If you drove out of New York City and headed west you'd get to Denver, Colorado in a bit under 1800 miles. The same distance would take you from London to Moscow -- through France, Belgium, German, Poland, and Belarus.
On the NYC-to-Denver trip, you'd be less than 2/3rds of the way to San Francisco. The distance from NYC to San Francisco -- all of it in one country -- would take you from London to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Here’s a neat teaching exercise for a kid.
Ask them to look at a map of the US with interstates shown.
Ask them to tell you the shortest route from Chicago to Seattle. 2 choices I-80/I-84 and so on, or I-94/I-90.
People almost always pick the southern route.
The Northern route is shorter because of Earth curvature, but that doesn’t show on a flat map.
I suspect you’ve never been on the two lane portions of the Autobahn, when a truck pulls out of the line of trucks going up the hill at about 30 miles an hour so it can pass them doing 40 miles an hour. Good brakes are a necessity.
It’s also fun as you pass the long line to note what countries are represented. More Eastern European trucks than you see Mexican cars in Dallas.
Isn't it the opposite. Most long haul goods in the US are sent by train, while in Europe the trains are used to move people?