Sometimes I think about the fact that pretty much everything I need, and most of what I want or do, is within a 20- or 30-minute drive. If the whole world disappeared except for Fairfax County, Virginia, it might take me a few days, possibly a couple of weeks, to realize it. It’s like the famous New Yorker cover suggesting that Manhattanites think there isn’t much else to America.

But of course, there is. The other week, when my wife was away for a conference, I drove to a Chinese buffet out in Warrenton, in Fauquier County. It’s still mostly rural, with a modern ring of sprawl around old-town Warrenton. You wouldn’t know you were in any place in particular. It was about a 40-minute drive. Objectively it’s a waste of time and gas...