One of the guys I work with did a trip in May that was pretty incredible. On his motorcycle (!!!) he went to 49 states in 10 days. For real. It was part of some Iron Butt motorcycle thing that's online and includes getting gas receipts and witnesses willing to sign off that the rider was there as verification. This web page here has more information about the forms that need to be filled out and the rules for the ride.
The route barely brushes some of the states and there's a lot of riding on the borders between states. Twice, he had to go off to hit a state and then backtrack to the road he was on originally.
The idea of hitting 49 of the 50 states is pretty cool, but there is no way I'd ever want to do it in 10 days and definitely not
on a motorcycle. Perhaps a leisurely car trip with stops to look at
interesting things along the way because no matter what cool thing he
stumbles across, he can't pause to look at it and still meet his Iron
Butt goal.
Me? I'd rather take time to see things that interest me even if it is something as lame as the world's largest ball of twine or something equally silly. :-) I get curious and I like to explore. Driving is not fun as my trips 1100 miles to and 1100 miles back from Minnesota have aptly demonstrated. The fun is at the destinations.
When I was a teenager, my parents took us on a long car trip. We saw Williamsburg and Yorktown and Washington DC. We visited the Smithsonian and Niagra Falls and New York City. The fun wasn't in the drive. OMG, not a chance! The fun was in going out on a Maid of the Mist boat and getting my feet soaked at Niagra Falls. The fun was seeing the First Ladies dresses in the Smithsonian. The fun was learning about the history of the Revolutionary War.
As we talked about this trip at work, most of us (maybe all of us? I can't remember) agreed that the trip itself was cool, but that the speed factor wasn't the cool part. We'd all be explorers. Maybe someday, I'll give this a try. In a car. Stopping frequently to explore.
