Above: Illustration by Chris Philpot.
Too Far for Comfort
George Hiller lives in Richmond, Virginia, but grew up in Albuquerque. So he knows a whopper when he sees one. During a recent episode of the NBC medical drama New Amsterdam, one of the show’s doctors had a terminally ill patient who was planning a Route 66 road trip that would include a stop at Petrified Forest National Park, in Arizona. The doc told her that, if needed, she could access a hospital in Albuquerque, because that city is “right next door to the Petrified Forest.” Well, only if your doorway is about 178 miles wide. “Hopefully, the doctor’s medical care was far better than her knowledge of geography,” Hiller says.
Move It On Over
While watching CNN coverage of Richard Branson’s July launch from Spaceport America, near Truth or Consequences, Claudia Walsh of Deming felt the thrill of a history-making moment. Then she heard a reporter say the state hopes such flights bring tourism and business “to this desolate stretch of the Mojave Desert.” “I didn’t realize they moved it,” Walsh said of the Mojave. While it is big—covering parts of California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona—and Branson is quite innovative, geography is still geography.
Floral Rearrangement
Gladys Beush went online to order flowers for a niece in Spearfish, South Dakota. But when she entered her billing address, the site told her that Albuquerque, New Mexico, was not valid. So she added “USA.” Still no luck. “After trying another florist, my order was completed,” she said, and her victory, we presume, smelled sweet.
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