Why 80% of Americans Live East of This Line

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  • Опубликовано: 14 сен 2022
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Комментарии • 12 тыс.

  • @LamarrWilson
    @LamarrWilson Год назад +1757

    This is one of the more amazing videos I’ve watched on RUclips. It’s extremely educational and i never realized a line divided the US like this!

    • @leevikaunismaa9652
      @leevikaunismaa9652 Год назад +2

      Not so accurate tho atleast when it comes to Finaland, like sure most live on the south but for me 90% of people I know are from white area :D

    • @anab962
      @anab962 Год назад +14

      @@leevikaunismaa9652 I have no idea what you're talking about lmao, but imagine that race, gender and wealth (?) was also factored in on this study and a clear inclination came out 😱 there might be... in each country... omg if only I were an anthropologist or smth 😩🤌✨

    • @mikelabor7688
      @mikelabor7688 Год назад

      Agreed!

    • @uncensored5104
      @uncensored5104 Год назад +6

      You need to get out more!

    • @leevikaunismaa9652
      @leevikaunismaa9652 Год назад +4

      @@uncensored5104 I mean I don't wanna drive 400km to the "zone" where people live😁

  • @mikeb.7381
    @mikeb.7381 Год назад +5690

    As someone who has lived in the West, it's amazing to me to think that those in the East are just a short distance away from anything, meaning walk 20 minutes in any direction and you will find civilization. In the West the distances between the urban centers can be vast with literally nothing in between for hours.

    • @dans9463
      @dans9463 Год назад +283

      Yet, I'm amazed that upstate New York is rual

    • @miinyoo
      @miinyoo Год назад +172

      @@dans9463 Most of it is. Once California kicked off the Berkeley academic revolution during WWII most of the brains which did reside in upstate NY moved there. Now it's an area where there are some underserved populations (whom probably like it and don't care) and estates for the fabulously wealthy especially running up the Hudson river valley among the Appalachian hills.
      Ever since NY brought in high state taxes, regulation and began focusing on NYC and LI, most of the rural folks took off for Penn and westward or east into CT and Vermont.
      For example, artisans of fine cabinetry and custom craft still exist in upstate NY solely because the wealthy who buy estates there want that custom sort of thing so the demand for fine craftsmanship keeps them there.

    • @dans9463
      @dans9463 Год назад +34

      @@miinyoo
      Thank you
      I guess Socialist distancing helps that area to maintain its natural characteristic.

    • @svenmorgenstern9506
      @svenmorgenstern9506 Год назад +103

      Yeah, freaked a long-time friend out when I went to visit him (he lives in Massachusetts, BTW) by driving from Cape Cod to NYC. Worked out to about 125 miles one way. Which, by California standards isn't very much - it's not unusual for me to drive to the Colorado River for a day trip (about 160 miles one way).
      Bit of a different impression when I realized I'd driven in 4 different states in the 4 1/2 hours it took me to get there. 😳

    • @lucasgautschi5685
      @lucasgautschi5685 Год назад +87

      Then take it a step further and go to western Canada that’s where I’ve always lived the closest city to the city where I grew up was an 11 hour drive

  • @tbaruchproductions
    @tbaruchproductions Год назад +176

    I drove from NYC to San Francisco. It was amazing. The amount of uninhabited land was surprising and the U.S. highway system was impressive.

    • @oscargrouch7962
      @oscargrouch7962 9 месяцев назад

      Please leave our "flyover country" uninhabited. We do not need city slickers from NYC and San Francisco ruining it.

    • @sonodaplugprod.9931
      @sonodaplugprod.9931 9 месяцев назад +4

      How long did it take you? What car did you drive in?, and how many miles did you drive?

    • @joemckim1183
      @joemckim1183 7 месяцев назад +3

      @@mohit_zala_ It probably also depends on how much sight seeing you stop to do on the trip. 2-3 days if you only stop for pit stops and to sleep at hotels.

    • @dudoklasovity2093
      @dudoklasovity2093 12 дней назад

      Yes, if potholes impress you then yes, it's very impressive! LOL

  • @mattr2626
    @mattr2626 9 месяцев назад +175

    I just got back from NYC, it was my first time ever on the east coast as a native Californian. The places I saw, people I met, and food I ate were unlike anything back home. It's an experience that showed me that the US truly has many different cultures

    • @mattr2626
      @mattr2626 9 месяцев назад

      @@TheProdigalSon235 Pubic comment section bud

    • @imreallyagoat
      @imreallyagoat 8 месяцев назад +8

      I was born and raised in NYC but I’ve never been to California before. I hope one day I get to experience what it’s like to live in California because I have never traveled to the West Coast ever in my life. I only have been to East Coast states.

    • @DylanJo123
      @DylanJo123 8 месяцев назад

      ​@@mattr2626This is a very hairy comment section

    • @DylanJo123
      @DylanJo123 8 месяцев назад +5

      ​@@imreallyagoatBe sure to know how to drive. Public transportation is terrible here compared to NYC

    • @beazrich2.017
      @beazrich2.017 7 месяцев назад +1

      @@DylanJo123Something interesting is that New Jersey is closer to New Hampshire and Vermont than the distance from New Jersey to North Carolina. NYC, Philly, are closer to Nunavut (Akimiski Island) than to Miami Florida.

  • @pebcak
    @pebcak Год назад +5790

    When Lincoln was established as the capital of Nebraska (and renamed to Lincoln), it was considered to be the furthest point west where people would want to settle, marking the boundary of the westward great American desert. They even specified the exact location of this boundary to be the intersection of O St and 14th St. To this day it still marks a divider of the east/west population, where half of the state's population lives across a line just east of Lincoln, in the far eastern part of the state. West of Lincoln still remains the West as it did in the late 1800's.

    • @starcrib
      @starcrib Год назад +118

      And where the conspiracy theorists- and republican rage grievance hysterics flourish 🦖☄️

    • @muderschaferhund
      @muderschaferhund Год назад +40

      Nice. My home

    • @parkertdm9362
      @parkertdm9362 Год назад +1

      @@starcrib So you must be like a loyal dog to the Democrats, because despite the absolute shitshow that was bidens presidency and the fact that everyone has lost the little faith they had in him you still eat up their propaganda. Sorry I went into my political opinion, I'll delete it if you guys want, it would be hypocritical of me to keep it up.

    • @parkertdm9362
      @parkertdm9362 Год назад +546

      @@starcrib Also, always bringing up politics in a video that has nothing to do with politics, congrats dude, your an outcast.

    • @ethank5059
      @ethank5059 Год назад +158

      I didn’t know the history but leaving Lincoln traveling west really does feel like your entering something different entirely. East of Lincoln along I-80 your rarely a few hours from a major population center yet once you leave Lincoln heading west along I80 the next population center is Salt Lake City followed by Reno then Sacramento. It’s truly desolate.

  • @coryphillips7945
    @coryphillips7945 Год назад +1397

    I lived in Indiana 25 years, and left to see America 4 years ago. Driving through Nebraska, Montana, Texas, New Mexico, California, Nevada...life changing. The enormity of these open spaces makes you feel somehow more human and much less important.

    • @Indyjones89
      @Indyjones89 Год назад +24

      I live in Indiana. Do you regret leaving or is life better?

    • @coryphillips7945
      @coryphillips7945 Год назад +206

      @@Indyjones89 life is IMMEASURABLY better since I left Indiana. The weather is better out West, the people are more diverse and easy going, there is less religious bigotry, I make more money, and there are endless free things to do in Las Vegas, where i spend the winter, and Montana, where I spend the summer. To boot, I am what most people would call poor. I make about 20 dollars an hour as a Chef. I was on the verge of suicide living in Indiana. I feel as though I have been born again out here. I will never go back to Indiana and I rarely talk to anybody from Indiana because I have already heard their piece. Everything... I mean EVERYTHING is better out West.

    • @JPdraws_
      @JPdraws_ Год назад +10

      @@coryphillips7945 Indyanimal for life!

    • @donotneed2250
      @donotneed2250 Год назад +20

      @@coryphillips7945, one of the best things I did after being fired from my electronics job in 1991 was to go to truck driving school. Eleven weeks after I started I had my Commercial Drivers License. Things only looked up from there. The guy I was working for before going to driving school even tried to get me to come back to work for him. I was enjoying myself too much going to new places and meeting new faces. Over the years some became friends.

    • @osimeon00
      @osimeon00 Год назад +27

      @@coryphillips7945 People who abandon their past and have no family/friends to speak with usually indicates YOU were the problem.

  • @ludicrousmodel3173
    @ludicrousmodel3173 11 месяцев назад +100

    As a Canadian, I find this video very educational. I had no idea that the central states were so sparsely populated. It doesn't surprise me, as I went to Wyoming and Montana last summer and I was amazed by how rural it was.

    • @Nyder
      @Nyder 10 месяцев назад +2

      Canada is the same way. It's like the Outback but not as extreme. Gotta stay networked to the coast.

    • @ludicrousmodel3173
      @ludicrousmodel3173 10 месяцев назад +1

      @@Nyder I know about Canada, I just didn't know about the states.

    • @joemckim1183
      @joemckim1183 10 месяцев назад +1

      @@ludicrousmodel3173 And in Canada I would imagine the vast majority of the population lives within less than an hour and half drive of the the border. Once you get too north the areas become a lot colder and less inhabitable.

    • @beazrich2.017
      @beazrich2.017 7 месяцев назад

      Philly, NYC, are closer to Nunavut (via Akimiski Island) than to Miami.

    • @DevynCairns
      @DevynCairns 6 месяцев назад +1

      ​@@joemckim1183yes it's true, but we also have the same lack of moisture drying out our interior, plus it's cold north of the Great Lakes in the east, so once you start going west of Toronto, population gets very sparse. The line shows up going to Winnipeg here in terms of precipitation, but it begins earlier in Canada due to temperature, even though Winnipeg is far more wet than anything west of it (until BC)
      Western Canada is extremely sparse. Vancouver is nice, I grew up here, but I am jealous of the many other places in the world where there are places to go within easy distance by road or rail. It takes 4 hours by train (if you're lucky) just to get to Seattle from here, and as much as I like Seattle it isn't too terribly different. And forget going anywhere else in Canada - the Canadian only runs twice a week, costs a lot, and won't get you anywhere quickly. Though it is a nice journey in itself - I enjoyed it - but not super practical to actually get somewhere.

  • @Nedlius
    @Nedlius Год назад +133

    As someone who lives in a small town in the Rocky Mountains far away from any major cities, this video was super interesting to watch. Especially the part where Mount Mitchell is mentioned and how it's only 6,684 feet tall. I say *only* 6,684 tall, because my town is more than 2,000 feet higher than that in elevation. The world is a pretty crazy place.

