A few quick questions here on medium wave propagation.

Obviously, medium wave DX'ing works out better in the evening. I know the D
layer vanishes at night, making sky wave propagation possible for lower
frequencies, but I think I'm missing something here.

During the day time from my location in NJ, I can't hear AM stations like
1110 WBT in Charlotte or 1100 WTAM in Ohio. But I can hear them quite well
in the evening. I've always attributed it to the fact that there is no D
layer in the evening...

So... Now I'm wondering about the size of the "hop" for medium wave signals
once sky wave propagation is possible. I'm sure there is no set answer for
this... But... Ohio and NC aren't that far from my location here in NJ.
So... When I hear medium wave stations at night like WBT and WTAM , is it
the first hop of a sky wave??? Is the size of the hop determined by the
severity of the upward angle of the signal or just conditions ??? Also...
Can medium wave signals make multiple hops so long as it doesn't run into
daylight (d layer).

Michael