Moving East

Much earllier in the year, we spoke about the fact that every time the נבחר people behaved badly and became נדחה they moved eastward. When America became populated and settled, people always spoke of moving west into the wild lands and the prairies. There is a quote by a man named Horace Greeley, "Go west young man, and grow up with the country." So were they still moving east? Were they so far east by then that it had become west? Or was it something else entirely? How far can you go in one direction before it becomes the opposite one? And if they are completely separate, why would people want to go back to the west if they had wanted to move away from the east towards the west earlier? What made them change their minds? Were they doing better religiously? would they be able to go back by improving with regard to 'ה and ethical monotheism?