@Bob_Luken said:
Our US of A was settled east to west so people should generally say “out west" and “back east". Someone in Colorado is incorrect to say, "I'm going out to Wisconsin". The guy in Wisconsin correctly says, "I'm going out to Denver". In Tennessee I might not say "back to Baltimore", just because I've never spent much time there, but I would never say "out" to Baltimore, because that would be a self-centered perception that "out" would be any direction from my location. A good neutral word is "over", works in all directions but feels like it doesn't cover longer distances.
Also, north is top of a map, people should say “up” in reference to traveling any northward direction. Same thing with “down” being the word for going south of wherever you currently are. However, there is also the element of elevation which can throw the previous up-down guidelines out the window. If you are navigating a significant change in elevation, up might be south and down might be north on the map. And on the rivers, you might not believe this but, you say northbound or southbound by the flow and not by the compass. If you're traveling on the Tennessee river in Tennessee, and you are southbound, you'll end up in Kentucky, geographically north of Tennessee.
What if you're in East Tennessee and headed for Alabama?
They ain’t gotta name for it cause everybody knows you’re better off staying put