I think it's just not easy to predict. I don't think it's somehow related to how far are you from server. The maximum is 30 hops. No1 had like 23, it was always 16,17,18,20 and 30.
Yes btw it's Chicago, but it's close to Canada so...lol
Oh interesting: Here are some notes this may help us investigate:
On 3rd hop it connects to one IP address 195.29.240.931, from my IP.
On 5th hop from my IP it connects to my T-com ( my ISP ),then connects to an IP, and next says Vienna. Next hop is connection t Frankfurt. Over to Paris, across the sea to Washington, then finally Chicago.
My conclusion is, depending on where you live, there are few connection points we have to connect to, to get to Chicago main server. I'd be glad to see Star War's screenshot or at least see where did he connect to.