Here's the letter I send to each kid in the class.
Dear Kids,

Help, I'm lost! I was on a trip and I didn't know where I was. I asked a woman if I was in Athens, Georgia. She said no I wasn't, and in fact, I was 500 miles away from Athens. So I asked someone else if I was in Los Angeles, California. They said that Los Angeles was 1700 miles away! As you can see I was lost big time.

Please help me figure out where I was. I'll visit your class soon, and I hope we can work this out together.

Sincerely,

Will Kazez
Professor of Mathematics