    • @alvaroperez7879
      @alvaroperez7879 8 месяцев назад +3

      I completely get it! I live in Colorado Springs at 7000 ft and found it amusing the tallest mountains in east coast are lower then where I live hahaha😊

    • @AngloCatholic1
      @AngloCatholic1 7 месяцев назад

      @@alvaroperez7879are you from South Park?

    • @BlueLeaf01
      @BlueLeaf01 3 месяца назад

      which town

  • @DrPondsPizza
    @DrPondsPizza Год назад +1001

    I worked in a small rural town in Idaho that fulfilled orders all across the US. Someone from New York city called in one day and asked if I was close to Bosie. I told him "No I'm on the east side of Idaho and Boise is on the west side." He responded "So what like 30 minutes?" I said "try 5 hours buddy."

    • @msjannd4
      @msjannd4 Год назад +33

      Wow. I didn't even know that. And I'm so glad I don't live in NYC anymore! Never again.

    • @SUZSMITH
      @SUZSMITH Год назад +18

      @@msjannd4 And I miss it every day. It is definitely not for everybody.

    • @rossco76tait48
      @rossco76tait48 Год назад +26

      American geography wasn't his strong point I guess 🙂

    • @SUZSMITH
      @SUZSMITH Год назад +53

      @@rossco76tait48 Or he just lives in New York and never leaves. He could’ve been British they can go from one part of the country to another in the span of 5 to 6 hours. They think a 45 minute drive is an eternity. Too funny. Meanwhile I routinely drive 13 hours to go visit my family when I don’t feel like dealing with flying around.

    • @daisyeyeyey
      @daisyeyeyey Год назад +7

      just moved, learned this the hard way😭

  • @AdricBraithwaite
    @AdricBraithwaite Год назад +803

    Yeah, when I moved from East coast to West coast (I drove), I was shocked by how different everything felt when I got to western Nebraska. I had always been used to having an exit with a rest stop, gas station, etc every 10 miles or so. Wyoming was especially frightening because you could go 90 or 100 miles without a single exit, and then if there was one, there was no guarantee it wouldn't be a dirt road or something. I filled up the tank whenever I could.
    Stunningly beautiful though! First time I ever saw true wilderness as opposed to countryside. Then the sun set to a fiery red horizon and the stars and the milky way came out. Still remember it clearly.

    • @timhorrocks3515
      @timhorrocks3515 Год назад +40

      Thankyou my friend for sharing that. It sounds amazing. Im from the UK but if i lived in America id love to be way out west with open space all around me.

    • @absbi0000
      @absbi0000 Год назад +13

      Loved Wyoming driving through!

    • @nyy1960
      @nyy1960 Год назад +3

      Very interesting what year did you head west?

    • @nyy1960
      @nyy1960 Год назад +1

      @@timhorrocks3515 come Tim. I'm headed west to the Rockies myself soon. NYC metro area is not what it once was. 👍

    • @AdricBraithwaite
      @AdricBraithwaite Год назад +6

      @@nyy1960 This happened in 2013. I moved to Portland, OR for a 1 year contract job. I've since moved back to the east coast though!

  • @GB-ez6ge
    @GB-ez6ge Год назад +51

    I'm from Boston and have ancestors in New England going back to the mid 1620s. One of them tried to make the trek to California but couldn't find a way past the big green line going from San Antonio to Winnipeg, so he came home to Narraganset Bay, broken and dismayed. That was before the airplane was invented, which allowed people to go over the green line.

  • @utahdan231
    @utahdan231 Год назад +53

    I live in Midwest. I traveled 48 states. My favorite part is West. Love long , lonely drives, it’s safe if it comes to people. Only animals can be a problem. The time behind the wheel allows you to look into yourself. Same with Northern Canada. So gorgeous to hike ,drive.

    • @belle_pomme
      @belle_pomme 6 месяцев назад

      48 states? I guess the 2 states you haven't visited are Alaska and Hawaii?

  • @austinhannemann2615
    @austinhannemann2615 Год назад +767

    I once drove from Provo UT to Austin TX and can confirm there are very few towns in between and TONS of desert, crazy that Phoenix and Las Vegas exist in this desert

    • @davidz3879
      @davidz3879 Год назад +1

      Irrigation is the only reason that desert cities can exist.

    • @BOBTHEBERT
      @BOBTHEBERT Год назад +65

      I'm not sure about Phoenix, but Vegas is mostly a product of the Mob from California who ran gambling rings getting outlawed, and thus moving in to Nevada in a part of the state where there was no regulation due to being unincorporated territory.

    • @jess8189
      @jess8189 Год назад +81

      I live in Phoenix. We often joke the only reason it exists was because air conditioning was invented. It would be absolutely inhospitable otherwise. Arizona actually gets the majority of its water from underground reservoirs, not so much from the Colorado.

    • @isakohman5105
      @isakohman5105 Год назад +22

      I know someone else also answered, but vegas is also there because of Hoover dam as well, since it gave a more consistent source of water

    • @jacob4920
      @jacob4920 Год назад +55

      I once drove from Fargo, ND, to Seattle Washington. And even up north, where there is absolutely no "desert" anywhere on the map, that vast stretch of region is so sparsely populated that, for a while, as I was driving across North Dakota/Montana at night, you could not see ANY city lights, on the horizon, and the sky was so clear from light pollution that you could see the milky way band CLEARLY! It was literally like driving across the surface of the MOON, in some locations! All you had was the interstate, and even then, you rarely passed any other vehicles going either way! It was so eerie, I remember actually getting to Boise, Idaho, and finally feeling relief at the sight of significant human population! lol

  • @DoodleDangWang
    @DoodleDangWang Год назад +1787

    I'd like to hear his VAAAASST inflection on something more mundane. "I walked into Starbucks and began to wait for an ENORMOUS length of time UNPRECEDENTED in ALL of modern human history. When I gazed at the MONUMENTAL menu variety I was ASTOUNDED at the plethora of choices with a STAGGERING 40 choices. Each item weighing in at a COLLASAL 2.5% of the TOTAL menu availability."

    • @dead2memes2oof85
      @dead2memes2oof85 Год назад +61

      Lmao true

    • @soundscape26
      @soundscape26 Год назад +255

      It's like he discovered adjectives and now cannot stop filling the script with them... while narrating in the most over the top way possible.

    • @DoodleDangWang
      @DoodleDangWang Год назад +56

      @@soundscape26 Yeah it is hard to not hear now that it's noticed. I do hope he continues though, gives him fun character amongst some of the other similar channels...

    • @soundscape26
      @soundscape26 Год назад +58

      @@DoodleDangWang I mean, only if he wants to be the Jar Jar Binks of the geopolitical channels.

    • @realdreamerschangetheworld7470
      @realdreamerschangetheworld7470 Год назад +13

      😂🙏

  • @iceomistar4302
    @iceomistar4302 Год назад +24

    Having grown up in New Zealand which is a small island nation, the size of a country like the USA is mind boggling for me.

  • @marilynnjefferson8525
    @marilynnjefferson8525 Год назад +7

    Fascinating analysis, thank you. May I mention that distances between locations should be spoken of as being farther, not further. You have given us a further understanding of this phenomenon.

  • @jacobhauenstein
    @jacobhauenstein Год назад +787

    When I turned 18 I did a roadtrip from Vermont (North East, close to Maine, New Hampshire, New York) to Los Angeles. I think everyone should make a trip like this if you live in the United States. The appreciation it will give you for this countries structure, geography, and cultures is worth so much more than I thought. However large you imagine the distance to be, I can assure you it is larger.

    • @SamuelSamuelSamuel1
      @SamuelSamuelSamuel1 Год назад +3

      Did you see SLC or St. George?

    • @miinyoo
      @miinyoo Год назад +23

      @@SamuelSamuelSamuel1 SLC is amazing to see when you breach the mountains in the middle of the night. It's like a city came out of literally nowhere.

    • @miinyoo
      @miinyoo Год назад +36

      Highly recommend east / west road trip. Don't go with a set plan if you can. Take two weeks to do it. There's a lot to discover, little nooks and crannies of food and culture all along the way. Every 200 miles is different. Goes to show that America with all it's claims of unity is very much a diverse place. (unless you're in the cities which are much more homogeneous culturally)

    • @ChadwickTheChad
      @ChadwickTheChad Год назад +16

      It's a good thing you specified that Vermont is in the northeast.

    • @bigboner23
      @bigboner23 Год назад +4

      I’m straight

  • @SamuelSamuelSamuel1
    @SamuelSamuelSamuel1 Год назад +563

    I’m from Salt Lake City, and I’ve never gone past
    “the line” and I’ve never seen the ocean.
    It doesn’t bother me. It’s just weird to think that I live in a bowl with 2,660,000 people
    (Wasatch front) in an isolated bubble.
    I’ve always wanted to drive to New York just to see the endless small towns that people talk about existing.
    Heck I’ve never been in a metro sprawl with more than 5,000,000 people.
    And Phoenix was enough of a trip. I could see a huge city from end to end and it felt infinite.
    In Utah you look any direction and the buildings and homes end with mountains.

    • @FreewayBrent
      @FreewayBrent Год назад +54

      Salt Lake City is interesting. Basically one seemingly endless collection of cities and suburbs for over 100 miles from north to south, all tied together by a busy 10-18 lane freeway (Interstate 15). However, you can travel east-to-west in 10-15 miles and be completely surrounded by either forests and mountains to the east, or desert to the west. Nothing else like it in the US. Puget Sound sprawls for well over 100 miles north-to-south as well, but east-to-west sprawl isn't quite as narrow as it is in Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Front region.

    • @nicholascrowe2807
      @nicholascrowe2807 Год назад +11

      Yeah I live in a small town in western Maryland and it’s nice living in a small community. I could never live in a big city but i would like to Live on the outskirts of one. I would love to visit the west coast though

    • @NicotineRosberg
      @NicotineRosberg Год назад +22

      Meanwhile I'm sick of NYC and want to live in a small town or a less populated area

    • @nicholascrowe2807
      @nicholascrowe2807 Год назад +18

      @@NicotineRosberg I have a cousin who lives in nyc and I could never do it, for me personally the politics and the people are the worst along with the liberal mayor. Since I’ve always lived in a smaller community I’m definitely more conservative than liberal and especially with all the Covid shit and booster shots I couldn’t deal with that bullshit, but that’s just my opinion. Although I think you would be much happier in a smaller community you can really take in the sights and sounds of nature and just the world around you so much more. You won’t wanna live in a big city again

    • @paulloveless9180
      @paulloveless9180 Год назад +12

      You should really visit NYC. It's truly magical. Lived in Hells Kitchen for 3 years.

  • @kaycoats8344
    @kaycoats8344 Год назад +5

    This is so informative & interesting! Thank you for a well put together educational video! Even the speaker is clear & consice. 👍

  • @craigp7087
    @craigp7087 Год назад +10

    The big island of Hawaii is quite unique weather wise as well. Land in Hilo on the east side, drive to the south and the around to the west side where Kona is located. I think Hilo gets over 100 inches of rain per year and area just north of Kona basically desert, or around 10 inches a year. All in less than 100 miles of driving.

