48 states in 7 days

[+GrateBear]

Was listening to "60's on 6" on Sirius XM this morning, and the DJ was talking to a geocacher with the goal of finding a cache in all 48 lower states in 7 days. He was in CO, the 31st state. Interesting goal. Did not give his name, but hope he let's us know how he did. And who was with him.

[+cliptwings]

Looks like these might be the folks: 48 in 7

[+CanadianRockies]

From their blog for today:

 

We just drive, eat, and sleep and stop for gas.

I guess some people might view this kind of journey as an adventure. For me, it wouldn't be a very exciting or interesting way to see the country.

[+GeoTrekker26]

From their blog for today:

 

We just drive, eat, and sleep and stop for gas.

I guess some people might view this kind of journey as an adventure. For me, it wouldn't be a very exciting or interesting way to see the country.

+1

 

You aren't seeing the country and even the caches you find are probably mundane as you don't have time to do fun, unique or challenging ones. But apparently they are having fun and that's what counts.

[+hzoi]

I have great memories of a road trip my senior year roommates and I did the week between college finals and graduation, from North Carolina to Wyoming and the Dakotas and back. Three days of it was solid driving, the four middle days of it we actually saw things.

 

If the four days in the middle was cut out and all it became was eat, sleep, cache, gas, and restroom activities, I might not find it quite so fun, but I'm sure they are still managing to have a good time.

[+JL_HSTRE]

This is unfortunately the logical extension of people spending one weekend driving around an entire state just to get all the counties or Delorme pages without actually stopping to see anything.

[+geocat_]

Definitely BEAST MODE! Would be too much, too fast for me, but RESPECT the plan and execution immensely!

[+Dame Deco]

This is unfortunately the logical extension of people spending one weekend driving around an entire state just to get all the counties or Delorme pages without actually stopping to see anything.

 

You know, a person could drive around a state in a weekend to get the all the counties just for the heck of it, for the challenge, then go back a half dozen times over the next few years, spend more time, and see all the stuff. It doesn't have to be an either/or kinda thing.

[+thebruce0]

And it all depends on what your actual goal and source of enjoyment. If you'd have more fun hanging with friends, driving on the road and chatting than stopping to see wonderful sites, then there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Everyone enjoys different things (or even the same things, just at different times!)

Edited June 9, 2016 by thebruce0

[+J Grouchy]

I can't think of much that would be less fun than being stuck in a car with three other people for seven straight days.

Maybe six people for ten days?

[+fuzziebear3]

People have been doing this long before geocaching --- I remember my grandparents making a similar journey when I was a kid. The goal was to 'visit' (drive through at least a corner) of each state. Some states may have had sights to see, but not long was spent anywhere.

[+J Grouchy]

People have been doing this long before geocaching --- I remember my grandparents making a similar journey when I was a kid. The goal was to 'visit' (drive through at least a corner) of each state. Some states may have had sights to see, but not long was spent anywhere.

 

[+usyoopers]

People have been doing this long before geocaching --- I remember my grandparents making a similar journey when I was a kid. The goal was to 'visit' (drive through at least a corner) of each state. Some states may have had sights to see, but not long was spent anywhere.

 

We made a travel rule years ago- to count a State we had to at least eat a meal in it, sit down, enjoy the meal, no trips through a fast food place!

[+J Grouchy]

People have been doing this long before geocaching --- I remember my grandparents making a similar journey when I was a kid. The goal was to 'visit' (drive through at least a corner) of each state. Some states may have had sights to see, but not long was spent anywhere.

 

We made a travel rule years ago- to count a State we had to at least eat a meal in it, sit down, enjoy the meal, no trips through a fast food place!

 

Well I hope that's not the ONLY way you count a state. Seems rather strict. What if you drove through a state, stopping in a park or famous attraction and spent several hours there before moving on and only stopping to eat after crossing the border into the next state?

[+NYPaddleCacher]

People have been doing this long before geocaching --- I remember my grandparents making a similar journey when I was a kid. The goal was to 'visit' (drive through at least a corner) of each state. Some states may have had sights to see, but not long was spent anywhere.

