What counts as a cross country drive?

[vsaharan]

Was having a debate with my friend on what constitutes a cross-country drive. Is the rule going from coast to coast literally? Eastern Standard to Pacific Standard? Plains to mountains? What about a long North-South stretch, think Maine-Florida or Alaska-San Diego (Credit to anyone who's done that drive though). I did Denver-Flint this summer and I like to think that's a cross-country drive. Curious what y'all think!

[thspfc]

I would say from a state that either is on the Pacific or borders a state that is on the Pacific, to a state that is either on the Atlantic or borders a state that is on the Atlantic. Of course you have to make an exception for the Gulf (otherwise simply driving across the New Mexico/Arizona border would count as cross-country under my definition). So Texas and Louisiana don't count for anything in this case.

[Max Rockatansky]

Subjective measure but if it's from the vicinity of one end of the country to the vicinity of another I'd say that counts. 

[CtrlAltDel]

I would say a drive long enough where a reasonable person would spend the night instead of completing the route in one go. So, call it somewhere around 800 miles, give or take.

[sparker]

I'd say if one starts in the Pacific time zone and ends up in the Eastern (or vice-versa), that would count as a cross-country journey.  Otherwise, it's a "partial".   

[1995hoo]

I would say a drive long enough where a reasonable person would spend the night instead of completing the route in one go. So, call it somewhere around 800 miles, give or take.

That seems a bit too generous, IMO. If I drive south to visit relatives in southern Florida (Pembroke Pines or Fort Myers), I'll be driving over 1000 miles one-way over two days, but no reasonable person would (or could, IMO) possibly argue I'd made a "cross-country drive" because it just a drive down a bit more than half of the East Coast.

I think this is one of those issues for which there is no one "right" answer, though, because it'll depend on how precise a particular person is (and we all know that on this forum there are some people who are obsessed with hypertechnical precision). If I drove from home to Phoenix to visit relatives, I'd regard that as a "cross-country drive" despite not entering the Pacific Time Zone or entering a state that touches the Pacific Ocean. It's far enough that I'd be going across such a substantial part of the country (and almost surely taking a different route back) that in my mind it would qualify. My parents had what they had termed a "cross-continent" car trip planned for 2018–Virginia to Banff to Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon and then home via St. Louis and I-64. The trip didn't happen (my father's health deteriorated to the point where Mom was unwilling to do a car trip, so they flew to Banff and eliminated the other stops...it turned out to be their final major trip), but I think "cross-continent" was an excellent way to describe that trip.

I'm sure there are forum members who would not consider either of those to be "cross-country" or "cross-continent," though. That's their prerogative as to their own travel.

[webny99]

I'd say if one starts in the Pacific time zone and ends up in the Eastern (or vice-versa), that would count as a cross-country journey.  Otherwise, it's a "partial".   

I like that a lot. It's simple, contextual, and just makes sense.

[Roadgeekteen]

PST to Atlantic coast state plus Pennslyvania and Vermont. Can't say EST as I wouldn't count South Bend to Vegas as cross country,

[Rothman]

I would say a drive long enough where a reasonable person would spend the night instead of completing the route in one go. So, call it somewhere around 800 miles, give or take.

That is far too short for a cross country drive.  I would say it has to be long enough for me not to guffaw when someone calls a dinky drive a cross country trip.

[vsaharan]

I would say a drive long enough where a reasonable person would spend the night instead of completing the route in one go. So, call it somewhere around 800 miles, give or take.

That is far too short for a cross country drive.  I would say it has to be long enough for me not to guffaw when someone calls a dinky drive a cross country trip.

Excellent word choice there! Perhaps it applies to my drive this summer ahaaha

From,
Young man studying vocabulary for the GRE

[corco]

Any generally east-west oriented drive that crosses the width of the ND/SD/NE/KS/OK/TX stack of states, regardless of length otherwise.

[US 89]

I guess if I had to come up with hard criteria, I'd say it has to start somewhere west of US 385 and finish east of US 51 (or vice versa).

[TheHighwayMan3561]

From suburban Minneapolis, I'd have to say it has to involve a coast or come close to the Mexican border.

[Scott5114]

Athletes only run seven miles and call it cross country, so technically anything over that

I would say a drive long enough where a reasonable person would spend the night instead of completing the route in one go. So, call it somewhere around 800 miles, give or take.

I endorse this definition. Otherwise you can't have a trip originating in the central states be "cross country" at all, and that's lame.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Depends on the size of the country. If you walk from the St. Peter's Square to the furthest end of the Vatican Gardens, you would have crossed an entire country .  That should take a quarter hour at most, and it's technically a cross country trip.

[Rothman]

I would say a drive long enough where a reasonable person would spend the night instead of completing the route in one go. So, call it somewhere around 800 miles, give or take.

I endorse this definition. Otherwise you can't have a trip originating in the central states be "cross country" at all, and that's lame.

Nah.  You can't cross the country if you start off in the middle.

