I think it's probably not as wish-fulfilling to imagine a realistic relationship with obstacles to overcome, but I don't think it's necessarily creepy. Like, I said, I believe the relationship was real until they say different, so it's a moot point for me.

"Running away in his head" could also mean that now he knows or believes he was deluded to think he could have a normal relationship, or that a relationship wasn't going to be as fraught as his life otherwise. As in, maybe he simply thought normal life with a woman would be easy, and he learned it really wasn't any less complicated (emotionally) than life as a hunter.

I'm willing to see how it plays out, either way, and for now I'm just glad Dean didn't drive to Texas to steal Amelia's phone.

Not even tell Martin, who you're abandoning in the woods, that something came up? Not very Sam to me.

I've seen him pull an uncommunicative vanishing act on Dean and Bobby often enough that I'm not terribly surprised he'd leave Crazy Martin in the lurch. While Sam is moved by noble purposes more often than self-interest, I really don't think consideration for other people is a major component of his make-up.

He's in Louisiana, she's in Texas. It's not right around the corner.

Depends where in Louisiana and where in Texas. (Signed, married to someone born in East Texas.)

Kermit TX and Carencro LA are both real places, about 11 hours apart according to Google maps (I know Carencro is near Lafayette, which is not far from the border, but I think Kermit is over to the west - it's near Odessa and Midland which I remember driving past, but when I drive through Texas I drive all the way through, usually, so the whole state is pretty much a blur to me).

Kermit is west, at the corner of the stack that rises from the top of the state, and Carencro, LA is sort of dead center of the state. I looked!

I've seen him pull an uncommunicative vanishing act on Dean and Bobby often enough that I'm not terribly surprised he'd leave Crazy Martin in the lurch.

When?

If we start to now say places are too far apart to rush between, the entire show falls apart under our hands.

I said it in S3 when Dean was supposed to driving from Buffalo to Queens in three hours. That's a day-long drive, easy.

I'm not trying to nitpick, I just thought it was a little odd that Sam would take off that way without a word to anyone, because I *don't* remember him doing it before, and it's not like he was just going down the road.

I don't know, I imagine to a Winchester one state over is pretty much like just down the road. Even if it's a big state.

If you've only said it once in 7+ years, it's too late. You're complicit, just like the rest of us, in South Dakota being around the corner from everywhere.

Which is to say--I don't think the text cares about the distance, in a way that's even more difficult to work around than strange Stanford rules. They apparate just outside city limits in the Impala. That's how it goes. Distance is not a motivator in the narrative, pro or con. At least, I can't remember much "it's too far!" or "let's do that, it's close".

When?

Mystery Spot and about every other episode of Season 4.