As it goes a general trend people in the West are more willing to drive long distances without much thought. Perhaps because every other place is some distance is so far that a friend going to Vegas for his weekend or going 3 hours away isn't really thought of as much. On the East Coast I notice people seem annoyed they might have to drive 20 minutes or more to get somewhere. A customer at the homebrew shop seemed unsurprised that I didn't know restaurants in Durham when "it's so far away". But it really isn't very far to me, I just haven't had the money to spare on dining out as often as I would like lately. In DC the joke about it was friends would take you to National but good friends would take you to Dulles.

What brings this all up is at the Shamrock Open this weekend we had a large number of judges from Charlotte and Maryland. It struck me as a bit of a surprise that Eastern people would drive such distances for a day event. It breaks the convention I have known for Eastern US. It could be that the drive distance isn't really all that far, but it allows them access to beers they may not see in their daily lives and so the beer geeks enjoyed the trip.

It pleasantly surprised me, so any guess why they would travel 3-5 hours for a day trip? I am curious.