. Hyder Alaska is basically a suburb of Stewart, BC, with most of its services provided from Canada. Juneau has a whole set of glaciers within its boundaries.

[@markcofer2464]

Everyone in Whittier lives in one building

[@Johnnyrouger]

Juneau is one of four cities in Alaska all of which are geographically bigger than Rhode Island. The biggest 3 have a combined population of about 43,000. Those numbers blow me away.

[@babboon5764]

@@Johnnyrouger Well OK But they don't have a Chicken named after them either. You get a Chicken named after you, you've arrived. (Maybe that needs a '?' at the end after 'arrived').

[@toriless]

Juneau was surprising small, I could see how Roslyn WA could be a substitute.

[@MikeNaples]

Juneau is also unique in that it's the only US state capital that there are no roads into. You must float or fly to get there.

[@Hillers62]

At 9:29 ...The earthquake in Missouri was so powerful, it made the Mississippi River flow in reverse for a short while...

[@fordhouse8b]

And church bells in Boston ring.

[@kristinafulton5334]

But it flowed backwards because it opened up a barrier to former flood plains that formed the finger lakes.

[@markc3986]

It re-routed a portion and left what is now called Reelfoot lake. Reelfoot was a river flowing into the Miss. before the earthquake and is now a huge bayou , shallow water awesome wildlife area

[@jesseturk1353]

Yes, this was from uplift of large tracts of land from a series of earthquakes generated in the New Madrid Seismic Zone!

[@papablista627]

@@markc3986 Great bass hole too !

[@eaglescout1984]

I grew up in a city in Virginia. For the longest time I just assumed cities were completely separate from the counties they reside in and they had their own municipal laws, their own school system, their own public works department, etc. It wasn't until I found an online article about "independent cities" that specifically stated Virginia was an outlier that I realized my definition of a city was only valid in my home state.

[@pauljackson3491]

I'm in a similar boat with NY. I've never heard of an "unincorporated" area before since, as he said, all towns and cities are in a county. And, why do some states call themselves "commonwealths"?

[@aintnolittlegirl9322]

Same here. I live in Florida now and it's very confusing.

[@seanfiskefiskesean]

I grew up in Massachusetts and had an almost polar opposite experience. In MA, every single square foot of the state belongs to a town or city; there is no such thing as "unincorporated territory." You are in a town or a city until you leave that town or city's border, then you're in another town or city. There is no empty space in between that belongs to just the county. This makes counties in MA pretty useless. We have 13 of them, but only 5 have any form of county government. When I got to college and chatted to someone who mentioned that back home their taxes were cheaper outside the town in the county, I was extremely confused.

[@spiritmatter1553]

I’ve lived in Virginia my entire life and never realized there was anything weird about that.

[@rickc303]

Similar to the way towns and cities in NY are very different than Georgia, where things are largely county based

[@SomeguynamedTrav]

"Ain't this place just a geographical oddity?! Two weeks from everywhere!"

[@CJ-rx5fi]

This man correctly pronounced all the metro Atlanta counties - bravo, sir!

[@gregpeterman1102]

Atlanta should be like St. Louis, not really a part of real Georgia anymore, like another country.

[@jakethesnake1366]

But can he pronounce Taliaferro?

[@ryanwhitlock7350]

@@gregpeterman1102 huh? Dude Atlanta is the HEART of Georgia.

[@joeyjones49]

@@jakethesnake1366 This one is always my test for non-Georgians. Because there’s no logical reason why Taliaferro should be pronounced the way it is

[@shable1436]

Sounds like a racist connotation

[@stefB_]

This video put a smile on my face, I can tell how much you enjoy geography and sharing it with people :)

[@GeographyKing]

Thank you! And yes I love geography!

[@babboon5764]

There's an added bonus - Many folk in other parts of the World reckon the USA a pretty interesting place, but even if we get to visit the chances of seeing even a fraction of this stuff is minimal. Hell, I'm a Brit. Texans claim the could fit our entire landmass in their one state eight times over ...... And I doubt I've seen more than half of Britain yet. Great stuff - Cheers.

[@loserwholikesyou]

I was always surprised how far west Florida extends. Pensacola, Florida is further west than Washington Island, Wisconsin.

[@kmvstudios9072]

Dang I had no Idea!

[@catpaco]

Thank you for using Washington island as reference

[@RDICKINSON08]

My head hurts because of this fact. Thanks

[@motorin25]

I live just to the south of West Palm Beach. When I would drive to my dad’s place in Ardmore Oklahoma I’d stop at a friend’s place in Pensacola. It’s a 10 hour drive. Then 10 hours to Ardmore. Also, I live closer to two foreign country capitals than my own state capital.