800 miles gets me from NY to the IL/IA border.  That's not a cross country trip.

[oscar]

As for how I categorize my own long trips:

-- Washington DC to Colorado, Utah, or other Mountain time zone destinations, I don't call "cross-country".

-- DC to California, I do call cross-country, even though my starting point usually is near the tidal Potomac rather than the Atlantic ocean. One trip where the turnaround point was in eastern California, more than 100 miles from the Pacific coast, I put down as "kind of" cross-country.

-- My three drives to Alaska from DC (other trips I flew out), I call cross-country even though I passed through Canada.

-- My longest cross-Canada trip, from Prince Edward Island province to Saskatchewan, was not "cross-country". PEI is on the Atlantic (though not nearly as far east as Newfoundland), but Saskatchewan is two provinces away from the Pacific.

[Jim]

By my own definition, I have made only 3 cross-country road trips.  Upstate NY to California and back.  Upstate NY to Seattle and back.  Western Mass to Alaska, AMHS to Washington, then back.  Each of these involved me either setting foot in or being on a ferry on the Pacific.

My several trips starting from New York or Massachusetts that go no further west than Yellowstone, the Colorado Rockies, or Albuquerque, don't qualify as cross-country for me.  And certainly not the many trips that didn't even make it to the Rockies, like Omaha, KC, Austin, south Florida, despite them taking me more than 1500 miles from home.

One day I would like to have a trip that is truly coast to coast, hitting both the Atlantic (not Gulf of Mexico) and Pacific.  I've always lived just far enough inland that it hasn't worked out that way.

[NWI_Irish96]

I would consider a cross country trip as being a trip to or very near the Atlantic or Pacific coast, whichever is farthest from where you live.

[dfilpus]

I have had only one true cross country trip. The east end was Oak Island NC on the beach. The west end was West Point Lighthouse on Puget Sound.

[webny99]

Any generally east-west oriented drive that crosses the width of the ND/SD/NE/KS/OK/TX stack of states, regardless of length otherwise.

I'm not sure about Denver to Kansas City.

[corco]

Any generally east-west oriented drive that crosses the width of the ND/SD/NE/KS/OK/TX stack of states, regardless of length otherwise.

I'm not sure about Denver to Kansas City.

It's a pretty lame "cross country" drive for sure, but between Denver and KC you definitely cross from the western US to the eastern US - KC is more similar to Baltimore than it is to Denver.

I'm trying to think of drives we've taken that at least somebody I know other than myself referred to as "cross-country":
1. When we moved from Chicagoland to Boise in 1997 we drove and my parents repeatedly referred to it as "driving across the country" - and I'd say that seems more accurate than not
2. Boise to Portland, Maine - I think this 100% has to qualify
3. Deer Lodge, Montana to approximately Spartanburg, SC - I also think this qualifies
4. Deer Lodge, Montana to approximately Nauvoo, Illinois - seems more fringey, sure - but I think it counts as a very lame cross country
drive.

[Roadgeekteen]

Any generally east-west oriented drive that crosses the width of the ND/SD/NE/KS/OK/TX stack of states, regardless of length otherwise.

I'm not sure about Denver to Kansas City.

It's a pretty lame "cross country" drive for sure, but between Denver and KC you definitely cross from the western US to the eastern US - KC is more similar to Baltimore than it is to Denver.

Maybe, but in no way is this cross country. Not even close, KC to LA maybe

[GaryV]

I can see 2 ways of thinking it. 

E/W, you could require going to/from a state that touches a state that touches the ocean.  Yes, that means a trip from Pittsburgh to Las Vegas is "cross country" - and that's good enough in my book.  But it also would include Memphis to Las Vegas - that's less clear to me.

N/S is a little less clear.  I'd consider a trip from a state that touches Canada to a state that touches the Mexican border or Gulf of Mexico.  I'm not quite sure how you categorize Great Lakes boundaries though.  Michigan or Wisconsin to Alabama - yeah, probably that's cross country.  But Cincinnati to Huntsville?  Ehh, harder to justify that.

There should be some consideration for diagonal travel as well.  For example, Seattle to Birmingham AL, or Boston to Albuquerque.  Those don't meet the nearly-sea-to-sea or border-to-border definitions.  But I'd consider both of them to be lengthy enough to count.

[webny99]

It's a pretty lame "cross country" drive for sure, but between Denver and KC you definitely cross from the western US to the eastern US - KC is more similar to Baltimore than it is to Denver.

No disputing the first part, but I don't think KC is necessarily more similar to Baltimore. In what ways?
I'd classify KC as "Midwest" and Denver as "just beyond Midwest". I can't imagine they're as different as KC and a true East Coast city like Baltimore, but I don't know enough about either city myself to say definitively.

2. Boise to Portland, Maine - I think this 100% has to qualify

I agree. I don't think it necessarily has to be coast-to-coast, which is why, as a general rule, I'm a fan of the time zone definition suggested by sparker. Of course Boise is on MST, but then Portland, ME is almost to AST, so it's all relative.