At 11:03 MST this morning, I entered Nebraska, the 50th state that I have been to this year. If you've been following my travels, especially my last trip you may have questioned if there was a rationale to where I was going.
I did not start the year thinking of visiting every state. I suspect the idea first popped in to my head driving the Uhaul from Philadelphia. By that time, I had the Northeast pretty well covered and was planning to go to Florida for the final shuttle launch, which gave me the chance to nail down that quarter of the country. When I was able to add a visit to Hawaii on to the end of my Alaska trip, thus collecting the two toughest states, I thought I might actually be able to do it.
Some states got more attention than others. I spent the most time in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Colorado. Oregon, West Virginia and Missouri were very brief affairs. I don't even think I got out of the car in Missouri. I had an airport layover in Washington in August. I couldn't quite convince myself that that counted as a "visit" so I went back to shore up my Evergreen State bona rides.
While Nebraska is the last state I visited this year, I have been here once before. Depending on how you come down in the layover debate, the last of the nifty fifty that I saw for the first time is either Texas or Washington.
I'm glad I made the extra effort to see the last handful of states. I was pretty apprehensive about spending the money, but I'm pretty sure it was worth it. Now, I have a common theme to connect all my adventures. 2011 will always be the year I saw all 50 states, regardless of whether I'm able to make the Denver relocation stick.
Wow, I didn't know you were on such a mission! Congratulations on completing it.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome. How I would love to see that trip book of yours :)
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