The states map.. How to decide what qualifies
Summer is just about here and most of us are hitting the road or finalizing our summer travel plans. Do you have a map of the US where you keep track of the states you visit? Many RVers with or without kids have the goal of visiting all of the contiguous states. We purchased this map last year and just now are getting around to finding a good place in our RV. Then it happened, much to my surprise. I asked Tia, ” how are we going to decided if we have officially visited a state?” We had two totally different answers. So let the debate or negotiations begin…
We started with things what we both agreed upon.
1. Just driving through a state doesn’t count.
2. We had to sleep within the borders of that state.
3. We had to spend some type of money within that state
Now things get blurry..
I was pretty happy with this list, but Tia was intent to continue on and go deeper, much deeper.
She feels that because our RV travel is not a vacation, but building life experiences with our children that those principles need to be reflected in our list. She also made the valid point that since we have started this RV lifestyle relatively young, rather than at retirement age, we have plenty of time to do extensive visits.
Well folks I have to say I happily lost this debate. I may have lost, but our family has won and won big. We won’t be racing from state to state just trying to check a state off our list. I know some people have no choice because their time is limited. So they try their best to see as much, as fast as they can. We are not faulting those people, we all do the best we can. So here’s our final criteria to check a state off our visit list
1. Spend at least 1 night within state borders
2. Spend money within the state. Putting gas in the RV doesn’t count.
3. Experience something the state is known for; eat a state speciality, visit a state landmark, etc
4. Try to experience something new within that state
5. Learn something new about that state, this country or ourselves from that state.
So that’s our list, what’s yours? Let’s us know what you think. We would love to hear how other people handle this.
Remember checking states off isn’t the goal, getting out there and making memories is the real reason we do this… See you out on the road.
Soulful RV Family
