# Geographical assistance needed :)



## fairygirl (Nov 11, 2015)

Hi there,

Some of you may have already seen my initial post about this subject. I've come to a decision on my location.  I'm wanting it to be in America.  So I've been doing some research, lots and lots of research.  I was initially going to be setting the location in two area's, one Vermont the other New York.  I've since decided I need a smaller less (Far Less) Populated area.  There has to be two, so my protagonist can drive from one to the other in a specific time frame i.e. up to 24 hours to get from point 1 to point 2.  The less populated area's need to have a small hospital, schools etc... I am wanting the setting to be some where the Army can't reach to help in a hurry. Or rather the Army ignore such area's due to location.  

So my question is, where in America would I find such areas, based on the vague description above?

Additional information, tree's i.e. a forest/woods lined along the back-roads to location point 1 and point 2, farming area between 1 and 2, long desolated roads, with nothing between other than farm land and or forestry, off a main state highway.  Population 500 or less in each of the two areas. 

Thanks for the help


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## Blade (Nov 11, 2015)

Actually most of the US roughly fits the description you offered. Once you get away from the major cities empty space and much smaller settlements spread widely apart are the norm.

What came to mind when I read your post was upper NY state. You have forests and farming as well as towns and cities of various sizes. An advantage here would be the proximity of New York City if you chose to work it in for an episode. Going with your 24 hr. drive standard you could include all of New England, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee and maybe more with no problem.

Bottom line is that if you erase about maybe 15 of the larger cities off the map pretty well everything left is fair game.:encouragement:


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## InstituteMan (Nov 11, 2015)

First, Blade is correct. Most of the US would broadly fit your parameters. 

I would also suggest considering my old stomping grounds, the Ozarks. The Ozarks are hills/mountains in the central US, primarily in parts of the states of Missouri and Arkansas.

You have plenty of options to choose from, though. Happy writing!


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## Minu (Nov 11, 2015)

As the others said, that's a pretty big playing field. 

Map & states per forest coverage might help
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_cover_by_state_in_the_United_States

This is a better map, gives you major urban developments as per 2006
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2013/08/31/forests-return/JnlculWuva7yGKcursuMWP/story.html

I'm including this as you said you want a remote hard to reach area 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_United_States_National_Forests


I am thinking for what you are wanting Georgia or Alabama would be better. Not only is it forested, but you get nice swamps which of course makes back-wood travel harder. And depending on where you're setting it and what the MC's personality is like the locals might just help hide him from authorities / army. 

After all, having been down there a few times, some of the small towns still possess a rather predominant keep away - we don't want you here - sort of attitude. They're mighty suspicious of outsiders [which would be military].


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## Bishop (Nov 11, 2015)

Kirksville, Missouri.

Trust me, it's perfect. Small hospital, schools, about 17,000 people, and the US army is far off. The second location can be anywhere in rural Missouri, which gets even more desolate and has flat lands/plains and forested areas all over. It's off a main highway, which actually runs right through the town, and it's downtown is a total of 1 city block. Lots of back roads, off-shoots, population spread among wooded and plains areas... just enough civilization, but still deep in the dark.

Plus, you have a resource here at the forums who lived there for the better part of 5 years. 

You say you want a population of 500, but that's DAMN rural for the US. There's a lot of places like that, but those areas are usually rather backwater and close knit.


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## Deleted member 56686 (Nov 11, 2015)

I've done two cross country trips in the US and I know that in northern Iowa, I was just about the only car on the interstate between Des Moines and the Minnesota state line. Also you should check out the western states like Nevada, Wyoming, maybe the Dakotas. They are all sparsely populated. Wyoming in fact (besides Alaska) has the lowest population per square mile. That's from my experience anyway.


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## Minu (Nov 11, 2015)

Bishop said:


> Kirksville, Missouri.
> 
> Trust me, it's perfect. Small hospital, schools, about 17,000 people, and the US army is far off. The second location can be anywhere in rural Missouri, which gets even more desolate and has flat lands/plains and forested areas all over.
> 
> You say you want a population of 500, but that's DAMN rural for the US. There's a lot of places like that, but those areas are usually rather backwater and close knit.




Kirksville still has the old military base right? 10 minutes north if I remember correctly. The handful of photos I've seen don't show it falling down - might be different. And Kirksville has an airport. Military uses the airport & sets up at the base. Done deal if the OP is having his/her MC running from the military. Even if there wasn't a regional airport you don't need a perfect runway to land - I've landed a plane [Cessna] in a farmer's field. As long as it is level and there's no obstacles / holes, a skilled pilot can land pretty much anywhere. From what I remember Thousand Hill Park is very tourist / camping so there's not a lot of hiding spots. 


To the OP, I apologize didn't notice the size requirements. I stick with Alabama / Georgia and here is a list of small towns - http://www.city-data.com/smallTowns.html with a population below 1,000 per state for reference


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## Minu (Nov 11, 2015)

There is also the option of making a town - make up a name - and include little pieces from all sorts of towns in the area. Example take the old ruined military base from Kirksville and put it somewhere more remote Millen, Georgia which I am told gets nice swamp. Call it Dalsville. That sort of thing. That's half the fun of writing, is messing around.


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## Joe_Bassett (Nov 11, 2015)

Try west Texas, around Lubbock.  I've travelled from Dallas to Lubbock and there are a lot of really small towns in between.  Some are so small they don't even have a dairy queen, which, I am told is the mark of a real Texas town.
Honestly, though, some are so small they don't even have gas stations.


