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What is it like to travel between American states?

If you’re driving, there’s usually some sort of sign to let you know that you’re in a new state, like this:

Some states go overboard, like they really want you to know that you’re in their state:

Some states also have signs letting you know that you’re leaving their state. This is what’s on the other side of that blue arch above, for people traveling the other way:

Yes, a lot of those signs also have the governor’s name on them.

If you’re traveling on the interstate system, you’ll often find rest stops with welcome centers and tourist information booths within a few miles of the state lines. I’ve been to this one, on the West Virginia side of the West Virginia/Virginia border, several times:

When traveling out of Illinois, which is a very liberal/blue state surrounded by very conservative/red states, you’ll see stores selling fireworks just over the state line (they’re illegal in Illinois), and some signs announcing that you can now purchase things without IL’s high taxes (like cigarettes). There are similar signs on the border between Chicago and the suburbs, and Cook County and the neighboring counties.

Typically, for my family, when driving down the interstate and entering a new state, I announce the new state to everyone else in the car. They don’t really care, but they won’t even notice that we’ve crossed the line unless I tell them, because they’re all on their screens.

Sometimes, crossing a state line also means crossing a time zone line. But sometimes, the time zone lines don’t line up with state boundaries. That makes signs like this more exciting than welcome signs to new states, because these signs are rarer:

I always like to see how long it takes my cell phone to realize I’ve passed into a new time zone and adjust the time accordingly. It usually figures it out within a mile of the line.