Chuck Haga: Getting closer, but hitting final three states won’t be easy – Grand Forks Herald

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When I slipped from Missouri into Arkansas last month, just north of Bentonville, a large and colorful billboard celebrated the achievement, and I took a picture.

Arkansas was my 45th state, the first new state for me to reach in about 20 years.

A week later, I checked off Florida (No. 46), bought a trunkful of oranges and headed north to South Carolina (No. 47). After gazing wistfully toward Rhode Island, which would have been Chuck’s State No. 48, I turned west and north and motored home.

Rhode Island will have to wait, along with Alaska and Hawaii, if I am to “finish the fifty.”

I had reached many states before I learned that one must kick up dust in a state to claim it. It’s a rule set by people who insist on rules. Some say you must spend a day, have a meal, or have your picture taken by a billboard or road sign that says, “Welcome to Arkansas” or “Tennessee Welcomes You!”

(They probably would not accept my claim to all the states at Four Corners, where it is possible to stand with one foot in Arizona and the other in New Mexico, lean over and put a hand in Utah and the other in Colorado. But I’m glad I did that 36 years ago, when I was young and trim.)

Clay Jenkinson, one of North Dakota’s premier humanities scholars, is about halfway through his retracing of John Steinbeck’s famous 1960 journey across America, which became the book “Travels with Charley.”

Clay’s progress reports and musings on Steinbeck and the country have me recalling my own Steinbeck-inspired tour of the United States, which I did in 1988. Mine was a news reporting assignment for the Star Tribune, quite different from Clay’s more scholarly tour.

But there have been similarities, including our reactions to different parts of the country – and our running total of states covered. It provided my first glimpse of Idaho and Oregon, my first swing through the Deep South, and my introduction to New England.

Then, 20 or 25 years ago, another newspaper assignment filled in the Great Plains, with stories from Kansas and Oklahoma bringing my state total up to 44.

And there I sat, largely homebound or with brief forays into favored parts of Minnesota – until I embarked this summer on Chuck’s 2nd Excellent Friendship Tour, 5,007 miles through 19 states, three of them new.

“Finishing the Fifty” has become a popular bucket list goal, especially among the RV retirement crowd, who collect colorful state-shaped magnets to display on U.S. maps attached to their vehicles. The All Fifty States Club sets standards for membership, sells themed T-shirts and shares newsletters and advice: “How to Visit all 50 states in 12 trips.”

Sarah and Justin Lackey posted recently on one of the message boards: “We’re thinking of flying into North Dakota and then driving down to Oklahoma.” They are from Pennsylvania, have been to 22 states and are “hoping to knock off five more.”

Their post drew more than 200 responses, including several urging them to take in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota.

Some travelers like to combine new state visits with something memorable, such as reaching the highest point in each state. A woman named Laura proudly claims to take in a concert in every state, and on Aug. 2 she checked off No. 34, rocking to Metallica in Massachusetts.

A husband and wife celebrated finishing the 50 this year, noting they had been to 49 in their RV. “It took five years traveling 4-5 months a year.”

Another couple said it’s their goal to visit every state on motorcycles. They started this year in Michigan and covered 10 states in eight days, 3,500 miles.

And there is the human who travels with an orange cat named Bob Marley. “He was born last July in Albuquerque (N.M.) and has now been to Arizona and Colorado,” the human wrote. “I hope to take him on fun adventures in other states.”

Travelers come to the dedicated web pages seeking advice for things to do and see in each new state – best lobster place in Maine, for example, or highlights on the Oregon Trail.

“I have about nine states left to visit, but most are what I call ‘boring states’ so I need advice,” Sara Hadd wrote. At the top of her boring list? North Dakota.

North Dakota often is cited as a person’s last state needed to finish, either for a perceived lack of attractions here or because it’s hard to reach. But clever people in Fargo have responded to that by creating the “Best for Last Club,” which gets you a commemorative T-shirt, an official certificate and a round of applause from staffers at the Fargo-Moorhead Visitors Center.

In a 2022 survey by U.S. News, Americans reported that on average they had been to 17 states, but 11% of survey respondents said they had never left the state they were born in. Fewer than 2% claimed to have been to all 50.

The five states most visited by Americans: Florida, New York, California, Texas and Pennsylvania.

Least visited: Alaska, North Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska.

Alaska, Hawaii and Rhode Island. It will be tough for me cracking that 2%.

Chuck Haga had a long career at the Grand Forks Herald and the Minneapolis Star Tribune before retiring in 2013. He can be contacted at crhaga@gmail.com.

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