  • @tg72211
    @tg72211 Год назад +590

    I drove from Arkansas to California and back recently, and it’s really amazing to watch the landscape change like this. You can feel the land getting more and more parched as you go until you hit the dramatic, dry expanse of the Mohave desert where there is basically no life. As cool as the west is, coming back into the dense forests of the eastern United States was really comforting. I think we’re programmed to recognize dry places as hostile to our existence.

    • @tg72211
      @tg72211 Год назад +65

      @@benrobinson1544 I’ve been to Washington as well, and I watched the same video with the same rainfall data as you did. I know the entire west isn’t a desert, but that experience of heading due west in the southern US is really something.

    • @bluesbest1
      @bluesbest1 Год назад +46

      Rain? Dense forests? What are these foreign concepts?
      -someone born and raised in the LA region

    • @Sephiroth144
      @Sephiroth144 Год назад +1

      @@bluesbest1 Griffith Park in January; its an approximation, but should help you get there.

    • @squarebody_swervin78_355
      @squarebody_swervin78_355 Год назад +1

      @@bluesbest1 angeles national forest is nice when its super foggy.

    • @elizabethdillon4945
      @elizabethdillon4945 Год назад +2

      @@tg72211 you forgot thunder and lightning and wind. we have newcomers to the state who wondered if our spring weather was normal.

  • @SoniasWay
    @SoniasWay Год назад +693

    As someone who’s never been to America, I find this really interesting

    • @CharlieKellyEsq
      @CharlieKellyEsq Год назад +76

      You should come, I'll show you around. America is really weird because there are so many different cultures and attitudes. Think you understand America by visiting NYC, drive 50 miles north, and it's completely different

    • @jps0117
      @jps0117 Год назад +29

      @@CharlieKellyEsq ...or 50 miles south of DC.

    • @HenryVarn
      @HenryVarn Год назад +9

      @@CharlieKellyEsq Yep even within a single state it can be crazy. Here in SC and the lowcountry region differs a good bit from the upstate.

    • @shreyanshagarwal4013
      @shreyanshagarwal4013 Год назад +24

      @E Van visit India and you would find the same every state different language and culture

    • @Jorge-lh6px
      @Jorge-lh6px Год назад +7

      @E Van Last thing I would do is take them to New England or Utah, best to go to NYC and actually experience what the city has. Of course, most people from outside the city only pay attention to everything down town.

  • @jimsutton1179
    @jimsutton1179 Год назад +11

    Good research! We make the trip from Texas to Colorado to visit family several times a year, and see this line pretty dramatically after Wichita Falls, TX. Going from there through NM and into CO seems forever due to the topography that changes very little till you are close to Capulin Mountain, which is an extinct volcano. After that things change more dramatically as you go through Ratan Pass and into southern CO and view the Rocky Mtns. to the west. It is beautiful in its own way, however. We always love meeting and talking with the people at the gas stops that live in those rural areas along the way, they are truly salt of the earth people!

    • @lorraineakers8147
      @lorraineakers8147 Месяц назад

      Tell me more ! I'm in New England and in search of a new home for retirement. I want that small town feel where people have respect and stick together !

  • @m.k.6805
    @m.k.6805 Год назад +38

    I lived on the East Coast for a few years. I was surprised that 90% of people I met had nver traveled west of the Mississippi. Also, they had no idea of how vast the western states are. I remember meeting a German immigrant who lived in Houston. He told me that he drove north for 9 hours are was "still in Texas". He told me that in Europe you can pass through 4 countries in 9 hours!
    Eastern states are "nice" but the western vistas are spectacular and unique locations. The vast and rugged beauty of states like Utah, Arizona, etc.are beautiful beyond description. Locations like Bryce Canyon only exist in the American West. Nowhere else in the world.

    • @Sterlingx11
      @Sterlingx11 11 месяцев назад +1

      Utah is a state that I wish every state looked like

  • @poshko41
    @poshko41 Год назад +1255

    I moved to the Phoenix metro area from the east coast and this remoteness outside of the populated areas was striking to me. Even in the rural areas of the east, there's almost always evidence of some form of human presence (a cornfield, a gas station, etc.). If you drive in any direction north, south, east, or west of metro Phoenix, you can go miles upon miles without seeing anything but the road, your car, the fairly steady stream of traffic, and a seemingly unending landscape of nothingness. It's a surreal experience.
    EDIT: In my original comment I stated you can go “literally hundreds and hundreds of miles” without seeing civilization. Admittedly, this is a bit of an exaggeration for the most part.

    • @jamesdewer
      @jamesdewer Год назад +50

      Agreed, I've lived back East and thought it humorous when my cousims went Camping and put on lumberjack attire and kitted out with every conceivable gadget. There are no mountains compared to the Rockies or Sierras and certainly none that match the sheer beauty of the grand tetons.

    • @ari_california8873
      @ari_california8873 Год назад +75

      I drove from LA to Portland Oregon along the coast and in Washington and Oregon there were stretches where it was just forest and trees for 2 hours without anything. Forest so dense it blocks out the sun and makes the road look dark. Then one time i flew from from Houston to Anchorage Alaska and when you're over the border between Canada and US you look down and see nothing but endless trees

    • @sevenseas8557
      @sevenseas8557 Год назад +24

      It's gorgeous

    • @renataheiberg7534
      @renataheiberg7534 Год назад +15

      It is lovely.

    • @poshko41
      @poshko41 Год назад +13

      @@ari_california8873 I want to do that drive someday.

  • @colbystearns5238
    @colbystearns5238 Год назад +1474

    As someone who lives in Southern California, I think this is really interesting! In a way this is sort of similar to Australia and China in that most of the population lives on the East Coast and the West is mostly isolated and scattered.

    • @Evil_Chronic
      @Evil_Chronic Год назад +115

      Funny how being from Cali it doesn’t seem like we’re isolated. But then again I’m in the LA area so it’s just always busy and slammed everywhere. But we are surrounded by deserts if we want to go anywhere.

    • @anthonydelfino6171
      @anthonydelfino6171 Год назад +90

      @Buck Rothschild I grew up in Utah, and you'd hear the same things there. Now I live in California.... and I gotta say most Californians are friendlier than most Utahns I've met.
      But you're right, the same problem effects Wyoming, Utah, and even California. Water. And it's so frustrating that at least when it comes to my family back home, they don't see the connection to pollution, climate change, and drought. A lot of us out on this side of the country are literally shooting ourselves in the foot.

    • @anthonydelfino6171
      @anthonydelfino6171 Год назад +39

      @@Evil_Chronic I live in the Bay Area, and it feels like that here too, but it's crazy how you just go a little ways out of from San Francisco and it's immediately desolate. Was the same when I used to live in Phoenix. But I went to school in Nashville, and going out there you really see the difference. You leave the city, but you still see signs of human life everywhere.

    • @ARCHITACADEMY
      @ARCHITACADEMY Год назад +17

      @@anthonydelfino6171 I used to live by sac till I was bout 10, but now I live in Reno. Over here, if you just cross into a neighboring valley, it's completely devoid of civilization.

    • @colbystearns5238
      @colbystearns5238 Год назад +31

      @@Evil_Chronic It definitely doesn't feel like we're isolated since we're in the middle of a fully developed island, but once you drive north on the Interstate 15 up to Barstow and Baker or travel east to like Anza-Borrego it truly does feel desolate out there. People in Perth, Australia probably feel the same way since they're surrounded by the Outback.

  • @user-fd2xv8tj7e
    @user-fd2xv8tj7e Год назад +7

    This is a very good video telling us why some places are crowded with people but some are plain lands: rain fall is the main reason, I think other reasons like tornado and hurricane could make some differences as well. More and more climate disasters these days like earthquake, flood, wild fire at the west coast could make future changes, too.

  • @tdl487
    @tdl487 Год назад +8

    Being from rural TN where I have in laws that live on 50+ acres of untouched wilderness, doing a road trip to Lake Tahoe and back was probably my biggest eye opener of how freaking massive our country is! It was that terrible 5 hour(can't exactly remember) of desert from Reno to Las Vegas that didn't settle well with me. I remember absently texting my fiance(now husband) where my friends and I were whenever we got a decent signal. The constant thought of "If we get strained here we're f***ed!" kept going through my mind. I'm claustrophobic and that was the complete opposite of that and I DID NOT LIKE IT EITHER! Regardless, I loved my time at Lake Tahoe and Reno(Vegas not so much) but will be flying the whole way next time.

    • @SuspensionTruth
      @SuspensionTruth 9 месяцев назад

      It's interesting you mention Lake Tahoe as that's a special place we visited often as a family in my youth especially. Always felt like a magical escape from the city life. To take the trip all the way from TN to Tahoe would be like a moving psychedelic experience! I'm actually ready to leave the west for various reasons with TN as a primary location in mind. I'll be going the opposite direction from coast to desert to mid-continent and east of the 98th parallel. God bless you and yours.

  • @QuintessentialWalrus
    @QuintessentialWalrus Год назад +353

    The line going right through Kansas explains a lot. I used to live in western Kansas, then eastern Kansas, and the divide between the arid west and humid east makes the two halves feel like different states.

    • @midwestguy1983
      @midwestguy1983 Год назад +14

      And the latest referendum, and to avoid this getting too political I won't say what it was about, proved sort of like all Kansas elections prove. If you want a Republican ballot initiative or candidate to win you have to hope for mass turnout west of Wichita and average to below average turnout in Johnson, Shawnee, Riley, Douglas, Wyandotte, and Sedgwick counties. If you want a democratic initiative or candidate to win you are going to want massive turnouts in those counties and average to below average turnout in the west. In future, there may well be an Illinois effect in Kansas where Kansas is largely rural and Republican while the KC metro turns the state -at least in the senate- more purple or even light blue.

    • @sterlingodeaghaidh5086
      @sterlingodeaghaidh5086 Год назад +6

      I live on the western border, its a night and day difference. I love where I live but its dry as fuck, and the farmers needing to irrigate only makes getting water harder as our watershed gets abused slightly it seems like with larger areas daming up the tributaries and stuff. Tho idk how much of that is true.

    • @naddarr1
      @naddarr1 Год назад +5

      As a Minnesotan I am always so shocked when I go to one of the Dakota's. It's truly mind boggling how different everything is. The terrain, the vegetation, the amount of water, and thus the people.
      To anyone that lives near this line their is no mystery as to why it exists.

    • @hicknopunk
      @hicknopunk Год назад +4

      Oregon is like this too

    • @QuintessentialWalrus
      @QuintessentialWalrus Год назад +4

      @@naddarr1 I'm currently living in Minnesota, and you're absolutely right about this one! I've spent my whole life around The Line and it's crazy how rain changes everything.

