On the Laura Ingraham show she once talked about some letters she had read from the early days of the US.
One was written by a young lady from Laura’s hometown. The young lady had just gotten married and had moved with her husband to his hometown.
The young lady was terribly homesick and was moaning about the possibility of never seeing her parents and siblings again.
Laura said “that’s where I go for groceries”!
What we consider a short distance today was quite another thing in the 1700’s.
I have had a great change in my own perception of distance since my childhood.
When I was a child and up until adulthood Richmond, the state capital, was considered a far off place that was nearly mythical because so few people had actually been there.
We could go places but the demands of farm work at the time didn’t allow for much travel.
Think Andy Taylor and Mayberry.
For those of us that live in the West, distances in the east seem like nothing. Basically there is a major city every 2 hours starting from Chicago to pretty much anywhere East. As I said, I live in Canada, and to go from the Vancouver area to meet my wife’s family in Denver is a 25 hour drive - and except for Seattle, no major cities on the way.