[@justynmacfarland9322]

I

[@neilparker9454]

Alaska is the most northerly, easterly and westerly state in the US. (The Aleutian Islands cross 180 degrees longitude)

[@brianvieira3286]

Yes. While they do cross the 180th, the International Date Line actually makes a jog to include that last island to the western time zone.

[@zac3392]

Drat... I wanted to comment that 😝

[@blakedadd]

Well that hurts my head.

[@BillSmith-rx9rm]

But you are ignoring the international date line.

[@edswope28]

@@BillSmith-rx9rm which has nothing to do with longitude. Or east/west.

[@leonacollinge-yz3iu]

I find all of these interesting. I'm glad I stumbled upon these. Thanks, Kyle, for putting something like this together.

[@averagedoes5715]

"Ain't this place just a geographical oddity. Two weeks from everywhere!"

[@erikheen1291]

"But I'm a Dapper Dan man."

[@DRBloomber]

I don’t want FOP .....

[@DrGH201]

It didn’t look like a one horse town, but try to find a decent hair jelly.

[@sunii4264]

Oh, brother 🤦♥️

[@henryharrison6024]

I love how happy he looks talking about geography

[@cg62262]

Hey Geography King...did you know there is a creek in the US that flows to both the Atlantic AND Pacific Oceans? It is called Two Ocean Creek & it is located in the Teton Wilderness of the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming. Thanks to Two Ocean Creek you can travel from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean without touching dry land -- it is a continuous stream that cuts the North American continent in half! Two Ocean Creek splits on the continental divide, which then creates both Atlantic & Pacific Creeks. The same is also true for Isa Lake, which is located inside Yellowstone National Park (a highway is right beside it so it is easy to get to). Isa Lake is directly on the continental divide & it has two outlets that flow in opposite directions -- & the strange thing is the outlet that flows to the west eventually makes it to the Gulf of Mexico while the outlet that flows to the east eventually flows to the Pacific Ocean!

[@tonyk8592]

Thanks, now I'll spend the rest of my day off, researching how all that is possible.......lol

[@ernestsmith3581]

And that's why some of Wyoming (around Centenial) and Colorado parklands were claimed by Texas - didn't drain to either the Pacific or Mo/Miss. system, but to GoM.

[@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music]

I don't think I can beat that fact.

[@margefoyle6796]

That doesn't even sound possible! Thanks for pointing this out!

[@peterhamborg9576]

There is also Triple Divide Peak in Montana. Part of Glacier National Park, it is a feature of the Lewis range. Triple Divide Peak is the apex of North American hydrology. A bucket of water dropped at the tip of this mountain will end up in 3 oceans - the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Arctic.

[@landonmatthew]

this was super interesting! and i can’t say how refreshing it is to see/hear a really person sharing the information

[@martincurrie4209]

The New Madrid quake in 1811-12 was so powerful it made the mississippi river flow backwards & landlocked a part of KY which is pretty quirky

[@mariebernier3076]

And coincidentally, very beautiful to visit. Great fishing!

[@ShaunsCentral-Maine]

This is interesting, cause I only thought the big earthquakes were near the Pacific faultlines, but than I just wikipedia this, and found this out: "New forecasts estimate a 7 to 10 percent chance, in the next 50 years, of a repeat of a major earthquake like those that occurred in 1811-1812, which likely had magnitudes between 7.6 and 8.0. A 25 to 40% chance exists, in a 50-year time span, of a magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquake." Well, you guys have had 4 different 50 years periods since than.. wow. Maybe the next Earthquake will be in Missouri, and catch us all off guard.

[@noodengr3three825]

It also rang church bells in Boston MA

[@malevolentgaze9391]

This dude just rattled off county names like nothing. I can’t even list the names of my closest friends and family members

[@nayR5]

Canada USA Mexico Belize panama Honduras El Salvador Colombia Guyana Ecuador Chile Brazil Peru UK Iceland Denmark Germany France Belgium Netherlands Luxembourg Spain Andorra Monaco Portugal Poland Yugoslavia Slovenia Bosnia and Herzegovina Albania Kosovo Serbia north Macedonia Greece Lithuania Estonia Latvia Russia Finland Norway Sweden Kazakhstan Mongolia China North Korea South Korea Japan Taiwan Vietnam Cambodia Laos Malaysia Brunei Indonesia East Timor Australia Papúa New Guinea New Zealand India Turkmenistan Tajikistan Uzbekistan Pakistan Kazakhstan Burma Bangladesh Nepal Iran Iraq Syria turkey Lebanon Israel Jordan Saudi Arabia uae Qatar Kuwait Oman Yemen Egypt Tunisia Algeria lybia Moro o Western Sahara niger Mali Nigeria Sierra Lionela Côte d’Ivoire The Gambia Senegal Somalia Ethiopia Sudan South Sudan drc car rc Uganda Rwanda Tanzania Botswana Namibia chad eswatini lesotho South Africa. Let me know if I missed any.