  • @Bubbles99718
    @Bubbles99718 Год назад +873

    I've driven across country 3 times on a motorcycle. The diversity in this country is truly something to experience. Would love to spend an entire year just driving around, having adventures and solving mysteries, like BJ and the Bear. :)

    • @gungadone3329
      @gungadone3329 Год назад +15

      And then, there's NEVADA. What made them the hooker state?

    • @jason9035
      @jason9035 Год назад +9

      Gen Xer I presume ?

    • @Bubbles99718
      @Bubbles99718 Год назад +23

      @@jason9035 u should join me detective

    • @lifeonahilltop
      @lifeonahilltop Год назад +12

      A romantic idea with an enormous carbon footprint

    • @danielpruitt8550
      @danielpruitt8550 Год назад +4

      @@lifeonahilltop fair enough.

  • @Edgy01
    @Edgy01 Год назад +7

    The discussion about the scarcity of water out west is very very true, although one 😊of our homes rests upon a spring fed creek with the cleanest water in California-and it runs 12 months a year, regardless of rain or snowfall. We benefit from a $45/month water bill and no water meters!

  • @SealTeamSekc
    @SealTeamSekc Год назад +1

    For the past few summers I've been veey fortunate to be able totake a yearly drive from Denver up to just south of Lake athabasca in sakatchewan for fishing. 3 day all day drive through this stretch of ranch land, farmland and wilderness. And the culture really doesn't change, even moving over borders. I moved from the east to Denver as a teenager and absolutely love it. Land and exploration as far as the eye can see. Real wilderness in the mountains. And the distance between people breeds a very special culture of nice and mild-mannered folks.

  • @vladspellbinder
    @vladspellbinder Год назад +628

    I was an over the road truck driver for a while and I can verify the divide is obvious. I went from east to west coast and back again multiple times and you could always just tell when you were moving into that dead zone of no civilization, even without the "Last stop for next 100 miles" signs.

    • @GMAMEC
      @GMAMEC Год назад +81

      If you ignore those signs once, even if you have a little more than a half of tank of gas, you will never do it again.

    • @vladspellbinder
      @vladspellbinder Год назад +38

      @@GMAMEC Yeah. I was a company driver, so they always made sure I had enough gas to get through those areas. Twice I stopped to top off while above half tanks and it didn't take much to understand why after seeing the signs.

    • @jerradwilson
      @jerradwilson Год назад +30

      @@GMAMEC When I drive to or from L.A. and Maine, I trip plan all my fuel stops. I make sure my fuel stops are 330 miles or less, which leaves me with an ¼ tank of fuel. I only stop at Costco, Sam's Club, or large travel centers. I set Google Maps from fuel stop to fuel stop as I cross the country.

    • @GregMoress
      @GregMoress Год назад +22

      @@GMAMEC I had a little over 3/4 tank and branched off of 80 for the non-trucker hiways and barely made it out of the mountains in Oregon. Told my experience of great anxiety to the nice mountain gal working at the restaurant/gas-station and she said she's seen people show up in tears.
      Once I even get near that that no-man's line... I'll top off at every gas station I see. Prolly gonna take a 5 gallon gas can too for me and any stranded poor souls.

    • @andreaberryman5354
      @andreaberryman5354 Год назад +1

      Wow. 😳 The West is wateted via snowmelt. Of which, is dwindling. I can't imagine just nothing. I cross WA, and at least there are farms and incredible geological/geographical featuresto keep you company.

  • @airhawk-jp4vj
    @airhawk-jp4vj Год назад +135

    The pacific northwest weather is insane. Youll go from a cold rainy day surrounded by evergreen trees to crossing the cascades in 2 feet of snow, then out into the burning plains of eastern washington. Not a tree in sight for as far as you can see. Even though its called the evergreen state, half of washington is desert.

    • @DDBurnett1
      @DDBurnett1 Год назад +7

      Oregon is even more extreme. The southeastern quarter of the state is almost completely empty and isn't really used for anything except ranching and mining. The land south of US 20 and east of US 395 (almost 18,000 sq. miles) has literally just 2 incorporated towns, both close to the Idaho border.

    • @johnborup7976
      @johnborup7976 Год назад +4

      Until you get to Spokane. Then the trees lakes reappear.

    • @yankeegonesouth4973
      @yankeegonesouth4973 Год назад

      @@DDBurnett1 I've seen maps that place that part of Oregon in the Great Basin, so that makes sense.

    • @Pixzacat2728
      @Pixzacat2728 Год назад

      True I live near seattle and near there there is a lot of things so its not that different from the east coast, but once you get out of that little bubble around seattle its basically like a desert cause I had to drive all the way across washington for a game in Spokane once it was pretty crazy

    • @BrianSmith-lo3mj
      @BrianSmith-lo3mj Год назад

      Yeah, you got that right. I learned this from going to Seattle, WA back in the summer of 2009, and then going to Twisp, WA back in the Winter of 2018. It's like 2 totally different worlds.

  • @daveholte7658
    @daveholte7658 Год назад +24

    Really interesting video and informative. Thanks

  • @jigglykik27
    @jigglykik27 Год назад +3

    I grew up and graduated high school and college in a small town north of Dallas and recently moved out to Abilene, TX (which is just a tiny bit west of the line), and the distance between gas stations once you leave Ft. Worth, increases sharply. There is a stretch of I-20 where there is not a gas station for about 30-40 miles (which i know is not too crazy) but it is crazy to me where it was almost guaranteed that there would be at least one gas station within a mile of you if you were on the highway.

    • @JohnSmith-su3ze
      @JohnSmith-su3ze Год назад +1

      There's a sign next to my house that says 'Next Services 100 miles'

  • @DamienLavizzo
    @DamienLavizzo Год назад +290

    I've driven across the US twice and it's very strange to be in states like Nevada or Oregon, where there are VAST stretches of just nothing, or entire towns that seem to have the same population as the street I grew up on. As someone that grew up in Orange County, places like that are just surreal to me.

    • @aniel1033
      @aniel1033 Год назад +18

      For real! I've done a west coast road trip and an east cost, and going along the eastern coastline you just got town after town, there's so much to see and do constantly. VS the west coast where you can spend 6 hours driving and just see trees & desert

    • @majkbajk8411
      @majkbajk8411 Год назад +20

      And some says earth is overpopulated when in fact there are plenty of land to live

    • @drmemento
      @drmemento Год назад +30

      ​@@majkbajk8411 Whether land is overpopulated depends more upon available resources per person than upon available land per person.

    • @katrina2931
      @katrina2931 Год назад +10

      I have the opposite feeling. I’m from that dark zone. Going where people live so close to each other gives me anxiety.

    • @sirjared21
      @sirjared21 Год назад +3

      Sounds like a stressful place to live with no privacy 😜

  • @gabriellynch2764
    @gabriellynch2764 Год назад +660

    As a washintonian I am amazed to actually find a video that recognizes the diversity to my home state. Most Americans only understand Washington as a rainy forest mountain coastal state. Half of Washington is plains desert canyons. The way the weather comes off the ocean, hits those mountains and just empties itself is something I find hard to explain to people who are used to the east coast.

    • @chickmagnetwampaone
      @chickmagnetwampaone Год назад +26

      Lived in Eastern WA most of my life and I love it here.

    • @michaelkraft218
      @michaelkraft218 Год назад +25

      Spokane is so dry next to Seattle

    • @sammierose1150
      @sammierose1150 Год назад +43

      I’m an Oregonian (Hey neighbor!) 😀👋 and yes, it’s the same here. People only ever think of “rainy Portland” (Oregon, not Maine) and they never think about the vast diversity in landscape and climate/weather throughout the state. The Pacific Northwest truly is a natural wonder to behold 💎

    • @nopers2223322
      @nopers2223322 Год назад +7

      Spokane is the best for militias

    • @Luiszerep
      @Luiszerep Год назад +15

      I love the diversity tho. Great state for hiking a variety of terrain if you're willing to drive a few hours.

  • @rajaramjyani5026
    @rajaramjyani5026 Год назад +18

    I am living in West side of India (Rajasthan) . Hot desert ,wind storms ,no greenery without population. I can understand those 20% people of America. Love you all my American brothers.

  • @immanla5299
    @immanla5299 Год назад

    What a great stuff of knowledge!! A mini documentary worth watching. Appreciate your efforts.

  • @purplealice
    @purplealice Год назад +641

    My son got accepted to a grad school in San Francisco, and we live in the New York metropolitan area. I helped him move all his stuff, and we were driving through Nevada when we saw a gas station with a sign that said, "Next Fuel 75 miles." My son was at the wheel, and he said, "I know my car - we can make it without stopping now." Well, eleven miles east of Reno we ran out of gas. We called the AAA but they couldn't get someone out to us for a few hours. Eventually someone brought us some gas, and we got to Reno and filled up the tank, then went into an Elvis-themed diner (which had nickel slot machines inside the ladies' rest room). But west of that line, there's nothing out there but mile after mile of mile after mile.

    • @hoopty.
      @hoopty. Год назад +82

      When traveling out west, always take extra gas. I learned the hard way, in my old 94 suburban SMH

    • @manunui871
      @manunui871 Год назад +85

      Those of us who have driven the Alaska Highway can sympathize. There are one or two areas where if you get to the gas station and it's closed for the night, everybody just sleeps in their car in the parking lot because going forward is not an option.

    • @dustinkymalainen8756
      @dustinkymalainen8756 Год назад +147

      Sounds like your kid isn't a math major

    • @Anthony-hu3rj
      @Anthony-hu3rj Год назад +27

      @@dustinkymalainen8756 Dustin, you've got style.

    • @qua7771
      @qua7771 Год назад +48

      Not getting gas was a gamble with no odds of winning.
      I guess hindsight is 20/20 though.

  • @crm1301
    @crm1301 Год назад +406

    I was born in the west (Arizona) and moved east (South Florida) as a small child and nothing could have prepared me for the massive culture shock. There was so much more…everything. More gas stations, more shopping centers and schools, and especially more people. When I first flew into MIA I was shell-shocked bc I had never seen so many people in one place. Excellent video!!

    • @shinyy160
      @shinyy160 Год назад +10

      I was born in AZ and I live here now! I wanna move east so bad

    • @emmyrose333
      @emmyrose333 Год назад +11

      I am born and raised in AZ and just moved to FL and to say the least I'm shocked! The landscape and cities are a lot different than I expected.

    • @shinyy160
      @shinyy160 Год назад +1

      @@emmyrose333 do you like it ? or no

    • @wallacesousuke1433
      @wallacesousuke1433 Год назад

      LMAO that's what Muricans count as culture? No wonder you're so dumb and fat

    • @emmyrose333
      @emmyrose333 Год назад +18

      @@shinyy160 Yes I love it. I love the ocean, the water and rivers, more people means more things to do, and everything is within walking distance or a short drive. Although one thing I already miss about AZ are the mountains and vast land of the Southwest. You can camp basically anywhere in AZ and drive for hours down old two track roads and not see a soul, you can truly get lost in the woods there.