 

We made a travel rule years ago- to count a State we had to at least eat a meal in it, sit down, enjoy the meal, no trips through a fast food place!

 

Well I hope that's not the ONLY way you count a state. Seems rather strict. What if you drove through a state, stopping in a park or famous attraction and spent several hours there before moving on and only stopping to eat after crossing the border into the next state?

 

If I had a layover at the airport in some state or country, had a nice meal (and yes, I've had some good meals in airports) but never left the airport, I wouldn't count it.

 

Several years ago I crossed the border into Zimbabwe, spent several hours at the National park at Victoria Falls, before crossing the border back to Zambia. I didn't have a meal there but I did find a geocache and I've got a really nice looking Visa in my old passport as a souvenir of my visit. I've landed at and been through an airport in Kenya three times but as I've never actually been out of the airport I wouldn't count Kenya aa a visited country.

 

I suppose everyone can set their own criteria for "counting" a country or state but sitting down and enjoying a meal was something that I would have not considered a requirement.

 

 

[+thebruce0]

I suppose everyone can set their own criteria for "counting" a country or state but sitting down and enjoying a meal was something that I would have not considered a requirement.

W(oo)IG(ot)AS(tate)!

Good thing we don't get smileys for every WIGAS...

[+igator210]

We made a travel rule years ago- to count a State we had to at least eat a meal in it, sit down, enjoy the meal, no trips through a fast food place!

 

Years before I started geocaching, I had three buckets I put states in.

 

1) States I've slept in

2) States that I've hiked in

3) States that I've touched the soil but nothing else

 

I've always loved road trips. After I retire I would love to do a National Parks road trip.

[+CanadianRockies]

After I retire I would love to do a National Parks road trip.

I did that once, and I'd love to do it again...as long as I could spend more than 5 minutes in each of the parks I visited.

[+rosebud55112]

Good for them. I hope they have fun.

 

My personal definition of being in a state means physically touching the ground outside. Switching planes in an airport wouldn't count, unless we disembark/embark from outside. That hasn't happened yet, so no issue for me. That gives me 47 states, with Utah and the Carolinas to go.

 

If I had to use the "eaten a nice, sit-down meal" definition above, I think Delaware and Alabama are the only two states that would go back to unvisited status. In both of those cases, my visit involved taking the interstate highway across the state, but making a stop at a rest area or convenience store/gas station within the state. Although now that my sister has moved to a Mobile suburb, I expect that I'll soon be able to move Alabama into the solidly legitimate side.

 

My 15yo son is going to get to go to Salt Lake City next month with his speedskating team, and do some workouts on the Olympic ice there. Unfortunately, I am unable to take time off from work now to be a chaperone. I've told him I'm jealous of his chance to try the Olympic oval, and that he'll be hitting one of my last three states.

 

Most of my state visits happened before I started geocaching, I've only got 15 states here. I visited NYC after searching for my first cache, but before my first official find, so now I miss not having that 16th state.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

After I retire I would love to do a National Parks road trip.

I did that once, and I'd love to do it again...as long as I could spend more than 5 minutes in each of the parks I visited.

 

I'd love to do a National Parks trip as well, as long as I wasn't constrained to a single country and could only do it by road.

 

 

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Good for them. I hope they have fun.

 

My personal definition of being in a state means physically touching the ground outside. Switching planes in an airport wouldn't count, unless we disembark/embark from outside.

 

I'd probably be a little stricter and require that I actually left airport property. The first time I flew to Europe I had a 4 hour layover in Frankfurt airport (where, of course, I found the RWY 42 cache) and went outside the terminal for a half hour or so. I also had a layover about the same length in Oslo, Norway but never left the airport grounds so I'm not counting that as a visited country. My final destination for that trip was Hamburg, Germany where I spent 4 days so my visit to Germany feels a lot more legitimate. On the way home I had a six hour layover in Copenhagen. That was enough time to get on a train into the city central, walk around for a few hours, and find a few caches. That was enough for me to count Denmark as a visited country. I had a similar amount of time and train train trip in Japan and even had a nice meal at the airport. Of course, one does not see much of a country with such a brief visit.