[@chrisjansen1943]

@@nayR5 They said county, not country. lmao

[@Salac0]

@@nayR5 What even is this comment? I mean you could also look up a list of UN recognized countries and paste it.

[@malevolentgaze9391]

@@nayR5 yeah man I said county. But chill it was a joke not a challenge fuck man relax

[@malevolentgaze9391]

@@carsonyoder6294 here’s a correction, get a fucking life bro

[@TheOneGuy1111]

With the exception of Alaska, the entire United States is further south than the southernmost point of the island of Great Britain.

[@consubandon]

The French Riviera and all of mainland France are further north than Boston, Mass.

[@dkroll92]

Europe is just higher latitude than North America in general. I live in southern California and an example of a foreign city at the same latitude as me would be Damascus

[@ChurchOfAtom]

Hello from Chattanooga! Cool to see a local do such an amazing video.

[@paulburley7993]

I can never hear Chattanooga without humming a bit of the tune in my head. I have to do the whole song when I hear Kalamazoo😂😂🇨🇦

[@stakknation123]

One would think that Wisconsin shares a border with Canada, but it doesn't.

[@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music]

GET. OUT.

[@aaronb3522]

Ohio and Pennsylvania, however, do.

[@zhazhagab0r]

Does Lake Superior count? That is our "border" with Canada.

[@stakknation123]

@@zhazhagab0r No, while Ohio and Pennsylvania share a water border with Canada, the portion of Wisconsin that touches Lake Superior belongs to Minnesota

[@stakknation123]

@@zhazhagab0r close enough though, let's roll with it! Lol

[@matthewallen1153]

I find it odd that Ohio is considered Midwest and Louisiana is Southeast when Ohio is east of Louisiana and it’s in the Eastern time zone while Louisiana is Central.

[@hadtocheathimtobeathim6549]

I once argued with a guy who was from Ohio after he claimed he was from the Midwest. Me being from Missouri, I just laughed when he said that. I said Ohio isn’t Midwest, that the west end of the east coast.

[@matthewallen1153]

@@hadtocheathimtobeathim6549 I totally agree! Missouri is definitely more Midwestern than Ohio. As a Mississippi State alum, I was baffled when Missouri and Texas A&M joined the SEC. Neither of those schools are in the Southeast. I know that sports conferences are never 100% geographically accurate, but come on! LOL

[@hadtocheathimtobeathim6549]

@@matthewallen1153 I agree that just felt weird. The travel is longer now for all the schools playing Missouri and Texas teams for sure. But you're right. Geography is about meaningless worth college divisions anymore

[@williamshultz4620]

The region that is considered Midwest got its name in the early 19th century before the US was expanded.

[@zachwayt3874]

​@@hadtocheathimtobeathim6549 ohio, indiana, and illinois could be argued to be the ohio river valley or great lakes region and not the "midwest." The reason they are commonly called the midwest though is because during the westward expansion of the US and the time(mid 1800s) of a different "midwestern" culture developing separating itself from the South and New England , they were the midwest. It really isn't a geographical term and more of a cultural one.

[@WereDictionary]

"There are some places you have to drie through Canada to get to" No kidding, last time I checked you had an entire state running on that principle.

[@toddniehaus]

Of course, but the oddity is the little piece of land across a body of water that you can't drive to without leaving the state, driving through Canada, and reentering the state. Seems like bad planning. It would've been easier logistically to give/sell that land to Canada than have such a weird arrangement.

[@timmick6911]

@@toddniehaus We shall never give up the Northwest Angle! Never!

[@azelfdaboi5265]

@@timmick6911 ok Minnesota

[@michaelmartin4552]

One that always surprised people when I was stationed in El Paso is that there is a chunk of New Mexico that actually extends to the south of Texas. There is a spur of that state that extends to the east under Texas, between the border of Mexico. If surprises many when they first go there, and realize that going south of El Paso can see you in New Mexico.

[@johnellis5828]

Looking at Google maps right now... not a single part of NM is directly south of Texas.

[@michaelmartin4552]

@@johnellis5828 then you need to look again for "Sunland Park". It is of course not south of all of El Paso, but that is a chunk of New Mexico sitting under El Paso. And also south of Texas, between it and Mexico. You are welcome.

[@bubzilla6137]

@@michaelmartin4552 I looked thoroughly at Google maps. It does indeed sit under the northwestern most part of El Paso. I got directions from El Paso and it went north so I thought these other commenters were correct. But then I looked more closely at the boundary lines. El Paso has a strange shape that makes it so a tiny part of New Mexico is sitting underneath. And if anyone else "calls BS" or doubts you, I challenge them to prove US wrong on any map. I promise that any legitimate, official map that can't prove it, also cannot disprove it, like less detailed maps or some topographical maps. 🙂🙂🙂

[@toriless]

El Paso itself already feels like being in Mexico.

