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padredw's avatar
padredw
Nomad
Apr 16, 2014

Roads Most Traveled

Becoming a member of this forum has led me to take a closer look to the roads and destinations we have traveled and visited over the past 15 years. I tried a little experiment (which some of you may wish to do.)

I traced a line with pencil over the routes we followed--retracing when the same route was followed again. The result is not scientific, but it does give an approximation. I will inclue an image of this experiment below, but first some interesting statistics. I decided to list only those destinations we have visted more than five (5) times.

The over all winner is Buena Vista, CO with 17 different stays (OK, my daughter lived there); Santa Fe comes in second with 9 visits. St. Andrews State Park in Florida is number three with 8 visits. Fredericksburg, TX and Gunnison, CO each have 7 visits. Estes Park, CO and the Atlanta, GA area each have 6 visits. Fort Pickens in Florida has 5 visits, so I will go ahead and include it.

Runners-up are Blue Grass of Kentucky; Monroeville, AL; Texas Valley; Western North Carolina; and Colorado Springs.

EDIT to add the states we have NOT stayed in: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Connecticut; and Delaware. Maybe an idea for another trip.

Here is the rather crude route tracing:

Roads and Routes

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  • rockhillmanor's avatar
    rockhillmanor
    Explorer II
    Apr 18, 2014
    Jim Shoe wrote:
    I've driven from Cincinnati to Colonial Williamsburg at least 15 times, either directly from Cincinnati or south from New England or north from Florida. But there's no rules that I've found for filling in the "visited states" map or any way that I've found to just update the map instead of starting over.
    Do you fill in a state if you drive thru it or must you overnight in it? Must you be RVing at the time? I've driven in several states and a few Canadian Provinces while working, but I flew in and rented a car, so I don't count them. I drove into Tijuana, MX in a car for a total of about 2 hours without ever getting out of the car, so I didn't count that. The only states I've never been in by any means are Washington and Oregon.


    That's a long standing question/debate! :C

    Some say you have to stay in the state, some say you can just drive thru it to fill it in.

    I guess we will never really know just what the 'Rule" is!

    But got to tell ya I doubt anyone from the map police is going to come up to your RV and point to a state on your map and ask, "do you have proof that you stayed in that state"? :B:B
  • Jim_Shoe's avatar
    Jim_Shoe
    Explorer
    Apr 18, 2014
    I've driven from Cincinnati to Colonial Williamsburg at least 15 times, either directly from Cincinnati or south from New England or north from Florida. But there's no rules that I've found for filling in the "visited states" map or any way that I've found to just update the map instead of starting over.
    Do you fill in a state if you drive thru it or must you overnight in it? Must you be RVing at the time? I've driven in several states and a few Canadian Provinces while working, but I flew in and rented a car, so I don't count them. I drove into Tijuana, MX in a car for a total of about 2 hours without ever getting out of the car, so I didn't count that. The only states I've never been in by any means are Washington and Oregon.
  • rockhillmanor's avatar
    rockhillmanor
    Explorer II
    Apr 18, 2014
    I also have to admit and flame suit ready. After traveling thru Indiana extensively RV'ing to sporting events for several years......now that I am Full Time RV'ing I make a point of not ever going thru Indiana. Even it means several hours or days to go around it! :W
  • Janss's avatar
    Janss
    Explorer II
    Apr 16, 2014
    What a fun idea! I might try it myself. Unlike rockhillmanor, I always try to drive a different route, even just a piece of it, to a repeat destination. Of course, I make sure beforehand that it is RV friendly. I like to see as much countryside as possible.
  • padredw's avatar
    padredw
    Nomad
    Apr 16, 2014
    OK, I know it really doesn't matter, but in the interest of honest reporting I have to make some corrections. I left out the entire log from one fifth-wheel which changes the standing in this way:

    BTW, these are not based on number of nights, a visit is the same in this record whether one night or more.

    Buena Vista remains on top but now with 20 visits; Fort Pickens and Atlanta move up with 11 visits each; St. Andrews now has 10, and Santa Fe 9. Monroeville, AL and Fredericksburg, TX have 8 each while Gunnison, CO has 7. Western North Carolina with 6 and Bluegrass area of Kentucky with 5 round out this list.

    Over 140,000 miles with four fifth-wheels and still traveling! :)
  • padredw's avatar
    padredw
    Nomad
    Apr 16, 2014
    Hi, DutchmenSport, there are actually two lines across Indiana--one didn't show up as well on the scan. Both pleasant memories.

    The first time after a "fellow traveler" had mechanical trouble we got off late in the day from Henderson, KY and only got to Starve Hollow State Park--nice park.

    The other trip was back from southern Michigan across central Indiana and Illinois. I must admit we did not have an overnight in Indiana on that trip.

    Remember, now, this has only to do with RV trips. I have many other good personal memories of Indiana.
  • padredw's avatar
    padredw
    Nomad
    Apr 16, 2014
    An interesting procedure, rockhillmanor. I'm reluctant to respond specifically, but I expect that I may be in the same age range as you and there are many things that "I'm too old for . . ."

    I keep a log on an Ecel spreadsheet. After every trip I enter the exact mileage, number of nights, and other data. After I posted, I discovered that I left out the log for one entire fifth-wheel so I'll post about that below.
  • rockhillmanor's avatar
    rockhillmanor
    Explorer II
    Apr 16, 2014
    I used to highlight the route I was going to take on the atlas. So I could just look down at it while driving and see where a turn off to another road was coming up. I still use the highlighted atlas on the seat next to me while driving just to keep the GPS honest.

    I found from year to year traveling I never had to highlight the route on the map anymore because it was already there. For me once I find a nice route I take it over and over and over again. I'm too old for surprises now. I like the road I choose to my destination to be RV friendly period.

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