Yeah ive got a friend who is into Nascar and has chatted with a few women that way. Im sure mutual interest stuff can be an option. Again, though, being far away from someone generally can make it tough...
I almost met a girl in Canada back around 911. We had chatted a good while, and had hit it off fairly well. I was gonna go see her, but right after 911 the desire to fly was pretty low, so instead just continued to communicate with her. Im glad i did, though, because i found out that basically she is a lot busier person than i would care to consider dating, always running from one place to another... And since im from the deep South, and warm weather, i dont think physically i would fit into a cold weather climate very well...