Today, the average distance to the moon is 238,856 miles.
There are two interesting things to note in that answer. First, note the word “average.” Remember that the Moon’s orbit is elliptical and not perfectly circular so the distance varies by as much as 26,000+ miles. To put that into perspective, the distance of the Moon to the Earth varies by more than the actual circumference of the Earth at any given time!
The second thing you should note in that answer is the word “Today.” The Moon is slowly leaving us at a rate of about 3 ¾ centimeters per year. That doesn’t seem like much but it will be a different sky up there in another million years or so. The thing to note is that, as the Moon recedes, the Earth’s rotation slows. If we’re still around a million years from now, our progeny will envy us the “short” work hours we enjoy today.
If you wanted to drive to the Moon (and somebody bothered to build a road) at a comfortable 60 miles per hour, it would take you just shy of 3981 hours or almost 166 days to get there. No rest stops along the way so everybody hit the bathroom before taking off!
Walking to the Moon at a man’s average of 3.5 miles per hour would require a trip of 68224.5 hours or 2843.5 days or almost 7.8 years (assuming you never stopped to sleep or eat).
If you’ve ever wondered Why is the Moon bigger on the horizon we’ve gladly already answered the question in an earlier post and invite you to read all about it.
You can also read more about the Moon at http://www.jimloy.com/astro/moon0.htm