One trip all 48 States

[Buster52]

Just for the fun of it I was figuring the shortest trip I could do from Central California and touch all 48. I have it some where just over 9400 miles. Has anyone tried this? And what is the shortest distance to touch all 48 States?

Buster

[D_E_Bishop]

There was an article in the L. A. Times written by a DR from Hawaii about doing the 48 Contiguous States. I believe he and his sons drove for ten days or two weeks. The DW is asleep right now or I would give more info. He did give his route and if I remember correctly they didn't visit any state more than once.

If you are interested in a copy of the article, PM me and I'll email it to you(providing she can find it).

[tatest]

Circular route is way too long if you are going for shortest distance. I've seen the map before, make great advantage of roads through corners,and no rules about retracing.

I think one of the maps shown was a 48 capitals trip, which makes it more of an 8000 mile problem. Having to return makes for an even longer distance, particularly if your start-finish is in an inconvenient arbitrary place.

[msmith1199]

dahkota wrote:
How to drive through 48 states in 113 hours
It was 6872 miles.

Okay, I'll buy it now, but I don't believe the 97 hours without ever speeding part of it. I got to wondering if a circular route would be the best, or one where you start on one side and finish on the other going up and down would be more efficient. Looks like the start on one side and finish on the other is the shortest.

[Buster52]

I do not plan on traveling to all 48 lower states in the shortest distance. I was just wondering if it was something done. As a Motorcyclist I have heard of the Iron Butt and was just wondering if RV had something like it. Clamming to have do this must require you to give the route or the claim is no good. In the Iron Butt you have to prove you did it with a witness at the start and finish, with gas receipts. Does RVing have something like that?

Buster

[dahkota]

How to drive through 48 states in 113 hours
It was 6872 miles.

[msmith1199]

I found a link to an article about these guys. They make the claims as you state, however, they refuse to disclose their route because they don't want somebody else to copy it. I'm not believing they did it in 6893 miles without seeing their route.

[msmith1199]

K Charles wrote:

msmith1199 wrote:

K Charles wrote:
3 guys did it in 97 hrs and 7 min without speeding. I don't think they saw much of each state tho.

Not on the highways they didn't, not without speeding. Assuming they maintained a constant average speed of 65 MPH throughout the entire 97 hours, they could have only traveled 6,305 miles. I think the OP's distance of 9400 miles to touch every state in the lower 48 is probably closer to accurate.

Look at the links posted above. The guy on the motorcycle posted what appears to be a very efficient route to touch every state. He's just hitting the very corners of the outlying states like Washington, Maine, Florida, and California. And still his route is 8,000 miles. To do 8,000 miles in 97 hours you would have to average 82 miles per hour. That means every time you stopped for fuel or slowed for traffic that would have to be made up by going well over 82.

6893 miles and they think they can get that down a little. A lot of the way was 75 MPH but they never broke the speed limit.

Do you have a link that shows the route they took? I played around with Google maps and mapped out a trip to start at the edge of California and touch Florida and Maine and then end in Washington and that was 6115 miles and it left a lot of states not touched.

[msmith1199]

bigred1cav wrote:
That is your assumption OP does not state that.

Yeah he does. He says what he has planned can be done in 9400 miles. Please show me how you can include Hawaii and Alaska in that 9400 mile trip to touch all the states.

[Skylark]

Check this out.

New York to LA, CA speed record

[K_Charles]

msmith1199 wrote:

K Charles wrote:
3 guys did it in 97 hrs and 7 min without speeding. I don't think they saw much of each state tho.

Not on the highways they didn't, not without speeding. Assuming they maintained a constant average speed of 65 MPH throughout the entire 97 hours, they could have only traveled 6,305 miles. I think the OP's distance of 9400 miles to touch every state in the lower 48 is probably closer to accurate.

Look at the links posted above. The guy on the motorcycle posted what appears to be a very efficient route to touch every state. He's just hitting the very corners of the outlying states like Washington, Maine, Florida, and California. And still his route is 8,000 miles. To do 8,000 miles in 97 hours you would have to average 82 miles per hour. That means every time you stopped for fuel or slowed for traffic that would have to be made up by going well over 82.

6893 miles and they think they can get that down a little. A lot of the way was 75 MPH but they never broke the speed limit.

[bigred1cav]

That is your assumption OP does not state that.

[gbopp]

bigred1cav wrote:
There are 50 states. Not 48 since 1959

The OP is talking about visiting the lower 48.

[Popsie]

Well, we've travelled in our RV to 49 states (waiting for the bridge to Hawaii), but some states have a lot more to see than others. Palm Springs and San Francisco, or New York City and the Finger Lakes, etc. are places in the same states, but visiting one or the other doesn't really give you a good picture of what the state has to offer.

We've met folks with goals like seeing a game in every major league baseball park, or every NASCAR Sprint Cup race, or every National Park, etc. I think those are more rewarding goals than visiting every state.

You can park at the Four Corners National Monument and stand in four states at once - but what does that really mean in terms of accomplishment or fulfillment?

On second thought, if you were able to get a traffic ticket in every state, that might make a conversation starter if you posted them in your family room 🙂

[rv2go]

Here is one map. You just have to change the starting point.
TimboTrip.com