  • @rr7firefly
    @rr7firefly Год назад +17

    Then you have the West Coast, which is densely populated. Some of the greatest urban centers are in California and then you have Portland and Seattle further north. The great American West, east of those areas, contains some of the most beautiful natural scenery in the world. The Rockies, the Tetons, and of course the Sierra Nevada, the Olympic and Cascade ranges.

    • @rr7firefly
      @rr7firefly Год назад +1

      @@ZombieBacon13 When I see a comment such as yours I have to wonder: 1) What percentage would that be that is a cesspool? Do you have a number? 2) Where have you been in California that you could make such a sweeping statement like that? I was in several San Francisco neighborhoods and in Piedmont before Christmas and I saw neither human waste nor putrefying organic matter on the streets. Perhaps this was not the area that you know. BTW, Yosemite, Sequoia and Muir Woods were really beautiful.

    • @mrmr3343
      @mrmr3343 Год назад

      @@rr7firefly you pay more for everything. That's the biggest problem I see with Cali. And water can be an issue. Housing is absurd. New York, and DC only come close for housing costs. The west overall is pricey unless you are in the middle of nowhere.

    • @rr7firefly
      @rr7firefly Год назад

      @@mrmr3343 I cannot argue with you for citing super high costs for many things. In the past I was very lucky to find affordable apartments. Some were ideally located and I loved the time I spent in them. But, that is mostly a thing of the past. It helps if you have a network of friends who can steer you to good things. That really was my good fortune -- having connections. Right now I do not live in the Bay Area, but I go there on business and get a chance to revisit old haunts. FYI: I am NOT in the tech industry.

  • @Fesor__pro__95
    @Fesor__pro__95 6 месяцев назад +1

    As a truck driver ,always waiting to pass that line ,so I can enjoy the ride ,everything east of that line is nightmare.

  • @tomflynn8651
    @tomflynn8651 Год назад +642

    As a British person who visited Washington State, I was shocked when we rode from the forested west to the Great Plains in the east. I did not know there was literally a desert sitting as far north as Canada!

    • @jeffgilligan2004
      @jeffgilligan2004 Год назад +60

      Guests from Ireland were shocked s well. We went from coastal Oregon to the SE corner of the state where it is a very dry desert. One remarked that it was hard to believe that it was the same country.

    • @paulsmith5611
      @paulsmith5611 Год назад +58

      As someone who has lived in Washington State my whole life I can confirm you are not alone in your discovery. Even people who live in the middle and eastern part of the US are shocked to find that we have a desert in Washington State. But like most areas- the most populated are the areas that the media covers. I didn't know that New York state has some very rural and scenic backcountry in the middle of it. Same with Pennsylvania. On the west coast almost all we hear about regarding the northeastern US is New York City, Boston, Washington DC.

    • @tomflynn8651
      @tomflynn8651 Год назад +30

      @@paulsmith5611 You make a good point. When I was 18 and moved to south-central Pennsylvania - I was expecting suburbs. Instead what I got was the Appalachians and country music!

    • @Guardian5985
      @Guardian5985 Год назад +25

      WA has ocean, rivers, lakes, mountains, volcano, forests swamps, and desert. It's pretty diverse, but the state too is split in two vertical halves.

    • @MrKongatthegates
      @MrKongatthegates Год назад +10

      I was born in upstate New York and moved to Washington state lol. I lived in Canada too. Enormous empty countries

  • @Lagdarr
    @Lagdarr Год назад +404

    I thought the name ‘John Wesley Powell’ sounded familiar to me, turns out he taught at my alma mater! (Illinois Wesleyan University) IWU’s annual student research conference that I presented at is also named after him! Really cool to see the work that made him famous in the first place!

    • @Banditomojado
      @Banditomojado Год назад +13

      I got my BS in geology at ISU. Turns out that he kicked off his expedition to the Grand Canyon from the building most of my courses were in. Really cool dude!

    • @firstnlastnamethe3rd771
      @firstnlastnamethe3rd771 Год назад +6

      He was a badass...
      He must have been an interesting teacher.

    • @100mphFastball
      @100mphFastball Год назад +8

      I’m from the Grand Canyon and John Wesley Powell is an icon there. First to navigate through it. Powell point on the west rim and Lake Powell on the east.

    • @eitkoml
      @eitkoml Год назад +4

      I first heard of him watching this video. He was brilliant and his advice should have been followed. State lines should have been drawn based on the availability of water instead of doing something as stupid as drawing straight lines through the landscape.

    • @FlyingDwarfman
      @FlyingDwarfman Год назад

      Hmm... It could be random coincidence, but could the university (Illinois ...WESLEYan... University) be named for him and/ or family of John Wesley Powell?

  • @StephenCecil-in9ib
    @StephenCecil-in9ib Год назад +7

    I have driven back and forth across the USA from NC to CA and WA state three times in the last 10 years and there is an amazing difference between the east and west coast. Once you get past St. Louis, MO going west, the traffic is much less and the cities farther apart until CA or western WA. As described, the number of species of living things is much lower where the rainfall is less. I visited Hoover Dam back in 1986 and again in 2017. It is unbelievable how much less water there is in Lake Meade now compared to 1986. At the rate the water in the Colorado is being used, there may not be any left in 10-20 years. We surely need to do a better job with our water supply.

  • @johnrotten4871
    @johnrotten4871 Год назад +1

    This big empty dry area is an awesome place to go on a motorcycle tour. If you stay off the Interstates, the windy roads to nowhere are awesome. Scenery is beautiful - weather is beautiful - traffic is non-existent.

  • @joshuastein4657
    @joshuastein4657 Год назад +82

    As a high school US History teacher, I use the night-time satellite photo of the US to introduce western expansion and the transcontinental railroad. If you look closely, you can see strings of lights in the West, denoting the paths taken by railroads in the 19th century.

    • @waycoolscootaloo
      @waycoolscootaloo Год назад +6

      @Joshua Stein As a railfan, I find this interesting. I often use Google Maps to discover long abandoned railroad right of ways. You can often see paths of coal dust that still show up on the map's despite the fields having been plowed over many times by the farmers. Plus tree lines often follow former right of ways. 🙂

  • @Justintime2grow
    @Justintime2grow Год назад +591

    I live in eastern Washington. Driving to seattle from here is a trip. The scenery changes from dry dead grass and tumble weeds to lush green ultra dense forest. It's crazy to watch the transition as you drive and it happens very fast. Also crazy you choose Mattawa as a reference point lol. That place is TINY.

    • @kailebmonk3083
      @kailebmonk3083 Год назад +47

      As an E. WA native myself, I love the insane variety of our state. The only place I found to be about as geographically diverse was Afghanistan. Where you have the vast deserts of Kandahar, and then high peaks surrounding Kabul. There were days where it would be 90-100 degrees in Kandahar and just 200 miles NE in Kabul it would be snowing. Such an incredible planet we have.

    • @Aderbj
      @Aderbj Год назад +16

      I was shocked to see Mattawa on one of these videos. Lived there for a few years. Now I’m on the wet side.

    • @CamberRockerCamber
      @CamberRockerCamber Год назад +21

      I'm from Minnesota and we took a road trip to Seattle. South Dakota and Montana were pretty much the same throughout each state. Washington was different. Spokane and Seattle seemed like they were in two totally different states it was pretty unbelievable.

    • @chrisgreen2078
      @chrisgreen2078 Год назад +13

      Dude I do the drive from Spokane to Gig Harbor and back once a month. It is literally mind boggling how the environment changes. We once took a friend from Japan on the road with us and she was completely astonished to see how it changed from one part of the state to another

    • @davemiller6055
      @davemiller6055 Год назад +23

      Washington has pretty much every type of land form. From desert to rain forest. Washington also has the most glaciers of any state besides Alaska and has the largest ferry system in the U.S. The drive between Spokane and Seattle is pretty varied.

  • @clearsailing7993
    @clearsailing7993 Год назад +3

    When I was 20 I drove a Volkswagen from North of Detroit to Anaheim CA to visit a friend. I remember a sign that said "No gas for the next 100 miles". It was shocking how big this country actually is.

  • @Velociferon
    @Velociferon 23 дня назад

    Living in austin, travelling west is such bliss. The hill country opening up to desert is so humbling

  • @amibeingdetained3417
    @amibeingdetained3417 Год назад +224

    RANDOM FUN FACT: at 7:00 you can see a small part of the southern Mississippi that has a lower diversity of tree species than the rest of the map - this is due to the old and current meanders of the Mississippi that used to constantly create and fill flood plains! The tree species are less diverse because only certain ones could withstand constant bombardement from water!
    Just thought I’d share.

    • @salvadormuro7346
      @salvadormuro7346 Год назад +2

      That’s really neat thanks for that tidbit

    • @JH-jp9sv
      @JH-jp9sv Год назад +1

      Aspen and Birch there?

  • @wescador
    @wescador Год назад +145

    Two summers ago, my family and I took a road trip from New England across the rest of the country, going as far West as Las Vegas before turning around. After leaving Illinois, the landscapes became emptier and emptier, but also more beautiful. Driving on highways in Wyoming and Montana was breathtaking, being able to see nothing but vast spreading landscapes for miles.

    • @oooloo99
      @oooloo99 Год назад +9

      I know what you mean. I was just
      In awe of the beauty and grandeur.

    • @Skylancer727
      @Skylancer727 Год назад +3

      Also in some places in Wyoming you can still see the milkyway. It's really faint from my experience though. The best place I've ever seen the milkyway was on an island the boyscouts bought in the Florida Keys. Being 3 miles out from the Keys and Miami being over 130 miles away was pretty effective. Though I could see a glare in the sky looking in that direction, the side we slept on was facing the ocean.

    • @wescador
      @wescador Год назад

      @@Skylancer727 Remote parts of Vermont and Maine also do well with showing the night sky.
      On the road trip, we were camping near the Grand Canyon, far from town, and so we were able to see the Milky Way and thousands of stars that we don’t normally see at all.

    • @joannleichliter4308
      @joannleichliter4308 Год назад +2

      I love upstate New York for many reasons and visited the Adirondacks a lot over several years. But I am a child of the Nebraska--the Great Plains--and am always happy to return.

    • @mannybruce8950
      @mannybruce8950 Год назад

      ​​@@Skylancer727 , was the Master Scout of the island happened to be named Jeffrey Epstein ?

  • @mackenzieleopeng4272
    @mackenzieleopeng4272 Год назад +1

    This was very informative

  • @hoyanglovejoy
    @hoyanglovejoy Год назад +3

    I live in Sacramento CA and love it. It’s just enough and not too much lol. I travel frequently between Las Vegas (by car and plane), So Cal, Bay area and Idaho and I have my likes/dislikes all the same. I can’t wait to visit Europe and South Korea. I appreciate this video/information and reading everyone’s comments. I’d rather watch this vs the other stuff. Thank you peace out ✌🏾

  • @TheCarelessAquarius
    @TheCarelessAquarius Год назад +265

    What was crazy to me about the west, my first times touring the west coast in a rock band. There is a golden rule if you’re at a gas station GET GAS! Wether you are below half a tank or whatever. You get beyond Texas or the mid-west you can literally drive for four or five hours and never see one gas station. And that is the last place that you want to find yourself stranded on the side of the interstate with an empty gas tank.

