Comparatively, it’s not bad. Remember, we don’t have a great train system in place. If we were to take a bus, it would be a much longer drive. But a 5 hour drive, vs a flight to the same location… The flight requires you to be at the airport 2 hours early, you might have a layover, and once you get there, you’ll still need to rent a car or take a Lyft/Uber to your final destination. So there are distances here, where that 5 hour drive is shorter than a flight.
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Also the USA is ginormous.
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Really, no good trains? (although ours are pants right now with all the strikes and remedial work)
I remember when I lived 4 hours, 234 miles, away from my family (on a good drive) and moaning that there were no straight roads (e.g. diagonals across the east to west) because it added to the drive time.
I dislike driving. I don’t like stopping but if it’s more than a couple of hours, I need a toilet break.
I don’t know what your commutes are / were like, but it used to take me an hour to do 12 miles each way. That was the biggest waste of time
I never tried to fly from Leeds to Bristol, probably for the same reason. Didn’t stop me moaning about the drive though!!
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It is, but I just never grasped how ‘willing’ / ‘keen’ people are to drive to far away places!!
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Also, this is a dumb question… does Illinois have a silent s?
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Yes. The way the natives describe it is ‘There’s no ‘noise’ in Illinois’. 
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Not dumb at all. The capitol of my home state is Des Moines. Both “S”'s are silent.
Yes, it is silent.
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Yes, it does!
I’ve been practising it in my head with no s, but wanted to check. Y’know, just in case I can visit one day
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It depends. If you want to go from NYC to Washington DC via train, no problem. But when I wanted to go to the Women’s March in DC, I was living in Nashville. It was a 10 hour drive. If I wanted to take a train, I would have had to go to the nearest train station, in Chicago. Which was also a 10 hour drive. Also, the train ride would have been 22 hours, rather than 10 by car.
I will probably be in Kalamazoo in the summer. The flight to Champaign is about 5 hours, not including wait times to check in, etc. To drive takes about 4. That is why people fly…not just the money, but the hassle and wait. Plenty of rest stops, bathrooms, restaurants, etc. on the way as well…not one tiny cramped bathroom for 300 people… 
.
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Assumedly, that’s not the nearest train station, just the nearest that would get you to DC?
That is bat sh*t crazy!
It is such a vast country. I am looking at maps to get a feel for where people are
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We are also a family of five. Plane tickets for all of us is just not in the budget for our vacations. I am leaving the kids at home for this one though. 
I’m willing to drive just about anywhere if it means I can see/experience a new place and see some awesome people!
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If you look at this map you can see there are huge sections of the country that have no access to trains.
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OMG. I am shocked! That is crazy mad.
Whereas we have this (and still complain)
(National Rail Map | UK Train Map | Trainline)
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Well, to be fair, a lot of the space is wide open country that is sparsely populated (the Dakotas, for instance)…and once you get into the major cities, they have their own mass transit systems, which might include trains (the L, Marta, etc.). If you live in a major city, you really can get around. The biggest obstacle to mass transportation in the USA is our mindset. Americans love their cars and the freedom to move around independently. Yes, I can catch a bus to the mall 5 minutes from my house if I had to…but, I can make my own schedule and plan in my own car. Given a choice, I bet most people would be willing to give up a gun before giving up their car, and that is saying a lot.
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This sounds interesting … time to do research on which airport is the best/cheapest to fly to from here, there’s three about equal distance from Champaign.
As for dates, any weekend in July or August works for me.
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@Renstar … we drive 2 hours each way to visit our oldest grand daughter (and her parents) every other Saturday and it doesn’t feel like a long trip anymore. I think it’s what people are used to.
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It seems doable for me, too! I don’t know what my summer plans are yet.
That’s about the same distance for me since I’m only an hour and half or so south of you…and we’ve yet to me. Maybe we could carpool. 
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Definitely following this, especially since Google says it’s only about a 2-hour drive for me. My schedule is pretty flexible, and I may not be able to make it work for other reasons anyway, so best to plan the dates around people with more going on .
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