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## Allysan (Nov 11, 2015)

I was going to say Missouri, too. My mom lived in a small town called Birch Tree near the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. 3 hrs from STL, 2 from Springfield, 1 from a small town called West Plains which barely even had a mall. In other words, barely even on the map. As for point b, well I'm sure Missouri and even other western states like the Dakotas would fit the bill well. The mid-west and west are full of wide open spaces.


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## aj47 (Nov 11, 2015)

Most states that are west of the Appalachians and east of the Rockies are like that.  Lots of little towns ....


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## InstituteMan (Nov 11, 2015)

Allysan said:


> . . . a small town called West Plains which barely even had a mall.



Hey, West Plains is BIG TIME in those parts. I believe their high school sports teams are the "Zizzors." I don't know what a Zizzor is, but they had a bigger school than my town, so they usually beat us at track meets.

Another good (for present purposes) somewhat larger town to look up in the Ozarks is Rolla, Missouri. It's got a hospital and a university and not a ton else.


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## J Anfinson (Nov 11, 2015)

If Missouri, pretty much any town along the Missouri/Arkansas line is tiny. And Ft. Leonard Wood is at least an hour from the line, I believe, since the only major highway through there is I44. I grew up in a town with a population of barely more than a thousand, and there were plenty of "blink and you miss it" towns where I'm from.


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## Bishop (Nov 11, 2015)

Minu said:


> Kirksville still has the old military base right? 10 minutes north if I remember correctly. The handful of photos I've seen don't show it falling down - might be different. And Kirksville has an airport. Military uses the airport & sets up at the base. Done deal if the OP is having his/her MC running from the military. Even if there wasn't a regional airport you don't need a perfect runway to land - I've landed a plane [Cessna] in a farmer's field. As long as it is level and there's no obstacles / holes, a skilled pilot can land pretty much anywhere. From what I remember Thousand Hill Park is very tourist / camping so there's not a lot of hiding spots.
> 
> 
> To the OP, I apologize didn't notice the size requirements. I stick with Alabama / Georgia and here is a list of small towns - http://www.city-data.com/smallTowns.html with a population below 1,000 per state for reference



Ah, the airport in Kirksville, Missouri...

If you can really call a single runway behind Jebediah's shed an airport. The military base is highly neutered these days as well, and mostly just works with ROTC at the university--though I had forgotten about it to be honest. 

Then again, half of Kirksville is more heavily armed than the military, so it might not work for that reason. You'd also have to include all the meth labs. There's a LOT of those.


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## kilroy214 (Nov 11, 2015)

Maybe the Knob Noster area, Sedalia, Missouri. Whiteman AFB is right in the vicinity, though that isn't army.

Maybe Fort Riley in Kansas. Isn't that near Abilene, or Salina?


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## fairygirl (Nov 12, 2015)

Wow, so many answers in such a small time frame.

Thank you all who have come forth and given so many different area's to choose from  it's very much appreciated 

I think, I've personally over thought the whole location/setting.  

You've all offered great places, so I have some ideas of where to place my characters.

Thanks again for the help,


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## Minu (Nov 12, 2015)

Bishop said:


> If you can really call a single runway behind Jebediah's shed an airport. The military base is highly neutered these days as well, and mostly just works with ROTC at the university--though I had forgotten about it to be honest.
> 
> Then again, half of Kirksville is more heavily armed than the military, so it might not work for that reason. You'd also have to include all the meth labs. There's a LOT of those.




 Thing is, as I said, a skilled pilot can land pretty much anywhere. A shed is more than I've landed at. The closest thing to civilization at that farmer's field I landed the Cessna at was a small farm house nearly half a mile north that looked as if it, like the field, had been abandoned. As long as the field / airport is solid, you can land some rather extreme planes (big planes have landed on highways for example -Southern Airways Flight 242
 in 1977 and a number of Boeings have emergency landed at tiny airports far too short for them). A helicopter has more leeway than let's say a plane full of troopers. 

As for being more armed than the military - how many of those weapons are for intimidation only? Shooting a can off the fence, or a target at the range, is quite different than shooting a person.

Though your comment about drugs got me thinking of Earle's song, _Copperhead Road_. Why not Tennessee? Mountain City, which he uses in the song, is right in a rather large national forest [Cherokee is _*big*_] and right by the Iron Mountains. The closest base is Mt. Carmel by Kingsport so that's what 2 hrs. average? There's a number of hospitals / medical centers there and I believe there's no airport even remotely close. Population 3,000 give or take.


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## fairygirl (Nov 14, 2015)

Hi all 

Well most of your comments got me thinking a lot more, so I did more research, in fact I spent a few hours deciding on the perfect setting.  I have decided on Sleepy Hollow, it's perfect geographically speaking, has a small sized hospital as well as other things needed for my story.  Phew.  Now I can finally resume my writing.  

Now the question is, are there any of you who currently live in Sleepy Hollow or have visited?  If so I'd love to hear all about it, thanks 

Thank you all


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## Blade (Nov 15, 2015)

So there really is a Sleepy Hollow.:scratch:

I would know the name from a 1949 Walt Disney cartoon _The Legend of Sleepy Hollow _featuring a character called Ichabod Crane and an appearance of a headless horseman.#-o

Here is the scene where Crane encounters the horseman. (7 min.) This starts out calm and mellow but soon turns to frantic terror.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo9S6fDQGQM


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