[@michaelmartin4552]

@@bubzilla6137 For most large maps, they simply make borders straight lines. But in most cases, reality is a bit different. Technically, in 1850 it was established as running along the 100 meridian until it hit the Rio Grande river, then followed that to Mexico. The actual border is the course of the river 170 years ago, not as it is today so the border is often a mile or so to the west of the current river. But it was not a straight north-south line all the way to Mexico, but twisting and winding east and west. And as the river turns east before it meets Mexico, that land north of Mexico but west of Texas is New Mexico. It is only a stretch of the border for around 20 miles, but that does indeed end up with part of New Mexico south of Texas. The North Eastern part sees the same thing, where it follows the Red River. Even though Oklahoma is north of Texas, some towns in Oklahoma are more south than towns in Texas. And driving along some borders can see one moving between states several times on a straight road, as the border twists and turns.

[@NichaelCramer]

For all the Robert Johnson/Delta Blues fans, another naming quirk: The “Mississippi Delta” is *not* the same as the “Mississippi River Delta”. Specifically, the Mississippi Delta is located in the top half of the state of Mississippi along the eastern side of the Mississippi River. It is (roughly) the delta of the Yazoo River and its southernmost end is over 150 from the Gulf of Mexico.

[@riverraisin1]

That confused me for many years before studying Delta Blues music. I was surprised to find that it wasn't where I thought it was.

[@fjfell5979]

To get to Hyder Alaska you have to go thru Canada. Since you cannot get anywhere further in the USA from Hyder. there is no customs/immigration at the crossing point. Actually there was a booth but the locals became annoyed at it and burned it down.. about 45 years ago.

[@SilentSinusSyndrome]

Here’s one... there’s only one State Capital that doesn’t share a letter with it’s State. Answer: Pierre; South Dakota

[@mftepera]

SilentSinusSyndrome that’s actually pretty incredible.

[@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music]

You could be making that up; who's going to check it?

[@NichaelCramer]

The state capital here in Vermont, Montpelier, is 1) the smallest state capital in the US, and 2) the only state capital without a McDonalds. ;-)

[@mftepera]

@@NichaelCramer "2) the only state capital without a McDonalds". Badge of honor right there.

[@dancarlton7973]

Pierre is the only capital I know in the contiguous 48 states that's well away from an interstate highway.

[@CarlHughes49]

This is my first time enjoying your videos. Travel and geography are favorite topics of mine. I’m sure you have this already, but one of my favorite trivia questions is, “From what state can you go south into all 6 adjoining states?” The answer is Arkansas! Now that’s a quirk!

[@OldRustySteele]

Hi Carl, it probably blows people’s minds, but you are exactly correct, and you can go south from Arkansas into Missouri. In the “Boot Heel”, of course.

[@coffeyallday]

2 from Kentucky: 1. Middlesboro is the only city in America that is located inside of a meteor crater 2. Fulton County is non contiguous and has a section that is only accessible by road through Tennessee

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

I didn't know either one of those and I grew up in KY. Thanks😊

[@2Beigatti]

St. Louis city and county are indeed separate. There's been a big effort by several groups to get the city and county to combine. Basically back in the 1800s, the city was rich and the county poor, so the city became independent to not have their tax money go toward the county. Today, the city is poor and the county rich, but the people in the county now don't want their money to go toward city problems. Funny how that stuff works! Great video, very interesting!

[@markman613]

Sounds like Karma to me.

[@obamaswallows]

Fun fact... the population of St. Louis City in 1877, when it separated from the county, was about 50,000 MORE than it is today.

[@norlinblack5017]

My cat just fell asleep and rolled off the bed in Jones Chapel Ala freaking bama

[@stakknation123]

That's why places like Houston, KC, Indianapolis, Jacksonville ect. annexed huge swaths of land to avoid that St.Louis problem in the future

[@ibn1989]

It's really a racial thing though. Most white people in the county don't want their taxes to go to the black people in the city.

[@jeffking291]

During one earthquake in Missouri, the Mississippi River actually moved BACKWARDS for almost two hours [ as the ground beneath, rose up‼️ This was very well documented. 📻🙂

[@hanananah]

Well that's TERRIFYING. Neat.

