At 02:27 AM 7/25/2005, you wrote:
- it is about 400 miles. And - one of the widest parts of the UK, and can still easily be travelled in a day....... And what I find hard to grasp is that the USA is farther from one side to the other, than it is from the UK to the USA.
I live 50 miles from the west coast of the USA. IOLI conference is 1200 miles from me, and that is considered 'close'. It's less than 3 hours by plane. Our group has a good percentage attending because of the location. We even have three people driving because it's only three days drive. The cost of driving and flying are about the same, so it's purely a choice of travel preference.
Next year the IOLI will be 3000 miles from here. There will not be many from here traveling that far. In 2007, the IOLI will be less than 2000 miles and more will go to that one, though I doubt any will try to drive there from here.
Some of us are making plans to attend a lace class that's only two days drive from here. We're so spread out, and have so few lace class opportunites, that driving a day or more, and staying in a motel, is a common occurance. We also will commute to classes within two hours drive.
Even considering all of this, we also have our lacemakers (and other people) who will not go anywhere that takes them more than an hour to drive. This, indeed, limits class opportunities for these people. But that's their choice.
Some areas of the USA has vast distances between towns, especially in the mid section and the west. Many areas in the east are mostly densely settled. Even some US citizens who grew up in the east do not comprehend the distances between places in the west.
The railroad used to have a route that circled the far west part of the USA -- through five or six states. East coast visitors used to see this train trip map, and want to spend a day taking this tour. We'd have to remind them to check the schedule more closely. This circle tour took three or four days, not one.
Now I have to go back to preparing my suitcase for the plane trip to IOLI. How can I fit all of my things into a bag that meets the airline size/weight limits? I don't want a $50 excess fee. There's a definite advantage to driving to class!!
Happy lacing, Alice in Oregon To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
