156
Americans who live near state borders,how do you notice you've crossed the border?
(sh.itjust.works)
Welcome to Michigan. Come buy some cannabis. Signs every where
this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2025
156 points (98.8% liked)
Ask Lemmy
34519 readers
215 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
NM perspective: Border crossing at Anthony - immediate cattle feed lots, huge freeway, and then the pile of cookie-cutter houses that is El Paso.
North into Colorado: Seems pretty much like NM, but the food gets blander and more expensive as you enter Boebert's district. Denver is ok, but it's like Los Angeles at a little higher altitude. If Denver had a culture, it probably died in traffic.
East into Oklahoma/Texas: There's like... nothing there. For miles. It's really pretty, actually, but don't get a flat tire.
West into Arizona from Gallup: It's like a portal into the 1950s, all abandoned route 66 stuff and super offensive 1950s native american stuff.
Culturally, I'd say most of the 4 corners zone is pretty similar "southwest", though Texas is really obsessed with big box stores and Arizona is a bit obsessed with unmarked police cars. Colorado culturally is as bland as their chiles :D
The biggest cultural shift is traveling through the res lands between NM/AZ where you can actually go to grocery stores with local language signage.
The AZ/NM area was absolutely my favorite part of the past 3 years of round trips across the country (driving someone who medically can't fly). I'll never be a desert dweller, but the Sonora, Payson, and heading into Gallup and Albuquerque is just jaw dropping.
More bumps on the road after crossing the state line.
Same when going from the Netherlands to Belgium.
It's usually on a highway and highways usually have a "Welcome to …" sign at the border.
There's a big ass river, so on this side of it you're in IL and the other side is IA.
The Missouri-Illinois border is the Mississippi river. Hard to accidentally cross it.
Edit: I take that back. I wasn't accounting for the crazy interchanges in St. Louis right before and after the three bridges that cross near downtown. So you have all the local traffic and exits for downtown piled up with local and interatate traffic crossing the bridges. People love it.
The lines on a map are actually painted on the ground. It's amazing to see the one running along the bottom of Lake Tahoe. 😊
I live near two other states and can tell a distinct difference by the shape of the mountains (one has rolling hills, the other has very steep-sided hills, my home region has deeper valleys) and the building style since one state has lax building codes and the other has older and larger structures. The barns are typically discernable too.
Not super stark, but travelling north from Alabama to the Tennesee/Alabama/Georgia triple point you get a lot of rocky outcrops and the terrain will tell you that you're in the Cumberland Foothills.
When you cross from Nevada into California, the roads turn to shit.
Crossing the other way... Casinos!