What constitutes a long drive?

A conversation with a friend on Sunday reminded me of something.

When I was in high school, I lived in a town that is about 70 miles closer to Boston than Spokane is to Seattle.

And yet people in my town regarded a trip to Boston as a great overland expedition, requiring much planning and extensive provisioning.

I almost laugh about that now, given what I have learned about the perception of road-trip distances since moving to the West.

If you doubt that people out here see distances differently, you must not know any transplanted Montanans.