McDonald’s map reveals ‘McFarthest Point’ in America

Just as in London it is claimed you are never more than five metres from a rat, it seems that in the United States of America you are never much more than that from a Big Mac and fries, according to weathersealed.com.

That’s not quite true. While there are more than 13,000 branches in the States, some benighted areas of its vast hinterland are not blessed with ready access to 710-calories salads or a quarter-gallon vat of Coca Cola.

Predictably, the densely populated eastern seaboard has the highest numbers of the fast-food outlets – as represented by the thick galaxy of McDonald’s lights to the right of the map – closely followed by the west coast.

But between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, double cheeseburgers get harder to find.

South-east Oregon, central Nevada and Idaho are all borderline French-fry deserts – “McSparse”, as Steven von Worley, the map’s creator, puts it.

According to von Worley, the “McFarthest Spot” in America – or at least the 48 contiguous states – lies in the grasslands of South Dakota, between two tiny hamlets called Meadow and Glad Valley.

It is a terrifying 107 miles from the nearest McDonald’s as the crow flies – but worse still, a two-hour-minimum, 145-mile journey by car.

British people will be reassured to know that despite the comparatively tiny size of our islands, we still find room for an artery-busting 1,250 McDonald’s outlets.