The goal was 50 states by age 50, and things were on pace for that goal to be achieved.
Then the pandemic came and things got trapped in amber, as life crawled to a stop and so many plans were put on hold.
But on a recent trip West, that all changed with a visit to Utah and Idaho, my 49th and 50th states.
The writer besides the Welcome to Idaho sign and note the stickers. (Gwen Green photo)
It isn’t super clear to me when I decided that 50 by 50 was a goal. It was more than a minute ago, and 50 then seemed like an almost impossible age, but it was a goal and it seemed a good one.
My wife recalls that in one of our very first conversations, before we had even gone on a date, I talked about my 50 by 50 goal, and it turned out that it was one for her as well, even though the idea hadn’t fully crystallized in her mind at that point.
Paid subscriptions make this traveling and reporting possible
Travel is good and fun and it was my goal, so I made the rules.
Any state visited before 16 didn’t count (she disagrees on this point). The reasoning being if you weren’t able to drive, then it shouldn’t count, and also if you were a toddler and don’t even remember going to Mount Rushmore that doesn’t count.
The other rule was airport layovers counted as a visit. So did train stops. As long as you got out of the conveyance and at least walked around for a bit. It also helped to buy a local paper or a lottery ticket to cement your visit.
Also some airports and train stations are really nice and worth a look around.
So with all that in mind, the next thing you need is a way to keep track of where you’ve been. And there’s an app for that, as Callie Sterling pointed out several years ago. On her recommendation, I immediately downloaded the app “Been” and is seen below. Callie and her husband Jaison are also avid travelers and also working around to hit all 50.
Thanks Callie!
I was also given a scratch-off map that proved to be very useful.
The next thing you need to do is start tallying where you’ve been.
This part is easy, and if you’ve managed to leave the county where you were born, it is extremely likely you’ve already racked up a fair number of states.
First, the states where you’ve lived.
Then the states where you have been for work or for a friend’s wedding.
Then family vacations and trips with friends.
Suddenly you’ve been to way more states then you realized.
So, for me, I live in Arkansas and have also lived in Tennessee. I’ve taken various work trips to New York, Georgia, Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois. Weddings for friends knocked out Minnesota, Wisconsin, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Also Washington D.C. and it isn’t a state but that's certainly a place you should visit.
Trips with friends also took care of Nevada (Vegas, baby!), Arizona, Florida and Georgia. There are also repeats in that category, but not counting double or more trips.
To knock out the rest required some planning, along with a willingness to travel and lots and lots of windshield time. Because, yes some states you’re going to fly to get to, but most you’re going to need a car, either yours or a rental. You’ll also need an atlas. Not everywhere in this beautiful country has cell phone service, and a paper map seems like a throwback but has saved the day on multiple occasions.
Also, your phone will get it wrong. For example, if you say Hampton Inn in Kansas City, you might end up on Hampton Road out in the middle of nowhere.
So, do you want to do this?
If you decide visits to all 50 states is a goal, then below are some tips and tricks that will help get it done.
First, you need to decide if this is a personal goal or a family endeavor. I made it a personal goal, but I’ve also been to 48 of 50 states with my wife. She says 47. But I count Ellis Island as our visit to New Jersey, since the island is considered to be both New York and New Jersey. We’ve also missed Alabama and Pennsylvania, even though we’ve been perilously close to both.
The ‘easy’ state
Arkansas, duh. There’s a 99.9 percent chance you live here now or have lived here if you’re reading this. The thing is, if you read about this elsewhere, you’ll find Arkansas is considered one of the harder states to mark off. Not on a coast. No major airport or major national park. No major league sports franchise, as hitting every big league stadium is a thing for some folks, as are the national parks.
Arkansas does have some exceptionally good state parks and there’s plenty of hunting and fishing and hiking and such to keep people occupied.
Next up
The border states. They’re all about two and half hours away from Little Rock. So they’re all day trips. And easy, if boring, drives. The goal isn’t necessarily doing something while you are there, just going to the state and getting out. Preferably taking a picture at the welcome to the state sign.
If you do, you’ll see they’re festooned with stickers as others on this path have left their mark. You can have custom stickers made up, and that’s fun. I might have done that, if I knew it was a thing.
Overnight trips
These are the states in a roughly six-hour radius of central Arkansas that aren’t on the border, and you can knock out Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Alabama.
Pick a destination and get a couple of states on the same trip. Google is your friend here. First, you can plot out multiple stops using Google Maps. You can also find some fun things to do. Kentucky has a bourbon trail where you visit various distilleries. Alabama has a golf trail. There’s all manner of festivals out there that you’ve never heard of but could be a terrific time.
Road warrior
These are the trips that you plan on a week for but all by car.
One example is going to Mount Rushmore. It will take most of the daylight, but if you leave in the morning, you can be in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that night on a route that takes you through Missouri, Kansas and Iowa.
