Bordering states that don't have particularly strong ties (transplants, how much)

[annie_himself]

Louisiana and Arkansas.

The majority of the population live away from Arkansas, culturally the relationship is nonexistent.

[2e1m5a]

West Virginia and Pennsylvania?

[ABQConvict]

I definitely see the connection between Texas an New Mexico since the eastern 1/3 (1/2?*) of New Mexico is cuturally very much aligned with Texas. It is mostly White, Baptist, Cattle, Oil, Natural Gas, Pecan, and Peanut country and the accents are unmistakably Texan.

The border that New Mexico has relatively little to do with is Mexico, although Mexican immigration is on the increase and will someday, perhaps, New Mexico could become as Mexican as southern California or Chicago and other cities that draw Mexicans.

*Some folks like to say that Texas begins just east of the Sandias, the mountain range that makes up Albuquerque's eastern limit.

[btownboss4]

New York and Massachusetts, in both cases the border region is sparsly populated, and Springfield dominates the Media market, not Albany, with little crossover.

[Gnutella]

Originally Posted by 2e1m5a

West Virginia and Pennsylvania?

Yes and no. The northern third of West Virginia feels like a southwestern extension of Pennsylvania, but the southern third feels like an eastern extension of Kentucky. I don't think people in Charleston, Huntington, Beckley or Martinsburg have much if anything to do with Pennsylvania as they do in Weirton, Wheeling, Morgantown, Fairmont or Clarksburg.

[lammius]

Virginia and Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky

[jtur88]

Missouri seems very isolated and unconnected with the states to the north and south of it. Arkansas, very southern, is nothing like Missouri. And Iowa, very midwestern, is nothing like Missouri. Missourians have more of a western mentality, and are very unlikely to have any positive ties or negative aversions to either Arkansas or Iowa, and regard them no differently than they regard Alabama or Indiana. However, Missourians feel much closer to Illinois and Kansas. And in fact, it is a gentler transition. Illinois and Kansas are much more alike than Arkansas and Iowa.

In fact, surprisingly, it is only a 5-hour, 300 mile drive from Iowa to Arkansas, and it would be hard to find a more contrasting pair of states. Yet they are closer together than Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

[Colts]

Originally Posted by jtur88

In fact, surprisingly, it is only a 5-hour, 300 mile drive from Iowa to Arkansas, and it would be hard to find a more contrasting pair of states. Yet they are closer together than Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Just for fun: the distance between Michigan and Kentucky is 176 miles at the closest!

[GunnerTHB]

Originally Posted by jtur88

Missouri seems very isolated and unconnected with the states to the north and south of it. Arkansas, very southern, is nothing like Missouri. And Iowa, very midwestern, is nothing like Missouri. Missourians have more of a western mentality, and are very unlikely to have any positive ties or negative aversions to either Arkansas or Iowa, and regard them no differently than they regard Alabama or Indiana. However, Missourians feel much closer to Illinois and Kansas. And in fact, it is a gentler transition. Illinois and Kansas are much more alike than Arkansas and Iowa.

In fact, surprisingly, it is only a 5-hour, 300 mile drive from Iowa to Arkansas, and it would be hard to find a more contrasting pair of states. Yet they are closer together than Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Parts of Missouri don't even have strong ties with each other. There is absolutely no connection to Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska or Iowa in Southeast Missouri. I live 50 miles east of the Ozarks. Trust me, no "Western" mentality here. SE Missouri is eastern in every single imaginable way. We are farther east than New Orleans, Jackson MS, and on the same longitude as Springfield IL. On the rare event that my family took a vacation, we ALWAYS went East.

Also, Southern MO in certain areas is actually pretty strongly connected to Arkansas, just as I'm sure Northern MO is probably strongly linked to Iowa. For many in SE Missouri, the closest decent sized town is Jonesboro, Arkansas.

[kidyankee764]

Massachusetts and New York.