[@jeffking291]

@@hanananah The New Madrid [ pronounced MAdrid] Fault in Southern Missouri Earthquake of February 1812 was felt as Far East as the Carolinas❗️ It was really a series of quakes lasting from December 1811- Feb. 1812, with thousands of aftershocks . Over 1800 aftershocks strong enough to be felt as far as Louisville KY. All was quite well documented. {* ... and people worry about California }. The first time I felt an earthquake. I was 10 years old. I was in the bath tub. Kind of freaked me out. This was in St.Louis Missouri. 📻🙂

[@ericstites9470]

That quake shattered windows in Boston, too.

[@duncanw9901]

Grew up in Jonesboro AR; often heard geologists talking about how if New Madrid goes again it'll be Richter 9 or 10... glad I'm not around there anymore

[@zellafae]

@@jeffking291 Ya, and they say we’re due for another major earthquake too 😬

[@gregdeeth5701]

Point Pelee is located in southwestern Ontario, Canada. This national park lies on the 42nd Parallel, making it the same latitude as northern California.

[@EfficientRVer]

Don't forget the islands even farther south near it, still in Canada.

[@JohnnyWishbone85]

8:35 -- We have something similar in the San Francisco Bay area; there's a stretch where interstates 80 and 580 are coincident with each other, and if you're driving east on 80, you're going west on 580, all while driving *north.*

[@MichaelPalecek]

I41 North in Milwaukee is the same as I43 South (and vice versa) and the direction of travel is East-West

[@johnmiller8884]

It gets even better going the other direction. In Emeryville you can momentarily be driving on 80 West, 580 East, and 880 South at the same time just before entering the MacAurther Maze.

[@jonrobles1468]

Years back, I took a then-girlfriend to the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield and we drove on that stretch of interstate.

[@margefoyle6796]

I was scrolling through to see if anyone else has pointed this out before adding my comment. And here it is!

[@PrezVeto]

@@johnmiller8884 mmm do you have a source for 880 legally beginning north of the MacArthur Maze? There's a section with lanes marked for all three of those, but that doesn't mean that section is _part of_ all three. Those signs indicate where the lanes lead, not where they are.

[@samsunglg6671]

Every trucker is like, "seems pretty normal to me"

[@dianeadkins-diorio1783]

The I-77/81 concurrency?

[@samsunglg6671]

@@dianeadkins-diorio1783 O.o ⬇⬆

[@donotneed2250]

Got that right! Started in 1991 and medically retired in 2018.

[@albertbatfinder5240]

Two things that make Maine “singular”: 1. Only US state that borders exactly one other US state. 2. Only single syllable state. (I wish there were only ONE thing that made it singular, but unfortunately there are two.)

[@edsteadham4085]

Another Maine oddity. It is the state closest to Africa.

[@ilovethe1950s]

It is the closest state to Africa, but has the lowest percentage of African Americans.

[@zyrrhos]

Another Maine oddity. The decision as to who got to use the state abbreviation of MA was decided over an arm wrestling match.

[@rogerdean5313]

Sunrise hits Maine first before any other state

[@rscaito1]

@@rogerdean5313 yeah I bet sunrise there is closer to 4am than 5am on the summer solstice.

[@Me2Lancer]

Thanks for sharing this fascinating information. I have travelled most of the continental US and find it quite interesting.

[@NichaelCramer]

1] States that aren’t “states”: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia are all officially Commonwealths. (Also, the constitutions of both Vermont and Delaware refer to the home states as commonwealths.) 2] The state with the longest official name, State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is the smallest state.

[@retiretravelexplore]

Voters in Rhode Island just approved removing the "Providence Plantations" part from the name. So it's no longer the longest official state name.

[@NYD666]

Rhode island has changed its official names to show support for BLM.

[@NichaelCramer]

Ah. OK, thanks.

[@NYD666]

@W Zee that may be the real reason (doubtful) but that the official reason given

[@SeanMacadelic]

@@NYD666 it just didn’t need to be called that anymore. And it’s just the name of Rhode Island so who really cares what it’s official long form name is. Stop finding a problem where there isn’t one

[@stevebbuk]

I 'm not quite sure how, but this guy turns dullsville into a most engaging interlude..

[@VeraHannaford]

I live in Charleston South Carolina. If you know where to look, you can still see damage from the earthquake of 1886. From time to time, there are small quakes that you can feel.

[@danielosullivan3110]

I work in Charleston. There remains cannonball holes in homes near east bay st

[@rbbecker73]

When he mentioned Reno being west of LA, I figured he'd give similar comparisons on the east coast. Because Florida is on the east coast, everyone assumes it's pretty far east, so you'd stay near the east coast if you just travel due north. And if you follow the highways that go along the coast, they're right. I-95 will take you straight up the coast from Miami to Maine. But that's because it travels north-northeast from southern Florida, not straight north. If you look at a map, most of the Florida peninsula is actually the same longitude as Ohio. Miami on the east coast of Florida is actually just slightly further west than Pittsburgh, in western PA.

