The farthest you can get from a McDonald's in the US is 107 miles

[krispos42]

Lower 48 US, of course.

For maximum McSparseness, we look westward, towards the deepest, darkest holes in our map: the barren deserts of central Nevada, the arid hills of southeastern Oregon, the rugged wilderness of Idaho’s Salmon River Mountains, and the conspicuous well of blackness on the high plains of northwestern South Dakota. There, in a patch of rolling grassland, loosely hemmed in by Bismarck, Dickinson, Pierre, and the greater Rapid City-Spearfish-Sturgis metropolitan area, we find our answer. Between the tiny Dakotan hamlets of Meadow and Glad Valley lies the McFarthest Spot: 107 miles distant from the nearest McDonald’s, as the crow flies, and 145 miles by car!

Suffer a Big Mac Attack out there, and you’re hurtin’ for certain!

http://ideas.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/mcsparseness-usa/

That's kinda depressing. Although that part of South Dakota is beautiful. Spearfish Canyon especially.

[Chulanowa]

1. But i'll bet there's a Burger King within two miles

[krispos42]

3. That part of the state?

Hell, I doubt there's an incorporated town within 50 miles of that point.



It's EMPTY.



And in an ironic twist, this empty spot is fairly close to the geographic center of the whole US!

[Chulanowa]

7. Nah, that's on the Kansas / Nebraska border

The geographical center of North America is a few miles west of a town called Rugby, in North Dakota.

[krispos42]

9. The Lower 48's is in Kansas. Throw in Alaska...

...and it tilts north and west. Butte County, SD, if Wikipedia is right.


Toss in Canada and Central America (the total of North America) and it would move north a bit and back east somewhat, so that location in North Dakota sounds right.

:-)

[JI7]

2. that's more than i would have thought

[krispos42]

4. I kinda figured it would have been in the Four Corners area, myself

The feds own huge tracts of land out there, including stuff like air combat ranges and nuclear bomb testing ranges that glow gently in the night.


But no, it's in South Dakota. Ironically, in the land of big buttes, there are no McDonald's...

:-)

[MajorChode]

25. Parts of Arizona get pretty remote

And especially the area where Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico all meet and east along the border. There might be a McDonalds within 100 miles, but not much else. Parts of Wyoming and especially Montana on the west side of Glacier National Park. There's areas around there that are well off the power grid.

[proteus_lives]

5. They do a chart for Wal-Mart?

Love the Spaceballs pic, BTW.

[krispos42]

6. Thanks

Found it while looking for something else, resized to text so you could read the 2nd line in a sig-line-sized pic. :-)


There are a lot fewer Wal-Marts so you could probably be 200 miles away or so. Maybe even more!

[Wilms]

8. Plug "McDonald's" into google maps and zoom in on countries around the world.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=McDonald%27s&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl

I feel kind of sick. :puke:

[krispos42]

10. Yikes! America has the chicken pox! n/t

[izquierdista]

12. Little slices of paradise

"Your search for McDonald's around this map area did not match any locations."

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Not sure how reliable that is, though

I zoomed in on northern Scotland, because that's where the bit of the British mainland furthest from one is likely to be. It puts a map marker on Aviemore for a McDonald's, but calls it Fort William, which is about 60 miles away. Fort William does have a McDonald's; Aviemore does not, as far as I can tell from a separate web search for addresses. So those map markes can go astray.

For the record, it looks as if you can't get more than about 90 miles away from a McDonald's on the British mainland as the crow flies (Cape Wrath or John O'Groats)

[paulsby]

14. mcdonald's is a classic american company

their success comes from consumers wanting to buy their product, and the company is run responsibly.

i get tired of mcd's bashing.

it's a good company

[Wilms]

15. Their success comes from consumers addicted to their product.

Their success also comes from consumers who know no better, are too poor to eat better, and who have little choices in their area.

Their coffee is ok. (See. I said something nice.)

No apologies, otherwise.

[paulsby]

16. rubbish

there are plenty of other options, even if one accepted arguendo that one is 'addicted' to fatty, salty foods. they could go to burger king, arby's, etc.

mcd's doesn't get their money from the public teat, or from corrupt practices. they succeed because their business model works and because people WANT their food.

i eat there occasionally, despite the fact i have to compete at about a 10% bf level. they work for me.

consumers have a choice, and for decades consumers have chosen mcd's and mcd's has given a lot back to communities, too (ronald mcdonald house, etc.)

i support them

[Wilms]

17. OK. Arby's, BK, et. al. are "choices", too.

Equally lousy choices.

It works for you? Go have some.

[paulsby]

18. they are perfectly fine choices

even the biggest fan of haute cuisine (myself included) can appreciate the occasional piece of fast, hot, salty, fatty, junk food.

don't like it. don't eat there.

mcd's a good company. they provide a product that the public wants, do it consistently, with high quality control, treat their employees right, and contribute to the community

[Wilms]

20. Mmmm. 12-Year Old McDonald's Hamburger, Still Looking Good.

The McDonald's hamburger on the right is from 2008; the one on the left is from 1996. And they both look fairly edible.

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2008/09/12-year-old-mcdonalds-hamburger-still-looking-good.html




http://www.mcspotlight.org/case/pretrial/factsheet.html

Have it your way!

[paulsby]

22. sweeeet

see, they are just like fine prosciutto, improving with age :)

[WildEyedLiberal]

24. I just want to chime in that the Ronald McDonald House is a wonderful charity

I had three major surgeries when I was a child, and because my surgeries were all in a major city 3 hours from where I live, my parents needed lodging so they could stay near me while I was in the hospital. Thanks to the Ronald McDonald House, they got a nice room for free so they could be at my side, rather than racking up a thousand or more dollars in hotel bills (on top of all the stress and expenses that a child's operation incurs anyway). It's a really great thing to do and it fills a need that most people don't even think about.

I eat at McDonald's fairly often because there's not a lot of choice in my small town and McDonald's actually offers the healthiest and most cost-effective food for my money. If I pay with cash, I always try to remember to put my spare change in the Ronald McDonald charity box.

[paulsby]

26. thank you

i also know that the ronald mcdonald house is a great charity. and i get a little tired of all the mcd's hate.

nobody is forcing anybody to eat their food. but to hate, vilify the company seems silly to me.

[krispos42]

19. For me, it's the PlayPlace

I have joint custody of my son with my ex. When I pick him up on Saturday, especially during the winter, we'll hit up a McDonald's or a Burger King expressly for the PlayPlace. I'll read a book, he'll run around and play with other kids for about an hour and a half or so.

Other places don't offer this. For nine or ten bucks I get a meal for two and a couple of hours of entertainment for my toddler.

[Wilms]

21. I TOTALLY forgot the playground!

Ooops. :blush:

[NYC_SKP]

11. I like the image by Stephen Von Worley that they used in the article. It's McScary!!!

http://www.vonworley.net/about/



:donut:

[Frank Booth]

23. That's good.

Chicken McNuggets and Big Macs are delicious. And their fries are too, so long as you can get them before they sit out too long.