Now and again, someone's eyes will open and they will see, as in it will be revealed to them, the magnitude of visiting well over 10,000 exits strung out from Bellingham to Houlton every year. It happened one day a couple of years ago when Debby showed a copy of the Next EXIT to a stranger who had asked how we made a living. When she told him and he leafed through its pages, you could see the wheels of his mind turning as he counted the exits then timesed (you know, the past tense of 10 times 3 =) that with 48 states and then added in the miles between each exit and then calculated how many services were listed at each exit. Did you know that Interstate 10 in Texas is 880 miles long? And that I-5 in California is only 797? Most people do not but the kind stranger seemed to understand and walked away thoroughly impressed.
Many folks ask "you mean you have visited every one of the USA Interstate highway exits?" as if it were a once in a lifetime event and having done so we could now put our feet up and sit back. We answer with "every year", at which time their eyes glaze over in, not disbelief, but unseeing.
In an economy like ours, you'd be surpised at how many businesses open, close or change names. Sometimes, the next time you go looking for them, they are not even there.
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