[@rappmasterdugg6825]

Part of the Florida Panhandle is actually on Central time.

[@johnpapa8681]

This was a really good video. It was informative and entertaining, and moved along at a good rate. I also like that you got to the point without boring us with some protracted introduction.

[@ejb7969]

EXACTLY what I was going to say. You don't waste any time, and your videos are packed with facts.

[@foxrick]

Mexico is commonly referred to as being "South of the border." However, there are places along the Colorado River West of Yuma, AZ where Mexico is North of the border.

[@gregpeterman1102]

Huh?

[@foxrick]

@@gregpeterman1102 It's true ! Zoom a map into the southwest corner of AZ. Follow North along the Colorado River and you'll see areas where you are South of Mexico and even be West of Mexico.

[@fk1048]

Actually , Mt.Whitney and Badwater Basin (Death Valley) are even in the same county.Furnace Creek,the hottest place on earth is in Inyo County too.

[@user-hx8ts6kf2e]

I rode a motorcycle thru Death Valley. From Badwater Basin to Dante’s View in an hour and almost 6000’ in elevation. That was cool....literally cool.

[@christianbh]

I’m from VA, I didn’t realize the whole city/ county thing was unique

[@legallyrequired]

OKAY SAME i just commented this im glad im not the only Virginian who didnt know this

[@zac3392]

Did you know that the panhandle of Florida is further from Siberia than Washington DC is from sanity?

[@michealridenoour5320]

Good one!

[@JBguitar-cj8pc]

Haha

[@Aboite81]

Lol

[@zac3392]

@@00Katie00 Gotcha! Hope it gave you a laugh! 😝

[@michaellarrabee5873]

Spot on

[@tixximmi1]

Austin, TX is closer to 11 other countries than it is the State of Washington.

[@dwellspompano]

Wow 😳

[@88KeysIdaho]

How many countries would Austin, TX be closer to than the State of Maine ?

[@matthewtobias6227]

Also Austin Texas is farther south than Cario Egypt

[@ShaunsCentral-Maine]

@@88KeysIdaho Apparently, it's all the Central American countries and Northern South America is the same distance as Maine to Europe and 11 other European countries. Kinda looks like it's got merit. Atlantic Ocean is wider than it looks.

[@matthewtobias6227]

Austin is also further north than Wenzhou China

[@MarcStober]

My favorite quirk about counties is that in NYC there are multiple counties in one city.

[@SolarAbyss]

That's fairly common

[@pyrotechnic96]

@@SolarAbyss not in America, it's literally the only example

[@koba2095]

This is due to the high rate of people

[@austinhernandez2716]

@@pyrotechnic96 unless you're talking about metro areas.

[@Andy-vt7sl]

@@pyrotechnic96 that’s not quite true that it’s the only city in more than one county: Fort Worth Texas is in Tarrant, Parker, Wise, and Denton counties.

[@PaulGAckerman]

I lived in Corpus Christi for 23 years. I was told that if you wanted to drive from Brownsville to Chicago, you are more than halfway there as you leave Texas. Another one is King Ranch is larger than the state of Rhode Island. King Ranch is four discontiguous (thanks for teaching me a new word!) parcels of land.

[@AZHighlandHomestead]

I’m a geographer (GIS Analyst) and love this country too. I’m about to take a road trip from central AZ to eastern ID to visit Yellowstone NP. Subscribed! -Nick 🗺 😃👍

[@mikelouis9389]

Ooooh, you are going to REALLY enjoy yourself! Amateur geologist and lifetime rockhound here

[@AZHighlandHomestead]

@@mikelouis9389 I agree! Honestly, we went 13 years ago and are long overdue to go back!

[@mikelouis9389]

@@AZHighlandHomestead I took a 2 month driving vacation in 2007. From Pittsburgh ( total geological yawn fest) to the mountains of North Carolina to Oregon with amazing places like Yellowstone mixed in. Oregon and Yellowstone were the total winners! At McDonald's ranch, digging for beautiful petrified wood, I could look out and see six different cascade range strato volcanoes! Truly a dream come true!

[@bradennetzly8291]

Fun fact: Ohio is 220 miles across north-south AND 220 miles across East-west. I believe we are the only state this way

[@NoNameNoWhere]

I'm pretty sure this video has been popping up in my feed for over a year now. So... guess I'll watch!

[@jeremyhelquist]

Was surprised that the “4 Corners” states weren’t mentioned. Only place where state lines meet up like this.

[@Blaqjaqshellaq]

In Canada, there's a "four corners" point where the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan meet the territories of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. (The latter is a singular territory, but it has the plural "territories" in its name--confusing enough for you?)

