Driving - State Count

I like to travel. I like to drive. I like to fly, however I will avoid the airlines at all costs.

If I am going to get anywhere Ill jump in my buggy and roll my way wherever I need to/want to go.

I have family spread out over the country and in to Canada, so that is the basis of the majority of my travels. My Grandfather lives in south western Ontario, Canada, in the summer. We have a small island on Lake of the Woods. Since as long as I can remember I have been going there with my family. It is a 2 day trip any way you cut it. The drive time is roughly 20 hours.

You can make the argument that 20 hours is less than a day, but I invite whoever reads this to drive that in one day. If you can do it and have proof of doing it then please, by all means, write to me and tell me you did it. If you have never been on the road that much you have no idea what is coming your way. I can assure you - if you do drive that much you are putting yourself in serious danger, and EVERYONE ELSE on the road. I can take about 12-15 hours of straight driving before I'm done for.

By the way, the legal limit for drive time for a commercial driver (I know this because I drive a transport truck for Lexus too) is 10 hours. After that 10 hours you need 10 hours of CONSECUTIVE time off. You can have 14 hours in a work day (14+10=24) because you are aloud 4 hours of on-duty time, not driving (loading/unloading/paperwork/load check). You can push your time to 11 and 12 hours, but if you do it several times and have your logs checked and are caught by the DOT you get a hefty fine. Not fun.

The sates I have traveled through on the trip to Canada alone are: Ohio (I live in Ohio, so I need to drive THROUGH it, right?), Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. If I take the northern route you can take out Indiana and Illinois and add in Michigan (which I hate, I did it once and never again - U.P. is REMOTE!). So, just with this trip I have Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota under my belt. That's 6 states.

I have an aunt, uncle, and cousins that live in Virginia. I have been out there several times by myself. To get to Virginia you go through West Virginia and, again, Ohio. So I can add Virginia and West Virginia to my count. That brings me up to 8.

One of my friends from elementary, middle, and high school moved out to Omaha, Nebraska, a few years ago. I have made two trips out there, combined with my Canada trip, to visit him. To get to Omaha, Nebraska, I need to go through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska. So, I can add Iowa and Nebraska to the state count. That makes 10.

However, going from Omaha, NE, to Canada, or the other way around (Ive done it both ways) I need to drive on I-29. That takes me up through North Dakota and South Dakota. So, that's another 2 states I can add to the count. That's 12 states.

My brother went to the University of Kentucky. Since I have a truck I helped move him in and out of various places he lived while there. So I have made several trips to Kentucky. That makes 13 total states now.

I mentioned I drive a transport truck for Lexus. Its not what you think - its an F-350 with a 2 car goose-neck open car hauler trailer (see "My Work Truck" post). I do dealer trading between the dealerships in Columbus, OH, and anywhere they send me to.

Since I am driving solo on these trips I can include them in my state count, although not in my personal truck.

I have made several trips to Pennsylvania and Kentucky. I have been through Tennessee to Atlanta, Georgia. I have driven to Chantilly, Virginia. To get there I had to drive through West Virginia, Pennsylvania, more West Virginia, Maryland, and then Virginia.

So.. if I have done my math correctly, that's another 4 states - Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Georgia, and Maryland. That brings me up to 17 states. That is all solo driving.

If I add in a few family trips to the Outer Banks, North Carolina, I can add NC. I can also add New Jersey and New York as my step dad's family is from that area. That makes 19 states I have traveled to. The bigger achievement for me, personally, is the 17 I have been to/through alone.

If I had to guess at how many miles I have driven...... Boy, that's a hard question. I have driven at least 30,000 for Lexus. I have over 71,000 miles on my personal truck, minus 9,000 it had when I got it.. so that's 62,000. I went to Virginia about 3 times in the two other vehicles I had before so add in another 2,400 (800 round trip) miles. That right there is 94,400 as a rough estimate. I got my drivers license about 3 days before I turned 17, so I have been driving a little over 5 years. That's quite a bit in 5 years, almost 19,000 miles a year on average.