 

 

[+geodarts]

Several years ago, a friend heard about someone who did 50 states in 10 days, including a roadtrip through the lower 48. He set out to replicate that and recruited an obsessed cacher or two. I think it was done for the spirit of adventure and a caching accomplishment. I tend to go slower - it once took me 8 months to walk across the country and there were many states we missed. I have been thinking a lot about a long roadtrip or two, but it would be nothing like this:

 

Edited June 9, 2016 by geodarts

[+Sherminator18]

We made a travel rule years ago- to count a State we had to at least eat a meal in it, sit down, enjoy the meal, no trips through a fast food place!

 

Years before I started geocaching, I had three buckets I put states in.

 

1) States I've slept in

2) States that I've hiked in

3) States that I've touched the soil but nothing else

 

I've always loved road trips. After I retire I would love to do a National Parks road trip.

 

Says the guy that drove from NY to Seattle by himself Yes I think you like Road Trips.

 

But I wanna do a National Parks trip! I won't be retiring for a long time tho...

[+Alkhalikoi]

I've driven across the US about 3 total round trips and I think this is a grand idea. It's harder for me in my mid-40s to sit in a car for that long than it was when I was in my 20s, but I've been on five continents, visited about 25 countries, but my favorite place to visit remains the United States. Caching is just one more way to do that.

 

This is a bit more ambitious than any trip I've done, but good on them.

[+Harry Dolphin]

This is unfortunately the logical extension of people spending one weekend driving around an entire state just to get all the counties or Delorme pages without actually stopping to see anything.

 

You know, a person could drive around a state in a weekend to get the all the counties just for the heck of it, for the challenge, then go back a half dozen times over the next few years, spend more time, and see all the stuff. It doesn't have to be an either/or kinda thing.

 

Hmm... Since my caching partner died last year, and I'm all alone, I set up a project for myself: The Pennsylvania All County Challenge. I live in North Jersey. I'd cached in a number of counties. Went on a few day trips for more counties. But they're getting further away. Overnighter Memorial Day weekend to pick up eight new counties. Brings me up to 43 of 67 counties. (No. Don't see how anyone could do that on a weekend trip - cache all the counties...) 254 miles in two days. It was actually quite boring. I don't know if I will even try to finish it. Did I see anything interesting? A battlefield at Gettysburg. Some Amish horse-drawn carriages. The Schuylkill River (which I remember from section hiking the AT through Penna.) But, for the most part, it was pretty boring. Not much different from caches I could find in NJ. Couldn't get 7/1 off from work to try a tree-day trip for eight more counties. But I do want SGL #109 near Erie for the Jasmer Challenge. We shall see.

[+Harry Dolphin]

People have been doing this long before geocaching --- I remember my grandparents making a similar journey when I was a kid. The goal was to 'visit' (drive through at least a corner) of each state. Some states may have had sights to see, but not long was spent anywhere.

 

We made a travel rule years ago- to count a State we had to at least eat a meal in it, sit down, enjoy the meal, no trips through a fast food place!

 

Each to his/her own, I guess. My definition for visiting a state/country is if I am regulated by the laws of that place. Airport only: Missouri and Nevada. Drive-throughs? A fair number of them: Delaware, Connecticut, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan. But I have found caches in those states. Sorry. Delaware is a drive through! States I've never been to: Arkansas, Oklahoma and Alaska. Though a number of states I've been to were prior to geocaching. I've only found caches in 29 states. And, yes, I've visited a third of the NPS areas.

Countries: USA, Canada (both of which I've cached in,and spent the night). France (a drive through. Saint Martin was listed as a part of France when I was there. There is a photo of me at the 'Welcome to France' sign.) Netherlands Antilles (Sint Maarten), and Mexico (A walk through from El Paso to Cuidad Juarez.)