Then drive the width of that state the next day with a stop in the Badlands and Wall Drug before getting to a hotel or cabin near Mount Rushmore for a few days. You of course see Mount Rushmore while you’re there, but you can also take a day-off excursion and get Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota marked off.
Also helpful to note that the Dakotas have bathrooms by the state line signs and excellent highways.
On the way back you loop through the far western edge of South Dakota’s dinosaur country. Then you get to Nebraska and go east before turning south to Kansas, then Oklahoma before making it back to Arkansas.
So in a week’s trip, that’s nine states.
If you’re willing to drive the east-bound length of Tennessee, you can get to Virginia, then D.C., Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
You could head to Nashville then turn south to go to Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama.
A multi-stop drive north could get Minnesota, Wisconsin and so forth.
The same can be said of Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia.
Fly and drives
One could, as we did, fly to Seattle, then drive down the Pacific Coast, into Oregon and that beautiful coast and continue into Northern California.
A recent flight to Salt Lake City and a couple of days at Yellowstone took us to Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
A flight to Boston and a rental car means that the smallish states of the Northeast can all be visited in a single day.
A trip to Las Vegas gets Nevada and if you do the Hoover Dam tour, you literally walk into Arizona.
Going there just to go
New Mexico is a bit much to drive. But Albuquerque has an excellent airport and Colorado could be a day trip.
New Mexico and Arkansas are both in the same category and viewed as the “hard states.”
If you’ve been keeping track, you may have noted that very sketchy itinerary has knocked out 48 of the 50.
Best for last?
By air: Hawaii is a flight and worth every penny. Oahu and Maui are the most popular of the islands for tourists. If you want to save some money, think about multiple airlines. From Little Rock, you can get a direct flight to Las Vegas, then Hawaiian Air flies non-stop from there to Honolulu. The flights will take most of a day regardless.
By boat: Yes, you can fly to Alaska or even drive it, but our Alaska journey was a cruise that started in Vancouver and took most of a week as we made our way up the Canadian and Alaskan coast. Anchorage isn’t your destination port, though. That would be Seward. There’s also multiple stops along the way and really lets you see quite a bit of Alaska that way and, blessedly, no driving.
Generally speaking, for those attempting the 50 states challenge, Hawaii and Alaska when the budget allows because they’re also special occasion trips.
My wife made a fun little video to mark the occasion on social media and it is below. Note: Pandemic hair is seen and it is wild.
Share this post
50 by 50-ish
Share this post
The goal was 50 states by age 50, and things were on pace for that goal to be achieved.
Then the pandemic came and things got trapped in amber, as life crawled to a stop and so many plans were put on hold.
But on a recent trip West, that all changed with a visit to Utah and Idaho, my 49th and 50th states.
It isn’t super clear to me when I decided that 50 by 50 was a goal. It was more than a minute ago, and 50 then seemed like an almost impossible age, but it was a goal and it seemed a good one.
My wife recalls that in one of our very first conversations, before we had even gone on a date, I talked about my 50 by 50 goal, and it turned out that it was one for her as well, even though the idea hadn’t fully crystallized in her mind at that point.
Paid subscriptions make this traveling and reporting possible
Subscribe if you like, pay if you can
Travel is good and fun and it was my goal, so I made the rules.
Any state visited before 16 didn’t count (she disagrees on this point). The reasoning being if you weren’t able to drive, then it shouldn’t count, and also if you were a toddler and don’t even remember going to Mount Rushmore that doesn’t count.
The other rule was airport layovers counted as a visit. So did train stops. As long as you got out of the conveyance and at least walked around for a bit. It also helped to buy a local paper or a lottery ticket to cement your visit.
Also some airports and train stations are really nice and worth a look around.
So with all that in mind, the next thing you need is a way to keep track of where you’ve been. And there’s an app for that, as Callie Sterling pointed out several years ago. On her recommendation, I immediately downloaded the app “Been” and is seen below. Callie and her husband Jaison are also avid travelers and also working around to hit all 50.
Thanks Callie!
I was also given a scratch-off map that proved to be very useful.
The next thing you need to do is start tallying where you’ve been.
This part is easy, and if you’ve managed to leave the county where you were born, it is extremely likely you’ve already racked up a fair number of states.
First, the states where you’ve lived.
Then the states where you have been for work or for a friend’s wedding.
Then family vacations and trips with friends.
Suddenly you’ve been to way more states then you realized.
So, for me, I live in Arkansas and have also lived in Tennessee. I’ve taken various work trips to New York, Georgia, Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois. Weddings for friends knocked out Minnesota, Wisconsin, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Also Washington D.C. and it isn’t a state but that's certainly a place you should visit.
Trips with friends also took care of Nevada (Vegas, baby!), Arizona, Florida and Georgia. There are also repeats in that category, but not counting double or more trips.
