I've been here and there
visited 40 states (78%) [interesting math....]
create your own
I've been trying to get to this site for a long time. It finally responded tonight; comments will have to wait for another time....
It's another time.
My family drove across the US the summer between (for me) 4th and 5th grade. I'm vague on a few details. I know we were in South Dakota and Illinois, but I no longer recall our route between them. I think we got to Wisconsin, but I don't remember Minnesota or Iowa, and we must have gone through one or the other. I remember a town named "Gillette" with a population of 5. (I remember the sign. The town couldn't have been much to see.) We drove through that Giant Redwood with a road cut through it. (And even then I thought it was a terrible thing to do to a tree.) We found out that San Francisco is cold in the summer. (And all we had was shorts and short-sleeves.) It took 3 days to cross Texas, and much of it was pretty boring (for a 9-year-old). We did a lot of camping on that trip, and we heard the same songs over and over and over for week after week after week on AM radio -- In the Year 2525; Patches, I'm Depending on You, Son; See You in September -- those and more are burned into the grey matter. (Almost makes one look forward to Alzheimer's.... Except I won't realize I've forgotten them, so I won't know I should enjoy it.) We hit most of the classic spots -- French Quarter, Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Disneyland (and Knott's Berry Farm -- or was that a different trip?), Mount Rushmore, etc.
Another driving vacation got much of the northeast US and swung through southern Canada. Other trips in later years filled in more gaps -- cheerleading in college; contra dancing; business trips.
If we count airport stops I could add Alaska.
It's frightening to think that there are Americans who have never travelled to another state. Or who can't identify states on a map, and have no idea where our major cities are. And have even less knowledge of world geography.