The Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail is a paved path between Shirlington and Purcellville, Virginia. It runs for 45 miles and apparently the whole strip is classified as a park. Most people use it for walking or biking, but there are also some sections with adjacent gravel paths for people to ride horses.
There was an entrance to this trail about 5 minutes from where I lived as a kid. When I was in elementary school, I started biking. My parents never gave me any limits on how far I was allowed to go, so distance was only a matter of my own endurance.
If I took the trail from my house and went west, I could get to some cities and shopping centers within 2 miles and then more within 5 miles. Beyond that, it was mostly emptiness in that direction. I never really did much when I got to places… maybe I’d just buy a candy bar somewhere or sometimes see a movie at a local theater. I think I was really just driven by the thrill of the ride and the prospect of widening my own personal bubble.
But I knew that if I went east, I’d eventually make it to DC… and the prospect of going there unsupervised was really appealing to me at the time. I think it was maybe an 8-10 mile ride in one direction. That was some serious cycling for me as a kid, but I worked my way up to it and made the trip. By the time I finally realized I had crossed into DC, I was so tired that I just had to turn around and head back home. Twenty miles round trip is no joke.
Once you get a car, distance doesn’t really matter. You can go anywhere.
Aerik Arkadian 
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