The Quest for 50, an update
My quest to visit all 50 states is getting closer, but closing the deal could be tough
In 2023, I wrote this post about my quest to visit all 50 states and set out the rules for what I consider to be a visit to a state. You should refer to it to see what my guidelines are.
Anyway, since then I have discovered that I have NOT been in Texas or Oklahoma as I found an Amtrak map showing the route of the train I took as a 5-year old from Los Angeles to Kansas City. I always assumed the train followed Route 66, but the train goes further north and passes in to Kansas from Colorado.
In the summer of 2023, I was able to bounce back a bit and added three states: Arkansas, Tennesee, and Alabama to my list. This helped me polish off the South. I didn’t see much of Arkansas and just passed through the NE corner of it driving from St. Louis to Memphis.
In Memphis, we spent a night at the Peabody Hotel and found out that we are too old to go to Beale Street at night.
We then drove to Birmingham, Alabama, “The Magic City”. (Because it has all three necessary ingredients to make steel nearby.) This brought my states visited total ro 41.
In early April, I added three more states to the total and each one was a completely different story.
Our trip started in Northern Colorado, so we headed over to Wyoming, which was a short drive. I had the option of going to Cheyenne, the state capital, or Laramie, where the University of Wyoming is located. Because of questionable weather and a history of highway crashes on the road to Laramie (US 287), we opted to go to Cheyenne. We approached it on US 85, which was a a pretty desolate piece of highway.
When we got to the Wyoming state line, you couldn’t tell that there was anything different. Weirdly, the first sign you encounter announces that you are in Laramie County (which does not include the city of Laramie). The sign welcoming you to Wyoming is another couple of miles away.
Somewhere along the way, we picked up 2000 feet in elevation as the signs welcoming us to Cheyenne indicated. For a city with a TV western, songs written about it, and just a general sense of being in the Old West, Cheyenne really didn’t impress much.
The city LOVES chain restaurants and stores. We stayed at a Fairfield Inn that had a semifunctioning toilet and a noisy HVAC unit. My lasting impression of Cheyenne is seeing a man leave the nearby Applebee’s on a Sunday afternoon at 1 pm, wearing a San Diego Padres jersey top and red plaid pajama pants, and spitting all over the place as he walked to his car. Which I kept a long distance away from.
As I left, we headed to the State Capitol. In Cheyenne, you can just park in front of the State Capitol on a Sunday and walk on the front lawn and take selfies.
I know Wyoming has Yellowstone National Park and Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons, but I had to get my fix of Wyoming with a night in Cheyenne. And well, sometimes that’s what you have to settle for. And state #42 was in the books
We left driving through more farmland on Wyoming 151 as we headed east to state 43, Nebraska. The Wyoming part of this drive was fairly flat and dull. There was the terror of a 70 miles per hour speed limit on a two-lane highway, but we saw very few cars. I stopped at a rest area near pretty much nothing and it was immaculately clean. You could have performed open heart surgery in that bathroom and not needed to scrub up. I did wash my hands after using the toilet for those not scoring at home.
Once we Wyoming 151 turned into Nebraska 71 (the road literally had a curve here for some reason), you were welcomed to the Cornhusker State and advised to enjoy the Good Life.
I knew almost nothing about the Nebraska Panhandle before I got here, but I was suprised at the scenic beauty. The area was a large body of water many millions of years ago. That water has long since receded, but the erosion left behind left numerous bluffs and buttes.
My goal was to drive around the bluff that gives its name to Scotts Bluff National Monument, but the road was closed to vehicle traffic (but not hikers) because it was around 5 pm. It looked amazing. We ended up driving into the nearby town of Scottsbluff (all one word this time) and stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. On points!
Scottsbluff is the biggest city in this part of Nebraska and it only has around 15,000 residents. So there’s a lot of room to spread out. We did find a nice pizza place/brew pub (I got a non-alcoholic beer just to fit in with the vibe).
The next day, we headed to a very obscure National Monument, Agate Fossil Beds, which is in the town of Harrison. That town has a population of 240. Be sure to have your vehicle filled up and keep some paper maps on hand because your GPS might not be working as cell service is very spotty. However, it’s hard to get lost as there is pretty much just one road in and out and it’s straight. If you’re not a hiker, you probably won’t be at Agate Fossil Beds for more than 30 minutes. And it’s free!
Before we knew it, we were in South Dakota, which became State #43. At least, we assumed we were in South Dakota as the state didn’t have a welcome sign on the highway we were on (US 385) just a sign telling us we were in Fall River County. Eventually there was a state highway sign that tipped us off.
As we entered South Dakota and started to get into the Black Hills, the scenery became pretty impressive. There weren’t many people, but the area seemed so open.
We made our way to our hotel in South Dakota’s Second City, Rapid City. (Sioux Falls is the largest city.) We were back at a Fairfield Inn, which was charging just $79 per night and, if we wanted, we could have picked up free tickets to the adjoining water park.
I had never big a fan of seeing Mount Rushmore, but other people I know wanted me to see it, so I went. It was a fun drive there and it’s pretty nice.
The next day, I got to visit one of the National Parks that I have longed wanted to see, the Badlands. They did not disappoint. The weather was perfect. There were no crowds. You can just cruise some of the most beautiful and unusual scenery in the country. The photo I’m leaving doesn’t do justive to the whole park.
And State 44 was in the books.
There now remain six holdouts: Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Yes, I have never been to the second most populous state in the U.S. My guess is that Idaho and Montana will be covered soon. The last state to complete the set will be, if I’m projecting my life correctly, Oklahoma. Iowa is now suffering from being cutoff from other states and it’s hard to find a reason to just go to Iowa for the sake of being in Iowa.
Fun fact: Wyoming and Alaska are both states with a lot of area, very few people, and they have state capitals stuck in remote southeastern portions of the state. Both states have more centrally located and larger cities (Anchorage and Casper) that could function as capitals, but it’s likely a pain in the ass to change a state capital and move all the government offices. No state has moved its capital since 1910 when Oklahoma switched from Guthrie to Oklahoma City, but Oklahoma didn’t become a state until 1907.
People often confuse Alaska with Wyoming. I use the mental trick “A before W” to remember Alaska is the one up north.
My friend’s son lives just east of Toronto and is going to Iowa next month for a baseball tournament.
I have enjoyed my time in Iowa.
I love reading about other folk's travels, thank you for posting.
I just had an emergency in the family the first week of April. The only silver lining about the whole thing was having to fly up north and be able to cross Montana and Idaho (states #34 and #35) off my list. Two states I never thought I'd get to unless I made a trip to Yellowstone.