Roads Most Traveled

[padredw]

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:

[padredw]

That is what it looks like when I consult the map and possible route.

Maybe I better be satisfied with the colors I already have on my travels-map! :C

dwtmap.jpg

[rockhillmanor]

padredw wrote:
Interestingly, the states just mentioned are the only ones I have yet to add to "my map." They would be Mass, Conn, RI, Del, and New Jersey.

I've been looking at a map thinking about how to travel in an RV from one of these states to the other. It is certainly more complicated than traveling from East Texas to Geogia (for example.)

For me it is complicated by the fact that I try every way I can to avoid the large metrapolitan areas.

There is no avoiding it because that's all there is!

Did Boston ONCE.
NEVER again in an RV! :B
My RV'ing stops at the Pennsylvania state line as far as the NE states go!

[JimFromJersey]

padredw wrote:
I've been looking at a map thinking about how to travel in an RV from one of these states to the other. It is certainly more complicated than traveling from East Texas to Geogia (for example.)

For me it is complicated by the fact that I try every way I can to avoid the large metropolitan areas.

RV travel in parts of the Northeast can be more difficult, and often requires more advance planning - besides the more crowded metropolitan areas, many of the state and local roads were never designed for large vehicles, and suffer from low overpasses, tight corners, and narrow shoulders. If you've lived and toured only west of the Ohio River, RV'ing in the East can be daunting. Obviously, there are exceptions, as the forested areas of north-central PA, the Adirondacks, and much of Maine have plenty of room, but most areas within about 150 miles of the eastern seaboard are challenging...

[padredw]

Interestingly, the states just mentioned are the only ones I have yet to add to "my map." They would be Mass, Conn, RI, Del, and New Jersey.

I've been looking at a map thinking about how to travel in an RV from one of these states to the other. It is certainly more complicated than traveling from East Texas to Geogia (for example.)

For me it is complicated by the fact that I try every way I can to avoid the large metrapolitan areas.

Anyway, I'm just thinking about it, not planning for it just now.

EDIT to say: I'm speaking of the 48 contiguous states. We have not been to Alaska in our RV, nor to Hawaii, though we have enjoyed visiting both. We have never been south of the border, and only into Ontario with our RV.

[Crowe]

Don't even have to draw the lines. Because of being in a polarized part of the country and having limited time off, our radius of travel via RV is somewhat small. And, yes, we take the same route every time. I don't like surprises, especially when I'm driving something 12 feet tall, 35 feet long, and dragging a car behind it all!

There are states, especially in the northeast, where it's not necessary to spend the night in order to see a goodly chunk of the state, or even ALL of it.

You can probably add Massachusetts to that list! Although the scenery, terrain and population vary greatly from one end to the other, in less that 3 hours on I90 you can pretty much see it all! The exception is Cape Cod because you have to drive south to get there.

[JimFromJersey]

IMO, it's permissible to count a state as 'visited' if you spend longer in it than you can hold your breath. 🙂 There are states, especially in the northeast, where it's not necessary to spend the night in order to see a goodly chunk of the state, or even ALL of it. Rhode Island, Connecticut, and even Jersey fall in to that realm. And I've been through Virginia on the way to and fro, so many times that it's almost a second home, but oddly, I'd never spent the NIGHT there until last summer at Kiptopeke State Park at the tip of the DelMarVa. Same with North Carolina - a million times back and forth through it and into it, but never overnight, so far as I can recall. And what does South of the Border count as? 🙂

[padredw]

Just one opinion: there is no "legal binding authority" involved in this, so each one follows his own standard. Most of us, I think, use the criteron to include only states in which we have spent at least one night in our RV. That is the rule I follow, but certainly make no attempt to apply that rule to others.

I will try to find out where to download that map, but I'm sure I used "Photoshop Elements" to fill in the state colors. I'm also sure there are other programs that can do that.

I'll try to include "my map" here:



OK, I "cheated" one time. We drove across Iowa and had a reservation at Stone State Park. When we arrived there late afternoon, we found we could not stay in the site (and had an extremely difficult time even getting out.) We had to drive across the river to get a campsite in South Dakota. After all the trouble, I decided to include Iowa!

BTW, Washington and Oregon were the last two states we filled in.

I note on many such maps that North Dakota is often missing. We drove all the way across, West to East, and spent 3 nights in North Dakota a couple of years ago. Just an observation;)

[edm3rd]

Jim Shoe wrote:
I don't know. Some of those Map Police can be pretty mean. 🙂

Not only that, the GPS police backs them up.

[Jim_Shoe]

I don't know. Some of those Map Police can be pretty mean. 🙂

[crabbin_cabin]

WE retired in 1993 and started to use our fiver for much more than annual vacations. I bought a 1993 version of the Rand McNally Road atlas.Since then we have traveled to every State ( except Hawaii) and every Canadian Province and Territory (except Nunavut - no roads there, and it did not exist when that Atlas was published. Actually visited what is now Nunavut - by air when I did annual aerial surveys for the Canadian government _ can I count that).

I have marked every road traveled since then in that original atla and it still goes with us as we travel - and gets visited often in an effort to find a NEW road!!

[rockhillmanor]

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]

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]

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]

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.