Being a native of Ohio, I can assure you that I’ve heard every form of ‘flyover state’ insult you could care to level at me. And while I won’t debate the merits of Ohio in this post, I will take a minute to point out something that I’ve been saying for quite some time.

Ohio really is pretty centrally located to anywhere you might care to be other than the left coast.

The map I’ve linked to in this"post"shows what $50 worth of gas means to someone from Columbus, OH as far as their ability to drive anywhere. Of course, it makes an assumption about the price of gas and the car’s mpg (24mpg, iirc) but the point stands.

And this is what I’ve been telling my coworker a lot lately. I travel periodically for business, and whenever I do, I drive (unless it’s just way too impractical). It always trips people out when I do. I’d much rather grab a rental car, and spend a day on my own schedule seeing the country then being crammed in like cattle and dealing with the TSA. And this image shows that I’m generally saving the company money as well.

So, you all can keep “flying over”. In the meantime, I’ll be driving around enjoying myself.