To knock out the rest required some planning, along with a willingness to travel and lots and lots of windshield time. Because, yes some states you’re going to fly to get to, but most you’re going to need a car, either yours or a rental. You’ll also need an atlas. Not everywhere in this beautiful country has cell phone service, and a paper map seems like a throwback but has saved the day on multiple occasions.
Also, your phone will get it wrong. For example, if you say Hampton Inn in Kansas City, you might end up on Hampton Road out in the middle of nowhere.
So, do you want to do this?
If you decide visits to all 50 states is a goal, then below are some tips and tricks that will help get it done.
First, you need to decide if this is a personal goal or a family endeavor. I made it a personal goal, but I’ve also been to 48 of 50 states with my wife. She says 47. But I count Ellis Island as our visit to New Jersey, since the island is considered to be both New York and New Jersey. We’ve also missed Alabama and Pennsylvania, even though we’ve been perilously close to both.
The ‘easy’ state
Arkansas, duh. There’s a 99.9 percent chance you live here now or have lived here if you’re reading this. The thing is, if you read about this elsewhere, you’ll find Arkansas is considered one of the harder states to mark off. Not on a coast. No major airport or major national park. No major league sports franchise, as hitting every big league stadium is a thing for some folks, as are the national parks.
Arkansas does have some exceptionally good state parks and there’s plenty of hunting and fishing and hiking and such to keep people occupied.
Next up
The border states. They’re all about two and half hours away from Little Rock. So they’re all day trips. And easy, if boring, drives. The goal isn’t necessarily doing something while you are there, just going to the state and getting out. Preferably taking a picture at the welcome to the state sign.
If you do, you’ll see they’re festooned with stickers as others on this path have left their mark. You can have custom stickers made up, and that’s fun. I might have done that, if I knew it was a thing.
Overnight trips
These are the states in a roughly six-hour radius of central Arkansas that aren’t on the border, and you can knock out Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Alabama.
Pick a destination and get a couple of states on the same trip. Google is your friend here. First, you can plot out multiple stops using Google Maps. You can also find some fun things to do. Kentucky has a bourbon trail where you visit various distilleries. Alabama has a golf trail. There’s all manner of festivals out there that you’ve never heard of but could be a terrific time.
Road warrior
These are the trips that you plan on a week for but all by car.
One example is going to Mount Rushmore. It will take most of the daylight, but if you leave in the morning, you can be in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, that night on a route that takes you through Missouri, Kansas and Iowa.
Then drive the width of that state the next day with a stop in the Badlands and Wall Drug before getting to a hotel or cabin near Mount Rushmore for a few days. You of course see Mount Rushmore while you’re there, but you can also take a day-off excursion and get Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota marked off.
Also helpful to note that the Dakotas have bathrooms by the state line signs and excellent highways.
On the way back you loop through the far western edge of South Dakota’s dinosaur country. Then you get to Nebraska and go east before turning south to Kansas, then Oklahoma before making it back to Arkansas.
So in a week’s trip, that’s nine states.
If you’re willing to drive the east-bound length of Tennessee, you can get to Virginia, then D.C., Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
You could head to Nashville then turn south to go to Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama.
A multi-stop drive north could get Minnesota, Wisconsin and so forth.
The same can be said of Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia.
Fly and drives
One could, as we did, fly to Seattle, then drive down the Pacific Coast, into Oregon and that beautiful coast and continue into Northern California.
A recent flight to Salt Lake City and a couple of days at Yellowstone took us to Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
A flight to Boston and a rental car means that the smallish states of the Northeast can all be visited in a single day.
A trip to Las Vegas gets Nevada and if you do the Hoover Dam tour, you literally walk into Arizona.
Going there just to go
New Mexico is a bit much to drive. But Albuquerque has an excellent airport and Colorado could be a day trip.
New Mexico and Arkansas are both in the same category and viewed as the “hard states.”
If you’ve been keeping track, you may have noted that very sketchy itinerary has knocked out 48 of the 50.
Best for last?
By air: Hawaii is a flight and worth every penny. Oahu and Maui are the most popular of the islands for tourists. If you want to save some money, think about multiple airlines. From Little Rock, you can get a direct flight to Las Vegas, then Hawaiian Air flies non-stop from there to Honolulu. The flights will take most of a day regardless.
By boat: Yes, you can fly to Alaska or even drive it, but our Alaska journey was a cruise that started in Vancouver and took most of a week as we made our way up the Canadian and Alaskan coast. Anchorage isn’t your destination port, though. That would be Seward. There’s also multiple stops along the way and really lets you see quite a bit of Alaska that way and, blessedly, no driving.
Generally speaking, for those attempting the 50 states challenge, Hawaii and Alaska when the budget allows because they’re also special occasion trips.