As a kid, I grew up just outside New York City in my elementary school years and in Rhode Island during high school and university years.
From New York, you could hop the train and be in Philadelphia or Washington, D.C., within hours. From Rhode Island, we would go to Maine for breakfast and Connecticut for donuts.
Then I moved to Texas.
In my early 30s, work took me to the Houston region, which has ended up being a place I truly love. The challenge, though, for this inveterate rambler whose rush comes from experiencing new territory is that, from Houston, you have to drive more than nine hours when heading westward to get out of Texas.