[@mkmcclure]

GPS' accuracy has indicated the actual four corners point is incorrect by a little over 100 feet, so millions were not actually standing in four states simultaneously.

[@michaelz6870]

@@Blaqjaqshellaq Understood, and thank you for mentioning, but ours is better. That'll be all.

[@Blaqjaqshellaq]

@@happygilmore5948 Hardly!

[@everettamador9885]

Agreed...I live in Utah...

[@NoName-ds5uq]

I love this kind of stuff! One geographical “quirk” I love is that Canada’s southernmost city, Windsor, is closer to the equator than Australia’s southernmost city.

[@FlySwann]

Fun Texas fact, Texas has mountains, marshes, rivers, swamps, plains and plateaus. Crossing the state you can see everything from swamp to desert, tropical coast to open prairie. And everything in between.

[@patriciastaton6182]

Absolutely 🥺

[@darlahaines6928]

Years ago, Ernest Tubb, The Texas Troubadour, sang "There's a Little Bit of Everything in Texas, and a whole lot of Texas in me!"

[@adamnewton3994]

This is interesting, thank you! On your "places in the U.S. you need to go through Canada to get to" list, you could probably add Estcourt Station, Maine to that list with a little bit of an asterisk. The only way to get there from anywhere else in Maine is by some janky dirt logging roads that are technically not supposed to be open to the public. Meanwhile, there are paved main roads in Pohenagamook, Quebec that will take you across the border to Estcourt Station.

[@kevinberger5671]

The odd reason for West St. Paul being SE of St. Paul. It was named based on reference of a riverboat captain on the Mississippi River. When heading north, anything to the left was west and anything right is east; but with river twisting river like the Mississippi sometimes looking left could be south.

[@jamesgoode9246]

Thanks -- mystery solved

[@matthaffner6848]

That's funny because the Mississippi snakes around West Saint Paul. So depending on where you are on the Mississippi it West St Paul could either be west or east of you.

[@nathanielpasse4693]

Fun fact about West St. Paul naming. The people naming West St. Paul thought that Mississippi River was running North/South in Downtown St. Paul instead of East West. Therefore, they thought that where West St. Paul is located was West of downtown instead of South.

[@Jhale716]

Did they walk around looking at the ground? Like the sun would have highlighted the thinking daily...

[@PrezVeto]

That's a good explanation, but begs a number of questions, chief among which is "why didn't they rename it when someone finally pulled out a compass?!"

[@russellrobins5320]

The sun has risen in the East for, I don’t know, forever

[@eveostay]

St. Paul is on the east side of the Mississippi and West St. Paul is on the west side of the Mississippi. I'd guess that's why it's named that.

[@bradwolszon4518]

Since the river primarily runs north-south, as you went north, left is always west, so the riverboat captains always referred to the left side as west. In that area, the river twists and turns, but the left side was still called the west side, so when the new town was created, they used that standard and called it West St. Paul

[@busterbeagle2167]

I made a mistake and took a shot every time he said quirky.

[@joshrodgers9366]

nice lol

[@roseycheeks8299]

🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂

[@rare80]

How long were you out for?

[@fordhouse8b]

Doesn’t sound like a mistake, sounds like a party.

[@paradisepipeco]

I take issue with you referring to that as a mistake. Let us settle this like gentlemen, good sir, by a hearty and rousing tournament of knifey spoony. And afterwards, in the spirit of sportsmanship and good cheer, we can participate in the current bourbon renewal program. For it has oft been said, _"I would rather have a free bottle in front of me than a pre-frontal lobotomy."_

[@mikeberry2332]

This is how you do one of these things. Briskly edited and packed with fun information. So many videos meander endlessly and repetitively before getting to the point teased in the title.

[@johnchedsey1306]

I might be one of the few people who loves driving through central Nevada because of the emptiness and almost complete lack of other traffic.It's unique and beautiful.

[@autonomouscollective2599]

John Chedsey I do too, even though I came within a few miles of running out of gas while driving through the desert. That was my first trip in Nevada and now I know better.

[@oldDNU]

I get that. Driving through the desert from Vegas to LA was really nice. My favorite part was a 12-mile stretch of straight road that’s 4000’ in altitude at either end, but 1000’ in the middle. The view from both ends is beautifully empty.

[@troysierra5228]

A great chunk of central Nevada is off limits as area 51!

[@hayleyharrington599]

This is the most youtube coverage of Southwest Virginia I've ever seen so thanks for the representation!

[@rayfridley6649]

Southwest Virginia is closer to the state capitals of West Virginia (Charleston), Kentucky(Frankford), and Tennessee(Nashville)than to Richmond.

[@RedArrowDoug]

Another oddity you forgot. New York City is the only city that has counties.