    • @parkcaro
      @parkcaro Год назад +20

      Good point. This may explain the difference between how I get gas and my husband gets gas. He's from the east coast and is always fine with whatever, but I'm always wanting to fill up before I get too close to 1/4 tank....sometimes 1/2. He would low-key mock me on road trips.

    • @lisao6928
      @lisao6928 Год назад +1

      So true! I remember freaking out thinking I was going to run out of gas on a cross country trip.

    • @hames100
      @hames100 Год назад +3

      maybe back in the day, now they have those trucking stops at least every 50 miles or so

    • @TheCarelessAquarius
      @TheCarelessAquarius Год назад +3

      @@hames100 yeah it’s been awhile back since I’ve been out west so that’s good to hear.

    • @eagle25311
      @eagle25311 Год назад +4

      Can confirm, I'm a trucker that goes to all 48 states. There's no interstate where you will be driving 4 to 5 hours without fuel.

  • @suryasanjay5687
    @suryasanjay5687 Год назад +859

    I visited family in Los Angeles in September this year. Drove the length and breadth of California. It is so unimaginably large and empty, it really hits you when you’re driving and getting out of LA/SFO. And I’m from India, which is a pretty big country but this was unbelievable

    • @millevenon5853
      @millevenon5853 Год назад

      California is bigger than Japan.

    • @annak15
      @annak15 Год назад +9

      I wonder if they subconsciously want to live as fast as possible from Russia….. and North Korea?

    • @halfvolley11
      @halfvolley11 Год назад +40

      Ontario, Canada has left the chat.

    • @khietnguyen9505
      @khietnguyen9505 Год назад +14

      True, I droved from Chicago > Texas, LF/SFO, the U.S is so huge i can't barely find houses outside city

    • @amywalker7515
      @amywalker7515 Год назад +41

      I once had to drive from San Diego to north of Sacramento to pick up my sister. I thought I'd never get there.

  • @robgrey6183
    @robgrey6183 Год назад +2

    I live at the base of the Tetons (9:52) up against the Idaho border. You're right about it being empty. I have to check for mountain lions and bears when I walk to the shop.

  • @TheFunkySlothGamer
    @TheFunkySlothGamer 9 месяцев назад +1

    I live in Vancouver Washington where it’s extremely rainy and wet but if you drive not even 2 hours it becomes a whole different picture where it’s just dry

  • @andrewgrebenisan6141
    @andrewgrebenisan6141 Год назад +67

    I just drove from Toronto to the Bay Area a few weeks ago... it was crazy how it went to lush green in eastern Nebraska to desolate wasteland so quickly in the west of the state, and then completely devoid of life until I got to Lake Tahoe in California. Absolutely crazy.

    • @kylefopma4108
      @kylefopma4108 Год назад +3

      Ahhh gotta love I-80 haha. Yeah from Grand Island Nebraska to Salt Lake is pretty much nothing. Then again from Salt Lake to Reno

    • @jdwrink
      @jdwrink Год назад +2

      Driving west of Grand Island really does have a “Here be dragons” vibe.

    • @jasinferati4064
      @jasinferati4064 Год назад +1

      I live in Reno, a city in Nevada maybe 40 mins away. Anytime I go up to Tahoe I still am in awe of how beautiful it is

  • @nomaderic
    @nomaderic Год назад +261

    I'm a nomad who travels and lives across the country. This line is pretty visible when driving. In some places it happens quickly and drastically, in some it's a little more gradually but one thing is for sure, YOU KNOW when you "crossed into the west" the vegetation changes, the humidity changes, everything. The most dramatic change I've personally driven though is leaving Portland Oregon heading east. Once you past mt hood it goes from a literal rainforest to dry desert in almost an instant. Same when leaving reno and crossing into California. In texas where I am from 87 percent of texans lives east of this line. Once you go west of San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, it becomes no man's land compared to the eastern part of the state. One of the emptiest I've driven is the loneliest hwy across Nevada. I remember seeing a sign that said "128 miles to next gas station". The western US and the eastern US are like 2 different countries. Even the states on the line are like two different states. Go to far east Oklahoma then go to west Oklahoma, it's a whole other world.

    • @nomaderic
      @nomaderic Год назад +44

      @Buck Rothschild why did you respond to my comment with a whole story about how you hate Wyoming?

    • @sjtv1000
      @sjtv1000 Год назад +36

      @@nomaderic I kind of enjoyed his story

    • @miinyoo
      @miinyoo Год назад +22

      @Buck Rothschild That took a lot of effort to read wall of text and I disagree, if you look anywhere in the nation, cities have generally democrat politics and the surrounding countryside have generally republican politics.
      The assumptions you make are based on your familiarity and political bias.
      In reality, it's a cultural thing. Cities are generally more homogeneous and necessarily dependent but are commerce nexuses with the rest of the world while the countryside just wants to be left alone for the most part.

    • @SameLif3
      @SameLif3 Год назад

      @Buck Rothschild your family must be part of the 1%

    • @jb-fl7le
      @jb-fl7le Год назад +1

      @@miinyoo exactly thank you! what a wasted monologue and long ass boring diatribe and espoused garbage that buck rothchild typed up. keep crying Buck! its ok! stay where your at! wyoming doesn't need you! stay in your little metropolitan tik tok colorful culture "open-minded, diverse secular, athiest, marxist" bullshit bubble. the big cities are usually the ones to go first in a war anyways. nuked, bio-hazard crisis, marshall law instituted etc. while the small grassroot outskirt towns will still be around and able to fend for themselves and come together as a small tribal community. whereas in a big ass city... its every man and family for themselves and everyone devolves into animals... absolute total break down of society in a big city. freeways exiting the city would be totally shut down jam packed due to everyone wanting to leave the city all at once. hahahahah. no thank you! ill stay in my little mountainous town high up in elevation surrounded by mountains on all four sides. keep your big city unelected beaucratic policies out of my life! As the Great Tommy Lee Jones once said as Kay in Men in Black 1:
      A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.

  • @blaisebizimana2062
    @blaisebizimana2062 Год назад

    In the summer 2022; I drove from New Hampshire to Utah. After crossing the Mississippi river; i just noticed a big change. It was an amazing journey that enriched my soul.

  • @smaguire8339
    @smaguire8339 Год назад

    This is amazing, informative, and thought provoking.

  • @francesca4982
    @francesca4982 Год назад +949

    I live in the UK, and have never visited the USA. I am stunned by the impression of the size, distances and terrain of the US given by this video. Americans who come to England must be equally stunned to realise how tiny it is by comparison. I knew, course, that America is a huge continent, but I somehow have never had the imagination to realise how this must feel. The vast emptiness. In England, everywhere is very close to everywhere else. The horizons aren't far away. Fields are small. Everywhere is small, small, small. Americans must feel claustrophobic over here. On the other hand, I would feel terrified by the endless spaces over there. England is so cosy, intimate and friendly by comparison. To an English person! We are more different than I thought!

    • @MrArtist7777
      @MrArtist7777 Год назад +118

      Like the old saying, "a hundred miles is a long way in Britain but a hundred years is nothing." Pretty much the opposite in the U.S. I worked for a British company for several years, traveled to London many times and was amazed how Brits were so unaware of how large the U.S. was. I drove across England in about 2 hours once, bizarre how small it was but how crowded it is.

    • @tylerkohlman2084
      @tylerkohlman2084 Год назад +14

      @@MrArtist7777 I am going to use that saying, I have never heard that before

    • @philbert006
      @philbert006 Год назад +42

      Take this line of thought, and apply it to the lower 48 States and Alaska. Alaska is comparable to 20% of the rest of the states by area yet contains 0.25% of the population. It is incredibly vast and beautiful and empty asf. Even more mind blowing is Hawaii. Alaska by area is 90x the size of Hawaii, yet Hawaii has twice as many people.

    • @zazzyzzz
      @zazzyzzz Год назад

      so who cares. uk and brits are an insult to the world. One of the worse things that could exist

    • @philbert006
      @philbert006 Год назад

      @@zazzyzzz yah, I mean, only a true degenerate would use just two letters, the first and last one, to disguise illiteracy. How sad. Thankfully we are happy to open the door to a fulfilling life, as I will gladly share my hooked on phonics cassette. You're welcomed!

  • @maryellis9625
    @maryellis9625 Год назад +281

    As a teen, our family traveled across from New Mexico to Toronto. It amazed me that you could go through 3 to 4 states in a day.
    Try driving across Texas. It can be more than one day in some cases.

    • @treetopjones737
      @treetopjones737 Год назад +25

      From San Diego to Oregon border is a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG drive.

    • @dnholmestyle3772
      @dnholmestyle3772 Год назад +17

      Fun Fact: If you travel from El Paso to the Eastern border of Texas on I-10 it will take more than 12 hours (approx 866 miles)

    • @leadnsteel1428
      @leadnsteel1428 Год назад +2

      I'm Canadian and drove across from Ontario to B.C in 3 days.... most of the country

    • @Mas3d_p0ta3rs
      @Mas3d_p0ta3rs Год назад +1

      @@treetopjones737 yeah fr man even sleeping through it dont work

    • @jimmygrant424
      @jimmygrant424 Год назад

      @@dnholmestyle3772 don't sound like fun to me

  • @jakedaniel364
    @jakedaniel364 8 месяцев назад

    Very cool!! Would love to hear more about the geography and patterns of precipitation/biodiversity in Canada!

  • @jaxontheboss2319
    @jaxontheboss2319 5 месяцев назад +1

    I live in the Eastern Texas Hill Country and I can confirm 100% that that boundary between arid and wet is spot on and very accurate that boundary is placed just a tad bit to the east of where I live and most of the time whenever a storm system comes areas east of us always get way more rain than we do luckily we're far enough East to where we still get a good amount of rain and it's not like out here it doesn't rain a lot either and just because this is the average does it mean when your it can't rain more further west because it absolutely can but this will definitely impact future generations forever very significantly.

  • @peteck007
    @peteck007 Год назад +670

    Americans are lucky to live in a vast country like that yet much populated but not to the extent of severe population density. Truly a lucky country, and terrain, Geography and sceneries make it one of the most beautiful countries on the planet.

    • @gidd
      @gidd Год назад +48

      You said this like the lack of population density is a good thing

    • @joesmith8701
      @joesmith8701 Год назад +41

      due to relations i do hold a united states passport and i would not want to live there because of the helth systim lack of safty net and work life balince but on a cold dark winter day i do fantsize about living in florda

    • @tfyoutalmbout
      @tfyoutalmbout Год назад +185

      @@forestkane_ you've clearly never been to the United States.

