Few people had gone as far as Goldenrod, and the few breeders were not nearly as organized as the current Breeding Center. Thus, unless you were particularly lucky with your starter Pokémon, you had to follow the long path by foot if you wished to travel. Every so often someone was willing to move the Sudowoodo between Violet and Goldenrod, but only rarely. Meeting up with new arrivals could take almost a month. Violet was the main social center, back then.