Friends at Yellowstone

The Menzels are friends of ours from the Bay Area who are in the middle of a family trip driving from Chicago back home to Marin. A month ago when we were talking about our family vacations we discovered that we were both going to be in Yellowstone at the same time, and that they would be driving right past our campground around lunchtime. Rather than host them in the RV, we all agreed to meet at the Lake Hotel for lunch.

Why is it so easy to meet up with friends in remote parts of the country when we can't get together often enough at home?