    • @tfyoutalmbout
      @tfyoutalmbout Год назад +103

      @@joesmith8701 you don't know what you're talking about. I'm an American. I've lived in Brazil, Mexico, Canada, India, and Australia. Despite the expensive healthcare the US is still by far better than those other countries. Free healthcare simply means you get what you pay for. . .which is nothing. I got food poisoning in Brazil once and waited in the most uncomfortable waiting room you can imagine for 10 hours before being treated. It was free but it was miserable. From that point forward I've always taken advantage of the private healthcare available in third world countries like Brazil because it's 100 times better despite the fact that it costs money.

    • @julianshepherd2038
      @julianshepherd2038 Год назад +55

      nothing to do with luck. They committed near genocide to get it.

  • @LeJunny
    @LeJunny Год назад +175

    I’ve been to every “Western” state, anything West of the Dakota’s and i’ve been there by road and some people don’t realize how EMPTY these states can really be. I drove north across Nevada and didn’t see ANY civilization for roughly 5hrs, I drove 300 miles before seeing another gas station… boy was I glad I had pumped ahead of time when I still had 200 miles in my tank.

    • @williamwoolf8072
      @williamwoolf8072 Год назад +5

      I cant imagine driving 5 hours straight, thats such a waste of time

    • @LeJunny
      @LeJunny Год назад +23

      @@williamwoolf8072 I had no choice, I was moving up north. I have to drive a Uhaul 14hrs with all my belongings

    • @Rob-nd1qb
      @Rob-nd1qb Год назад +1

      What kind of vehicle did you drive i'm curious not many can go past 300 miles without needing to refuel

    • @KillerAndMX
      @KillerAndMX Год назад +4

      I'm not in the US, but driving from Baja California to Baja California Sur is basically a 7hr long drive full of nothing after Ensenada.
      Maybe a very small town every now and then but its basically empty desert until you get to the state border with BCS, after that thats another 6-8 hours of nothingness until Mulege and even a few more hours until Cabo.
      People say Nevada is empty, but heck, they have never seen this old empty peninsula below California.

    • @aazhie
      @aazhie Год назад +1

      Nevada is so strange. I'm on the coats and it's only about a 6 hrs drive, ye such a massive change

  • @jameyvillanueva6521
    @jameyvillanueva6521 Год назад

    Impressed and now makes perfect sense. San Antonio has been on a rain drought.

  • @vickyburton2434
    @vickyburton2434 Год назад +11

    I love living in a smaller city. I can get anywhere in 15 minutes. I love the open quiet spaces and I never feel like I am crowded! Plus, it is still affordable where I live.❤️❤️❤️❤️

    • @AnnebethTaylor
      @AnnebethTaylor Год назад +1

      I agree I live in Utah and I live in a small town and it is so nice you can walk to the store in about 10-20 mins and it is so quite at night I use to live in Magna and it wasnt quite you had to drive to alot of places and where i live now i can just walk to school it is so nice living in a small town

    • @RhodesWC
      @RhodesWC Год назад

      ...and we like it that way.

  • @maxwillson
    @maxwillson Год назад +198

    I grew up near Boise Idaho. The area has grown a lot. I say the main issue with the west coast is that the cities are surrounded by mountains. At some point you run out of flat land to expand the city. It's really as simple as that and when you drive around the west, you're amazed at how huge the mountains are. I'm still impressed how we even managed to make some of these roads and bridges.

    • @montanaman2439
      @montanaman2439 Год назад +9

      Come to Great Falls MT. Tons of flat prairie that’ll never run out. Plus you have huge mountain view’s like Denver CO. Tons of water

    • @LolLol-zp4jy
      @LolLol-zp4jy Год назад +4

      @@montanaman2439 the best area is flathead valley.

    • @MARILYNANDERSON88
      @MARILYNANDERSON88 Год назад +2

      People hate walking uphill. Most need level spaces to function.

    • @josephbanks1691
      @josephbanks1691 Год назад +5

      Wow.. ok i know idaho.. can you explain lombard street in sanfrancisco? It just doesn make much sense. Also as far as stop signs hills do not seem to matter there.

    • @MrBuild9357
      @MrBuild9357 Год назад

      Yes, I agree 😀

  • @appa609
    @appa609 Год назад +183

    There's something important here that wasn't mentioned. There is a reason why the rainfall drops sharply across the 100th meridian. It's not just that the Atlantic winds don't make it in... they do but they dump their water as they rise and cool. The North American continent is tilted and across this whole region, there is a steady elevation gain going westwards.

    • @jamesgonzalez3439
      @jamesgonzalez3439 Год назад +7

      Great info!

    • @negativenarwhals
      @negativenarwhals Год назад +7

      Does it rain less at higher altitudes or something? That wouldn't make sense to me because any mountains I've been to are always 10x greener than the land next to them

    • @TrollMeister_
      @TrollMeister_ Год назад +4

      Also the eastern pacific ( west coast of us) is cooler and brings in much less moisture than the warm Atlantic does in the east. Why we don’t have hurricanes out west.

    • @stevenalcorn4955
      @stevenalcorn4955 Год назад +8

      @@negativenarwhals mountain ranges force air up where it cools. Cold air holds much less water so it rains and leaves the area after the mountain range very dry

    • @lanthanumkhloride8538
      @lanthanumkhloride8538 Год назад +2

      Pacific moisture is what waters the West. The Gulf of Mexico provides moisture for the Midwest. The Atlantic only affects the East Coast.

  • @bennfisherr6317
    @bennfisherr6317 7 месяцев назад

    I live east of this line, about 2 1/2 hours east of Sioux Falls SD. My fiancée and I took a trip to Colorado a few years ago and drove through Niobrara County Wyoming(the least populated county in the state, although I didn't know that at the time). Southern Minnesota where I live isn't extremely urban by any means but there are at least little towns and rest stops every 15-20 miles or so. I was absolutely blown away by Eastern Wyoming. From Edgemont SD to Lusk there was practically nothing. No cities, no small towns, a few clusters of houses scattered here and there every 10-15 miles. No gas stations for over an hour and no cell service for most of the time. I was nervous as all hell. Made it to Lusk with about a quarter tank of gas. I had even originally thought I should have topped off in Edgemont. Definitely underestimated the population density out west. I've never been to Utah or Nevada but I'd imagine it to be similar, or even more extreme.

  • @davidbudka1298
    @davidbudka1298 Год назад +1

    I always remember the 100th meridian being used as a transition line in Nebraska, tall grass prairie giving way to short grass prairie.

  • @xZOOMORPHICx
    @xZOOMORPHICx Год назад +144

    I saw a map of rainfall in the U.S. overlayed on reports of bigfoot sightings. The line was respected.

    • @Merennulli
      @Merennulli Год назад +39

      Big feet require big water.

    • @davidflitcroft7101
      @davidflitcroft7101 Год назад +7

      They like rivers, and BIG fish. Just ask 'em.

    • @jeffreypierson2064
      @jeffreypierson2064 Год назад +1

      It is hard for Bigfoot to hide behind a cactus or tumbleweed.

    • @M7S4I5L8V2A
      @M7S4I5L8V2A Год назад +4

      He needs water to fuel his spaceship so it makes sense he'd be where there's water.

    • @CRneu
      @CRneu Год назад +2

      bigfoot can be explained by "people are skittish and gullible. OMG DID YOU HEAR THAT!? BIGFOOT!"

  • @chloetayloor
    @chloetayloor Год назад +539

    That's so cool! I never knew that! Wowzers!

  • @GurnoorSingh-21
    @GurnoorSingh-21 9 месяцев назад

    I learned so much from RUclips which is actually interesting and helpful.

  • @ari-mcbrown
    @ari-mcbrown Год назад +1

    Funny that what Powell proposed in the states is something which we actually have in the Netherlands, called "Waterschap" (what roughly translates to Water Authority). Those borders don't line up with cities or provincies, but in stead overlap in a similar way as Powell's chart, the natural water bodies, rivers and canals. They're also a federal authority and can trump local and provincial government. Precisely because of the dangers you explained in your video.

  • @jacksauce
    @jacksauce Год назад +113

    I’m from South Carolina and a few years back I visited Phoenix Arizona for the first time and I was immediately dumbfounded by how vastly different the landscape looked. I’m used to seeing grass, trees, and rolling hills everywhere I look so it was quite a shock for the only green thing to be cacti which previously I hadn’t seen larger than a few inches tall.

    • @MrFfuckUp
      @MrFfuckUp Год назад +4

      Right? I visited Phoenix and Prescott a few years back and the environment and landscape were so strange to me as someone who's lived in Indiana their entire life. It was pretty interesting, but not something I got used to.

    • @jacksauce
      @jacksauce Год назад +1

      @@MrFfuckUp Yeah I definitely felt the same way. On my trip we traveled north to Yellowstone national park and it was crazy how much the environment changed just from going in that direction. Still very dry, but less red rocks.

    • @NVSC10
      @NVSC10 Год назад +3

      @@MrFfuckUp Prescott is awesome. What about the landscape was strange?

    • @MrFfuckUp
      @MrFfuckUp Год назад

      @@NVSC10 Just in general I'm not used to seeing mountains or desert.

    • @MadJustin7
      @MadJustin7 Год назад +9

      I work at the airport in Phoenix. I get a chuckle from all the people taking pictures of the local mountains through the windows. Dull red rock without a spot of green on them. People seem almost shocked how arid the city is. Then they put their hand against the glass and their eyes widen from the heat radiating off (in the summer.)

  • @TheEndofThis
    @TheEndofThis Год назад +254

    Something you forgot to mention is this is the reason there's so many more tornadoes in America on this line than anywhere else in the world. It's very unique to severe supercell thunderstorms because drylines happen here all the time

    • @User31129
      @User31129 Год назад +22

      It's pretty wild to me that with few exceptions, tornadoes don't exist anywhere in the world outside of the USA

    • @katrinalee2148
      @katrinalee2148 Год назад +30

      @@User31129 Not Entirely true. However the United States does make up about 75% of All the World's Tornadoes. In fact, there was a tornado in another country. In Asia somewhere recently, if I'm remembering correctly.

    • @1984AMCinNC
      @1984AMCinNC Год назад +12

      @@User31129 Tornados regularly form in all of Europe, South Africa, Philippines, Bangladesh, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, and far eastern China. They normally refer to them as Cyclones - but they are, alas, what Americans call Tornados.

    • @blakecharles4501
      @blakecharles4501 Год назад +23

      @@1984AMCinNC Cyclones most often refers to hurricanes not tornados. The rest of the world get 200-300 tornados a year. The US averages over 1000 a year. The tornados are often (but not always) bigger and stronger in the US than in other countries as well.

    • @ericsierra-franco7802
      @ericsierra-franco7802 Год назад

      Interesting!