So, you're entitled to your guidelines. I'll use mine.

[+bflentje]

People have been doing this long before geocaching --- I remember my grandparents making a similar journey when I was a kid. The goal was to 'visit' (drive through at least a corner) of each state. Some states may have had sights to see, but not long was spent anywhere.

 

We made a travel rule years ago- to count a State we had to at least eat a meal in it, sit down, enjoy the meal, no trips through a fast food place!

 

Each to his/her own, I guess. My definition for visiting a state/country is if I am regulated by the laws of that place. Airport only: Missouri and Nevada. Drive-throughs? A fair number of them: Delaware, Connecticut, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan. But I have found caches in those states. Sorry. Delaware is a drive through! States I've never been to: Arkansas, Oklahoma and Alaska. Though a number of states I've been to were prior to geocaching. I've only found caches in 29 states. And, yes, I've visited a third of the NPS areas.

Countries: USA, Canada (both of which I've cached in,and spent the night). France (a drive through. Saint Martin was listed as a part of France when I was there. There is a photo of me at the 'Welcome to France' sign.) Netherlands Antilles (Sint Maarten), and Mexico (A walk through from El Paso to Cuidad Juarez.)

So, you're entitled to your guidelines. I'll use mine.

 

My rule is simple, I just have to set foot on the state, outside the realm of transportation. Pit stop on the interstate counts. Layover at an airport doesn't, since I am not able to see anything native to the area. While at an airport, I get that you're technically there, but a bit on the lame side for my tastes. Of course I never enter a state without finding a geocache so its a mute point. I've cached in 46 of the lower 48, and DC. Four more to go.

[+CanadianRockies]

Meanwhile, the four geocachers finished their trip last Saturday.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

We got the 48 states but it took more like 7 years.

Many great journeys, great caches, and great adventures....some of our best times were when I used the GPS to find a quicker way out then the way we came in.

[+Pond Bird]

It was hard work and decication I'm sure. I probably would take a month just to do the lower 48 and DC.

[+wimseyguy]

After I retire I would love to do a National Parks road trip.

I did that once, and I'd love to do it again...as long as I could spend more than 5 minutes in each of the parks I visited.

 

I'd love to do a National Parks trip as well, as long as I wasn't constrained to a single country and could only do it by road.

 

Consider this for perspective: Kruger NP in South Africa is the size of New Jersey. The roads probably aren't as good, the traffic is lighter, and the tolls non-existent. It's very high on my bucket list of places to visit.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

After I retire I would love to do a National Parks road trip.

I did that once, and I'd love to do it again...as long as I could spend more than 5 minutes in each of the parks I visited.

 

I'd love to do a National Parks trip as well, as long as I wasn't constrained to a single country and could only do it by road.

 

Consider this for perspective: Kruger NP in South Africa is the size of New Jersey. The roads probably aren't as good, the traffic is lighter, and the tolls non-existent. It's very high on my bucket list of places to visit.

 

One of my co-workers went there a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. I've been to South Africa twice but only for 1-2 nights on the way to other African countries (Zambia and Tanzania).

 

Apparently Northeast Greenland National Park is the biggest in the world. It's bigger than France. There are only 30 countries on earth that are bigger than that park.

 

 

[+Pond Bird]

After I retire I would love to do a National Parks road trip.

I did that once, and I'd love to do it again...as long as I could spend more than 5 minutes in each of the parks I visited.

 

I'd love to do a National Parks trip as well, as long as I wasn't constrained to a single country and could only do it by road.

 

Consider this for perspective: Kruger NP in South Africa is the size of New Jersey. The roads probably aren't as good, the traffic is lighter, and the tolls non-existent. It's very high on my bucket list of places to visit.

 

One of my co-workers went there a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. I've been to South Africa twice but only for 1-2 nights on the way to other African countries (Zambia and Tanzania).

 

Apparently Northeast Greenland National Park is the biggest in the world. It's bigger than France. There are only 30 countries on earth that are bigger than that park.

 

I bet two of those "30" are Canada and Russia.