After testing this on the tables I am using, it looks like I will have to rethink this whole thing.

simply running a single check between one county and another (the...

The reason I ask, is that I will be attempting to use all three tables in order to greatly optimize this query, hopefully removing as many as 13,000 rows to...

Peter,

This looks wonderful. After some toying around with it, I came up with this query:

select min(dbo.fnFriendsBetween('a', 'f'))

from contacts

which returns

(no Column name)

3

I must admit, that I keep getting lost...

Peter,

After a quick test of the function listed in the link above http://www.sqlteam.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=73079 , it would appear that this returns a count of ALL rows in the table.

using your illistration:

Peter,

Thank you for your reply.

After making the above post, I somehow stumbled accross the Wikipidia definition of the Dijkstra's  Algorithm and the link to your post at http://www.sqlteam.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=77262.

It looks...