  • @SlammedZero
    @SlammedZero Год назад

    Yeah it's crazy when you go back east. I was just in Nashville for the New Year. Everything is so close. All the bigger cities are so close together. Just a few hours drive each direction. Back west, where I am from, some big cities are 6 or more hours apart at minimum (with some obvious exceptions).

  • @fabianmo
    @fabianmo Год назад

    This was an amazing video! Awesome job

  • @kimberlyperrotis8962
    @kimberlyperrotis8962 Год назад +341

    I could never permanently leave the West, I love it too much. I’m a geologist and love seeing exposed outcrops in the deserts of the west. The western regions have their own special, stark and clean, beauty.

    • @smitch250
      @smitch250 Год назад

      Too much smog nowadays for me. LA just infects so much of the west with its smog and way too many people

    • @jerradwilson
      @jerradwilson Год назад +25

      I agree. I live in L.A., and I fly and drive to and from Maine a few times a year. Yes, everything is lush and green in the East, but it's boring. Farms, trees, and maybe a few rolling hills for hours and hours along with oppressive humidity. The West is so diverse and the scenery always changes. And the weather is dry too.

    • @MrBobbyw121
      @MrBobbyw121 Год назад +1

      WOW. That's pretty neat.

    • @adamfuller5640
      @adamfuller5640 Год назад +14

      Haha I'm in the west right now but I really miss the South. I find the culture to be more friendly (though most people out west are very kind as well) and the biodiversity is much more vast and fascinating. There just aren't as many types of birds out here. I miss lots of rain too like this video talks about.

    • @sonjalewis3047
      @sonjalewis3047 Год назад +2

      @@jerradwilson There's cool geology in Maine, New York and elsewhere, but you have to look harder. Or, maybe, take a step back and let the subtle differences start to sink in.

  • @scottbertrand98
    @scottbertrand98 Год назад +65

    I live in northwest Iowa, kind of sandwiched between Omaha and Sioux Falls, and you can really tell a difference when you start to go west. This summer I drove to Colorado and you can go hours without seeing another human driving through Nebraska or Kansas for that matter.

    • @OGKenG
      @OGKenG Год назад +1

      My brother lives in Sibley

  • @gumerzambrano
    @gumerzambrano Год назад +6

    As we learned with this Christmas storm the west coast has the best weather 🙂

    • @westie430
      @westie430 Год назад +2

      True, but we also have the ring of fire on our side...not cool 😬

  • @Andrew-ev3ho
    @Andrew-ev3ho Год назад +1

    I've lived on the East Coast and in San Antonio. West of San Antonio is really beautiful for star gazing and just really awesome for not being around other people.

  • @goldinger80
    @goldinger80 Год назад +161

    I’ve drove across both lines different times on interstates 80 and 90. You can immediately notice the change. For example, once you cross the Minnesota border into South Dakota, it’s easily noticeable you are in the high plains with a completely different landscape

    • @ven11235
      @ven11235 Год назад +4

      Driving up and down the west coast I love seeing the shift between states. Leaving Oregon and entering California the dividing line literally was the break between dark grey sky's and mountain to sunshine and open spaces

    • @johnlong384
      @johnlong384 Год назад +2

      Many moons ago I drove from the Houston area to New Mexico and I had to turn on the
      A/C at 07.30 am @ 76 F and turned it off in Van Horn about nine hours later at ~94 F,
      humidity sucks!

    • @patrapper7367
      @patrapper7367 Год назад

      Really?

    • @lovly2cu725
      @lovly2cu725 Год назад

      been there done that

    • @ElliottNest39
      @ElliottNest39 Год назад +1

      I noticed the same thing driving from east to west on Interstate 70.

  • @Shinn4703
    @Shinn4703 Год назад +232

    This is crazy to me. I have lived in metropolitan Denver my whole life and I have never thought it weird that it takes at least 45 minutes to get to another major town.

    • @saltysweet309
      @saltysweet309 Год назад +9

      Dude Boulder is like 30 min depending on traffic what you mean lol

    • @MasterOfTitties74
      @MasterOfTitties74 Год назад +6

      Shit Brighton is 10 minutes from east Denver, Longmont 20 minutes from west Denver

    • @Chitown18
      @Chitown18 Год назад +5

      I live in St. Louis it’s 5 hours to chicago 3 hours to Kansas City , 3 hours to Indianapolis …leave st louis and it takes no more than 15 minutes to find another smaller city..Everything is close around here

    • @andrewbarrett1537
      @andrewbarrett1537 Год назад +3

      They may have meant to get from the Denver metropolitan area with smaller nearby cities, to the next metropolitan area. That would be like quibbling about whether Pasadena or Fairfax/La Brea are part of Los Angeles. All are part of the Los Angeles metropolitan statistical area, but Pasadena is its own city whereas Fairfax/La Brea is actually just a neighborhood or region of the city of Los Angeles. So no doubt the cities you mention like Longmont are independent from Denver proper in terms of separate city governments etc., but they are considered part of the same overall metropolitan statistical area (and maybe in the same county too, I’m not sure).

    • @jeffballard7631
      @jeffballard7631 Год назад +1

      I grew up in Denver 40+ years ago. The closest MLB team was 600 miles away in KC. Compare that to the east coast. Crazy!

  • @tommunyon2874
    @tommunyon2874 5 месяцев назад

    I was born, and spent my childhood years in the West in a location that is 1,000 ft.higher than the highest point in Appalachia. The impact of having a National Scientific Laboratory as the mainstay of my hometown's economy gave many of us a leg up on scientific education. Visiting relatives in the Midwest also gave me insight into the dramatic differences in climate and vegitative patterns, but I never thought of these concepts in the details presented here. Quite a comprehensive overview.

  • @SUPREETH.
    @SUPREETH. Год назад +1

    Great video, these line videos are good

  • @2007tuber
    @2007tuber Год назад +60

    This video should be shown in all schools in US. Wow - so packed with information! Details and maps and more maps! Simply amazing piece of work you produced here! 5 stars ⭐Bravo!! (OH and the comments 9,824 add so much more to the main story - so many people lived this story!)

  • @wintermoon5194
    @wintermoon5194 Год назад +58

    Driving from interior Alaska to the southeast portion of the Lower 48’s was the hardest trip I ever made. You don’t realize how in tune with the wilderness you are until it is no longer a part of your life.

  • @enoughcorruption5975
    @enoughcorruption5975 Год назад +1

    Great information 👍
    Most people in America have no idea!!!

  • @brandonbuckles826
    @brandonbuckles826 5 месяцев назад

    I live just down the road from Mt. Mitchell. I love roadtripoing around the US! It's so fascinating. The sheer number of different landscapes is so cool to see. California alone contains all 6 of the world's major biomes.

  • @maxjaeger40
    @maxjaeger40 Год назад +219

    I'm not surprised my Ancestors decided to come to Wisconsin in 1843 from Norway to farm around the lakes. Wisconsin/Minnesota/Michigan really are the gems of America. Where the beauty lies in Nature and where you get all of the seasons with perfect weather for that season. This Summer it was 75 degrees everyday with low humidity and also rained at a steady pace to keep everything very green, nice for farming.

    • @TheCrookedWheel
      @TheCrookedWheel Год назад +11

      @@singingwindrider9881 No. Men don't exist north of Chicago. Duh.

    • @AI-qd4vb
      @AI-qd4vb Год назад +8

      I assure you your ancestors didnt go there to farm, lol

    • @rickhernandez7666
      @rickhernandez7666 Год назад +9

      That's nice. The last time I was in Wisconsin in summer, it was about 60 and overcast. The time before that, 90+ and dry. Still better than southern California, where winters are in the 80s and summers are unbearable. Western Washington - that's what I call home. Rains and green in spring, warm days in summer, changing colors in autumn and cool -cold days in winter with a bit of snow.

    • @Joseph.Gallardo
      @Joseph.Gallardo Год назад +1

      You have a German last name (German and Norwegian can be similar). Jaeger meaning hunter.

    • @cosettelaplante699
      @cosettelaplante699 Год назад +5

      My favorite vacations were Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay and Door County. I chose those places over OBX, Myrtle Beach, Destin and Gulf Shores. I'm from CA so beaches weren't a must see at this point. I grew up in a concrete jungle. Seeing trees and green colored landscape was calming. Low humidity and tolerable heat was comforting. Fortunately, I just live a few hours away and can escape their as needed.

  • @livelikemateo6951
    @livelikemateo6951 Год назад +91

    Great video! I have driven throughout this amazing country but have always lived in the west California, Arizona, Oregon and Washington state. You can’t drive anywhere in the West without either being in the mountains or mountain ranges in view. The first time driving East through the flat Midwest was definitely an eye opener. The western US is probably the best geological masterpiece on earth. From the beaches, rainforests, glacial mountains to the most desolate deserts. It never gets old exploring it.

    • @jakeaurod
      @jakeaurod Год назад +3

      The Midwest can get really flat, like in central Illinois where the glaciers scraped through, but it's still fairly wet and well populated. Once you leave the Midwest and get into the Plains west of the Mississippi River, it gets flat and unpopulated.

    • @aguest4408
      @aguest4408 Год назад +5

      Live like mateo, I agree. I was born and raised in the west. I've had to move to the east coast. It is pretty and interesting in very different ways. But after only six months here , I find I'm missing the views and beauty we take so for granted in the West: the mountains, the deserts, the canyons, the forests, the wide open plains and the big skies of the west. It is like an ache inside me. The beauty of the east is different, in scope and scale. I'm missing the glory and majesty of the wide open west way more than I ever thought I would. I didn't realize how much I miss real mountains, either admiring the view from their feet or breathless at their heights looking down over the vast lands below.

    • @ethanmietzner5218
      @ethanmietzner5218 Год назад +1

      @@aguest4408 I'm from Washington state and have moved to Georgia for college. I can't even tell you how depressed I've been missing my home state and all the mountains and hikes I've taken for granted. It's a major bitterness inside of me and I want to move back where my family is so badly. The west is so much better than the east, it isn't even a fair comparison.

    • @JoeyBK_86
      @JoeyBK_86 Год назад +2

      @@ethanmietzner5218 To each their own…I live in California, born in New York, raised in Florida and partly in Puerto Rico…the west is nice and all but the “beaches” are trash and the bodies of “water” are a joke.
      Of course you miss where your from lol it’s what your used to but one doesn’t make the other one less beautiful.

    • @butchyboy69
      @butchyboy69 Год назад

      The West is drier. That fact makes the girls get wrinkled faces at an early age. How can you keep the country beautiful with wrinkled-up chicks?

  • @stephanietenorio6985
    @stephanietenorio6985 Год назад +1

    Im from new mexico its so beautiful and spacious and i love it.

  • @stephenchurch1784
    @stephenchurch1784 5 месяцев назад +1

    I am moving back to Colorado in 18 days and I'm so excited to be able to see the stars again