[@patamats]

I was going to say this and for some reason they’re called boroughs but in the rest of New York State they are counties. They also are really only statistical areas and have no actual power. The city of NY is in charge of all 5 “counties”

[@miraflynn8935]

@@patamats They do have some function in terms of local government, such as local court systems and the like. However, in state and federal government, you’re more correct.

[@phillyphilly2095]

Queens was Queens County; Brooklyn was Kings County; and so on.

[@agypsychild]

@John Boudreaux Those are cities that straddle counties. But with NYC you have 5 counties all inside the city those counties have no border outside of NYC. And although when they are referred by executive function they are boroughs in judicial function they are counties. The Bronx - Bronx County, the borough of Queens - Queens County, borough of Brooklyn - Kings County, Staten Island-Richmond County, and the Borough of Manhattan - New York County none of which exist outside of the New York City boundaries.

[@HBC423]

Atlanta has multiple counties, so nope.

[@douglasmoen2658]

Here's an oddity about the North Star State: The town of Eitzen, Minnesota (on the southeastern tip) is closer to the Kentucky border than it is to Hallock, Minnesota (on the northwestern tip). The town of Luverne, Minnesota (on the southwestern tip) is closer to Devil's Tower, Wyoming than it is to Grand Portage, Minnesota (on the northeastern tip).

[@dannyjones3840]

Glad I found you! I love history, and I love America! After retiring from the Marines in 2014, I became an owner/operator truck driver, and have been to all 48 driving and traveled through AK and Hi. On a side note, central Nevada is desolate because 1- it's too damn hot, 2- Groom Lake lol (area 51) and the surrounding nuclear craters lol

[@alicel2572]

It’s interesting that this 2 year old video is in my recommended. But judging from the comments in the last couple of days, it looks like I’m not the only one. Good for you! This was interesting and I subscribed.

[@GeographyKing]

Thank you. Yeah, I'm never quite sure how the KZbin algorithm works. It's one of the great mysteries of the world! This video got flooded with comments and I've been trying to keep up. For a small channel it caught me off guard. But it's a good problem to have.

[@andyjay729]

Also, the far westernmost tip of Virginia is actually further west than the westernmost point of West Virginia.

[@truckertriesfarming9792]

And, if you live there, you are closer to the Capitols of three or four other States, than you are your own.

[@andyjay729]

@@truckertriesfarming9792 I think that's also true for the northernmost part of the Texas Panhandle.

[@truckertriesfarming9792]

@@andyjay729 That wouldn't surprise me.

[@SlidellRobotics]

Indeed. There is a pair of Bluefields which span meet at the state line. Bluefield WV is east of Bluefield VA.

[@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music]

Which really should have been called North Virginia.

[@dhaneyart]

There's a place in Kentucky where if you travel north, east, or west, you're in Missouri, and if you go south you're in Tennessee!

[@ch44227]

I'm surprised you didn't do Maine is the closet state to Africa fact.

[@spiritmatter1553]

Weird.

[@TokyoXtreme]

Maybe that’s why they’re importing so many Africans there now.

[@spiritmatter1553]

@@TokyoXtreme Somalis shopped around and found that Lewiston, Maine was the best for them for subsidized housing, welfare, etc. They just about broke the medical and welfare system there.

[@JasperJanssen]

@@TokyoXtreme if you don’t want to sound like a massive racist slavery supporter, maybe don’t talk about “importing” human beings as if they’re some sort of property.

[@douglapointe6810]

175 million years ago Nova Scotia Canada was attached to what is now Africa before the continents split apart. Not sure if that applies to Maine as well.

[@RobertSeviour1]

I'm a geography nerd, so this piece was much to my taste. Nicely presented too. Thanks.

[@GeographyKing]

Thanks. There are more of us nerds than non-geographers are comfortable to admit!

[@Vesayah]

I'm from texas, and drove the wide way through Tennessee. I was so shocked at how long it took to drive out of Tennessee.

[@kellyshea92]

My favorite one is that when you head directly to California from Nevada you are no longer heading west but actually heading East.

[@howardkerr8174]

When I lived in Memphis, to get to my family's home in northeastern Pennsylvania I had to drive just over 1,000 miles through 5 states. 1/2 of the trip, the first 500 miles, is all Tennessee.

[@scottbogfoot]

That's why the song lyric "born and raised in south Detroit" is so funny, he's from Windsor Ontario.

[@scottbogfoot]

@Robo journey, don't stop believing. One of the most recognizable songs ...ever. 😄 you should check it out.

[@MrPAULONEAL]

@Robo Don't worry, he was just a city boy...

[@JPMJPM]

Do you watch Schitt’s Creek? The wealthy characters on the show were talking about going to a party at Elton John’s house in Windsor. 😂😂😂

[@scottbogfoot]

@@JPMJPM 😂