David Wieland wrote: That could work if horse-drawn coach was our fastest transportation. That sounds pretty permie, doesn't it?
On Vancouver Island, west of Victoria, there's a pub called "16 mile Pub" - yep, that's as far as the stagecoach could get in a day's travel.
We are way too used to being able to travel multiple miles on quality roads, to easily go back to "the good old days". Even Canadian religious orders like Mennonite and Amish, count on quality roads cleared by snow plows to get around.
Mud season used to mean being reduced to horseback or walking, because what passed as roads, couldn't handle spring run-off.