• happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    14 days ago

    If you drove through 90% of that UK-sized landmass, you’d see nothing. Pure, blissful, mind-numbing nothingness. The American West fucking stunned me when I saw how much open space there is. Maybe five cities across that entire area would make the route economical. I still want it more than anything else for the region though.

    • RNAi [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      14 days ago

      “We can’t have HSR cuz big empty”

      You should have HSR because big empty

      HSR is astronomically easier to build through big flat empty

    • ghosts [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      14 days ago

      Okay, to be fair, Wyoming should be empty because that shit is insane. One time, I had my HEAVY WINTER COAT in the back seat when I went to fill up gas and thought, “I’ll hop out of the car real quick and put it on”. Buddy, that coat got raptured. It was in Nebraska before I knew what hit me.

      https://youtube.com/shorts/5MpDl7wzpxE

      • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        13 days ago

        Driving through Wyoming is so uniquely terrifying that I don’t do it unless the weather is perfect. I-25 to Cheyenne is considered tame by their standards and the winds are so high that it throws your car around while tipping over 18-wheelers. There are a lot of Colorado roads that I only travel seasonally, but we are so tame compared to Wyoming’s obsession with wind. They need to stop with that shit.

        • ghosts [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          13 days ago

          I have a vivid memory of driving in whiteout conditions in Wyoming but sandwiched by semis that I couldn’t even see, so I couldn’t afford to slow down. I could only rely on google maps to make sure the road stayed straight. 20 minutes later, absolutely beautiful day. Unhinged state