148 words
As I noted last year, the world's largest package delivery company and a leading global provider of specialized transportation and logistics services
that is UPS, has a funny understanding of what a quick delivery is. The complete itinerary of my brother's christmas parcel was:
21-12: Sparks, NV
22-12: Louisville, KY
23-12: Indianapolis, IN
23-12: Hodgkins, IL
29-12: Vernon, CA
30-12: San Diego, CA
Get out those maps [courtesy of maporama who apparently don't like people linking to their maps] and laugh bitterly. That'd be more than 8000km by car.
Funny things to note about the U.S. here: You can go almost 2000km on the same road in the same direction within a reasonable itinerary. And all towns have to carry their little state abbreviations with them at all times, because names occur many times. Do you know Berkeley, IL? And if so, can you remember why?
Question on a game show I saw the other day:
Q: How many cities named Springfield are there in the United States?
A: 140
Not coincidentally, the reason the Simpsons’ hometown is Springfield is that there is at least one city by that name in every state, and the creators wanted to be deliberately vague as to where the show takes place.
HEY I live in Springfield!