Ted is a world traveller. This summer, however, he decided to see the good old U.S.A.

On his vacation he went to the northernmost, southermost, easternmost and westernmost points in the U.S. (not necessarily in that order).

He did it without ever crossing a landborder between states and only leaving U.S. controlled territory once.

How did he do it?

The solution to this problem is simple, but you need to know a bit more geography than you can pick up most maps. The key to this is that Alaska satisfies three criteria northern, western, and eastern most points. If you look at a good map of Alaska you will see that the Alaskan archipelago extends past the 180 degree mark separating east and west longitude, meaning it exists in both the eastern and western hemispheres simultaneously. Second international law dictates that a country controls the waters 3 miles out from any land they control. This is important because it means that you are not leaving US controlled territory as you travel island to island. From there it is a simple matter of traveling to Hawaii, the southernmost point.

Posted by Eberhard on 2003-11-21 10:54:08