THE CHALLENGE
To me it seems that visiting all of the fifty states of the United States of America is probably a common goal or at least a dream amongst those living in America.
However, to many I suppose, visiting all fifty states is probably only ever just a dream – the US is a vast expanse – by land area the third largest country in the world, nearly 20,000 kilometres of coastline, and in the “lower 48”, 4,500 kilometres east to west, 2,600 kilometres north to south – and then the extra bits !
Sure, there are stories of many “USA Roadtrips” – Youtube is full of videos and timelapses from people all over the world doing a road trip (or trips) – GoPro has a lot to be thankful for ! – however there are not many (that I have come across anyway) “doing the lot”.
I have found a few videos and blogs and read a few books and not too many I have seen cover a visit to all 50 states.
And then what about “foreigners” ? Is it a “bucket list” item for many Brits, Europeans, Aussies ?
Sure, the “big names” will be there – New York, LA, San Francisco, Vegas – but what about the rest ?
Well this is our unfolding story – a visit to all 50 States (and 1 District !) – from Far, Far Away !
(And we are giving all the wonderful National Parks a good try to boot !)
OUR ADVENTURE
We first visited the US back in 2005 – you guessed it, LA, San Francisco, Vegas – and at that stage had no real expectation, or probably great desire really, to see all of the USA.
That first trip was with Adrienne, my wonderful, constant travelling companion, our daughter, Erin and our youngest son, Liam. Our eldest son, Simon had already reached the stage where holidays with Mum and Dad were “for kids”. This was to be our only trip to the US with Erin as by the time of our second US trip she too had reached this stage. Liam has been on 3 of our subsequent trips (2008, 2009 and 2012), so has managed to visit half the states, but I think that’s it for him, with us anyway and for now at least – however I think there are other parts he would like to see so that may not be the end for him just yet.
It was our second trip in 2008 where I think Adrienne & I were bitten by the bug. I say “we” because it is as much Adrienne’s story as mine and probably her that actually helped plant the “lets do all 50 states” seed. We were so taken by what we saw on that 2008 trip that we were back within 12 months in 2009. It will take us a few years yet but we have the rough plans of more trips which will eventually have us seeing all 50 states.
Some states we have only seen very briefly and some we have doubled up on. The time we have available on our trips can be limited and my philosophy is “see as much as possible in the time available”, so we cover a lot of ground on occasions ! Usually our double-ups have been getting to or from states on other trips – obviously the West Coast is generally the first point of call from Australia. We do actually have another rough plan already for our first real “re-visit” trip once we have the 50 already covered and plenty of “we will have to do that next time” ideas.
So there you have it !
This is probably just as much a record for me of our trips – I always enjoy looking back at the trips and their highlights – as it is a story of any sort.
50 States – here we come !