# Geographic Oddity Puzzler Answer **URL:** \ **Category:** The Show\ **Tags:** plymouth\ **Created:** [May 16, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941 "2010-05-16T17:10:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lion9car](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/59ef9b/32.png) [@lion9car](https://community.cartalk.com/u/lion9car)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/21 "2010-05-18T22:34:27Z")
But it’s a town, not a city. ---
**Author:** ![lion9car](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/59ef9b/32.png) [@lion9car](https://community.cartalk.com/u/lion9car)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/22 "2010-05-18T22:34:47Z")
The puzzler doesn’t say that. ---
**Author:** ![nilsson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/958977/32.png) [@nilsson](https://community.cartalk.com/u/nilsson)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/23 "2010-05-22T19:30:42Z")
Stamford is a _bogus_ answer. The correct answer should be Carter Lake, Iowa. Its location inside of Nebraska was caused by a flood of the Mississippi River in 1877, which redirected the river. Now when you leave Carter Lake in any compass direction, you end up in Nebraska. ---
**Author:** ![abhijit73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@abhijit73](https://community.cartalk.com/u/abhijit73)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/24 "2010-05-23T05:07:17Z")
I think it’s Washington D.C. ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Deco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Art\_Deco](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Art_Deco)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/25 "2010-05-23T18:32:01Z")
Stamford is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! The puzzle said you drive your car and enter the bordering state. You can’t drive over the Long Island Sound, which Tom and Ray conveniently ignored. ---
**Author:** ![ZombieWoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/91b2a8/32.png) [@ZombieWoof](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ZombieWoof)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/26 "2010-05-23T19:36:48Z")
If it actually said “home state” (and I’ll take your word for that) what if my home state is Maryland? So we can throw out that objection. You raise two other good points though, and I was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Richard62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Richard62](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Richard62)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/27 "2010-05-30T01:07:44Z")
Stamford is most decidedly not bogus. Though Carter Lake also satisfies the criteria. The Puzzler clearly states that your home is in a City. Towns, villages, and other communities don’t count. Both Stamford and Carter Lake are officially incorporated as Cities. As far as Washington Island WI is concerned, that’s the name of the island and not any of the communities on it. It also states that by traveling in each of the four directions, the first “non-home” state you come to is State X. So the city need not necessarily be right on the state line. Since it doesn’t specify a location for your home other than in a city, we must assume that the ‘oddity’ applies to the _entire_ city. So much for Washington DC, Fargo ND, Moorehead MN, St Joseph MO, Elmwood KS, and probably Matewan KY/WV. ---
**Author:** ![Justinian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@Justinian](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Justinian)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/28 "2010-06-03T18:39:11Z")
What’s “bogus” about it? But Carter Lake is a good try, and one I should have thought of, since I’ve actually _been_ in Carter Lake. Good try, but wrong; if you examine the map carefully, there are some points in Carter Lake from which it is possible to travel due south and remain in Iowa without ever entering Nebraska (until you eventually hit Missouri). By contrast, there are no points in Stamford from which it is possible to travel in any cardinal direction without eventually hitting New York. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/29 "2010-06-03T19:33:19Z")
No, if you travel south from Carter Lake you pass into Iowa, then back into Nebraska, not Missouri. So that’s just like traveling from Stamford, through Conn., then into NY. ---
**Author:** ![Justinian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@Justinian](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Justinian)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/30 "2010-06-04T13:56:31Z")
You’re right; I should have zoomed the map out more! Even if you do go due south through the little neck that connects Carter Lake to the rest of Iowa, you will hit Nebraska a few miles further south. So the Boys were wrong, but it’s hardly the first time… ---
**Author:** ![AlysKath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AlysKath](https://community.cartalk.com/u/AlysKath)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/31 "2010-06-05T14:52:22Z")
The city of Westlake, Ohio, has Bassett Road which runs in all four directions. ---
**Author:** ![jt1979](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jt1979/32/1863_2.png) [@jt1979](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jt1979)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/32 "2010-06-19T02:02:08Z")
I know this is really late to be commenting on this puzzler answer, but, as I pointed out in another, more recent, post regarding Tom and Ray’s omission of Carter Lake, it would be possible to travel due east from the southern portion of the incorporated area that is Carter Lake and remain in Iowa until reaching Illinois. I would hardly call a “city” of 3,500 people a city to begin with, but if the argument is going to be made that it is technically a city because it is an incorporated area and therefore called a city, then I would have to make the argument that a portion of that incorporated area does not satisfy the “all four directions of travel” portion of the puzzler. The entire are of Stamford, however, does. ---
**Author:** ![skaplan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@skaplan](https://community.cartalk.com/u/skaplan)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/33 "2010-06-19T18:34:04Z")
Assuming the city requirement is met by being legally incorporated as such, Portage Des Sioux, Missouri (commuter town north of St. Louis) qualifies. Traveling in any of the four cardinal directions the first state you cross into would be Illinois. ---
**Author:** ![jt1979](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jt1979/32/1863_2.png) [@jt1979](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jt1979)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/34 "2010-06-19T20:06:04Z")
Neat find, but I don’t know if it qualifies as a city. I did a search for it and it looks like it only has a population of about 350, and doesn’t seem to have its own government. I don’t think it probably counts as a city without having a government and its own charter, ordinances, local taxes, etc. etc. ---
**Author:** ![ZombieWoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/91b2a8/32.png) [@ZombieWoof](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ZombieWoof)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/35 "2010-06-19T23:21:43Z")
I know Wikipedia says that, so it must be true, but looking at the map, it doesn’t look true. ---
**Author:** ![jt1979](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/jt1979/32/1863_2.png) [@jt1979](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jt1979)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/36 "2010-06-20T00:01:15Z")
Eyeballing the map isn’t going to cut it in this case. You need to look at the longitude at the town/city and at the western-most point of the border with Illinois. From that town/city/whatever it is, all four cardinal directions take you into Illinois. According to Google Earth, and Garmin Mapsource, in order to miss Illinois to the south, you would need to be on a bearing of more than 182 degrees, so going due south would indeed take you into Illinois. ---
**Author:** ![ZombieWoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/91b2a8/32.png) [@ZombieWoof](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ZombieWoof)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 7:56am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/37 "2010-06-20T07:56:16Z")
@jt: Yeah, I give up. ---
**Author:** ![waterboy](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/waterboy/32/764_2.png) [@waterboy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/waterboy)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/38 "2010-06-20T16:17:10Z")
“There is only one city in the United States whereby traveling along the four compass points, north, south, east and west, the first state you reach is identical no matter which direction you choose.” What about any city in Alaska, no matter which way you go the first state you will reach will be Alaska, it even works for any city in Hawaii, the first state you reach will be Hawaii. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/39 "2010-06-20T19:46:16Z")
Nope, it’s the state you enter that’s the same every time, not the state you leave. ---
**Author:** ![waterboy](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/waterboy/32/764_2.png) [@waterboy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/waterboy)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941/40 "2010-06-20T20:28:40Z")
The state you enter will be the same no matter which of the 4 directions you go, look at a map, you will see my point. [Previous page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941.md?page=1) [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/geographic-oddity-puzzler-answer/48941.md?page=3)