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When i drove from Bismark, ND to Pierre, SD, at night, i stopped my (rental) car in between the two cities, there was NO light what so ever and i was the only one on this road. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of stars! And there was also a lightning storm in the distance with HUGE lightning bolds, it was INCREDIBLE. I will never forget that moment, so peaceful, in the middle of nowhere
yes... sometimes we get so caught up in our cities so much we start to think of this as scary...
The city is nice, but 'nowhere' is special.
My parents spend much of their 'free travel' in western and central Pennsylvania, so I-57 down Illinois still bothers them. However, I've driven it enough now to realize (not only by the maps, which show mid-state Illinois to be relatively populated, but also 'in the bones' so to speak) that it is not nowhere. They even put up a lot of new lights along the junction at Gilman. Even Iowa is relatively populated. I would have to drive in Nebraska west of Lincoln, and I even can't get myself to drive out to Lincoln.
A few counties in Michigan have 'one traffic light' (i.e. Gladwin?).
I would consider a job in Marquette (i.e. at NMU) if offered, but the lack of shopping, etc would drive me nuts. (I ski in winter, but I'm not a huge "outdoors enthusiast.") Even if they stretched a freeway up from Green Bay, it would still be relatively remote, like Duluth (which is a nice city, FWIW).
Ohio is relatively urbanized, but it will always feel like nowhere-land to me.
I have to agree, especially since my last roadtrip took me through those exact areas. I-40 from Oklahoma City to Flagstaff is a pretty lonely and depressing stretch of highway. Especially when you see the dead businesses that once occupied U.S. Route 66, which parallels Interstate 40 from Oklahoma City to Barstow, California.
I am sitting in western Oklahoma right now. There are a lot more people here than there are in say rural western Nebraska, western Kansas and eastern Colorado and west Texas (particularly in the big bend), and there are a lot more people there than there are in rural Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, and even parts of the Mojave in California. Heck there is not very many people in Northern California or Eastern Oregon.
I say this because even coming from Western Oklahoma it feels desolate when you go west or north of here (I-40 between Clinton and Elk City. OK), or southwest past Lubbock. It is palpably more desolate on the west side of Amarillo than it is in western Oklahoma. As somebody mentioned, most everything is cultivated around here and there are boatloads of small towns. This is not so when you get further west where it is all ranchland or desert.
I guess you could use that old saying. "Western Oklahoma is not the middle of nowhere..........but you can see it from there."
I do not think that towns with just one or no traffic lights count. There are many places like that within urban areas. My family lived in such a place when I was a kid. It was suburban Pittsburgh. I agree with the counties of NW Nebraska.
Places I've been that felt like "the middle of nowhere" to me:
Little Pony River, Boundary Waters, MN
Charbonneau, North Dakota (and most of the area west of the Mo River and north of I-94 in that state)
Eastern Colorado, about 100 miles due east of Denver
Friars Point, MS
Thunder Bay, Ont
10 miles up the Canol Road, Yukon Territory
north of Big Moose, NY
Grand Isle, LA
east of El Paso on I-10
halfway between Yuma and Quartzite, AZ
yes... sometimes we get so caught up in our cities so much we start to think of this as scary...
The city is nice, but 'nowhere' is special.
Yes, you were on the road from nowhere to nowhere. (and Pierre especially!) I had similar experiences with the solitude and stars both on I-10 east of El Paso, and US 89(?) between Yuma and Quartzite (see my previous post). Yes, they were unforgettable.
I think most of indiana and illinois are really desolate, flat cornfields. Driving down to U of I in urbana is the most boring driver EVER.
Outside Chicago south all the way down 55 to stl and down to Indy very middle of nowhere feeling. Pretty much in between most midwestern cities.
Driving from LA to vegas...phoenix to vegas....denver to KC....
Ok, i realized this thread is stupid because pretty much for us, in between any City is the middle of nowhere!!! ...except for the megalopolis in the northeast
I think most of indiana and illinois are really desolate, flat cornfields. Driving down to U of I in urbana is the most boring driver EVER.
Outside Chicago south all the way down 55 to stl and down to Indy very middle of nowhere feeling. Pretty much in between most midwestern cities.
Driving from LA to vegas...phoenix to vegas....denver to KC....
Ok, i realized this thread is stupid because pretty much for us, in between any City is the middle of nowhere!!! ...except for the megalopolis in the northeast
Along most interstates in the eastern half of the nation it may look like the middle of nowhere b/c it's surrounded by trees but for the most part you're never that far from civilization.
I'm surprised no one's mentioned Nowhere, AZ. It's around the bend from Nothing, AZ, which isn't far from Somewhere, AZ. Oh yeah, Surprise is also in AZ.
Last edited by Winston Smith; 01-06-2008 at 02:03 PM..
Reason: I want to ride my bicycle.
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Town center, Nowhere, AZ
