ST. LOUIS – Thinking about an extreme road trip? Here’s one idea. The longest drive between any two cities in the contiguous United States stretches more than 3,600 miles from Cape Flattery, Washington, to Key West, Florida.
That’s according to the research team at World Geography website StudyCountry.com, which took this curiosity a step further. They claim that going from one driving endpoint in Key West’s Fort Zachary Taylor to the other in Cape Flattery measures to 3,689 miles.
To take the most efficient route from Key West to Cape Flattery, according to Google Maps, you must drive through St. Louis.
Hypothetically, when driving in either direction, you would take Interstate 70 from the Missouri portion of the St. Louis metro all the way to or from Kansas City, and you would take Interstate 64 from the Illinois portion of the St. Louis metro all the way to or from Mt. Vernon.
From Cape Flattery, St. Louis is around 2,300 miles away. From Key West, St. Louis is around 1,400 miles away.
Google Maps predicts the trip from Cape Flattery to Key West would take around 55 hours, or more than two days, to complete in normal driving conditions. Of course, that’s without gas stops, eating or sleep breaks built into consideration.
The daunting trip from Cape Flattery to Key West runs through 11 US states. West of Omaha, you would be driving through mostly rural areas. However, the most efficient route also runs through major cities like Kansas City, Nashville, Atlanta, Orlando and Miami.
Surprisingly, some people have used modes of transportations other than planes and cars to conquer the Cape Flattery to Key West route. A group of 12 dedicated bicyclists took on that challenge in 2010, spacing out their travels to more than 5,000 miles over 100 days.
