COUNTY VISITS
Between May 2023 and Sep 2024 I have completed six (6) trips to visit previously unvisited counties. The trips allowed me to visit 169 new counties across 12 states, and 9 of these states will have been completed.
The first county visiting trip in this period was to West Texas with my friend and OSU colleague Steve Stadler (15-19 May 2023) to polish off the last 33 counties in the state. The trip took 5 days, covered over 2,600 miles and we visited 33 new counties. In addition we visited Big Bend National Park (an amazing place). This completed the lower band of states (south of the 37th parallel) from Mississippi to Southern California. The only other southern states remaining after Texas are Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina.
In July 2024 Steve and I took a second trip to the upper Great Plains - on this trip I was able to finish Iowa, Minnesota, and North Dakota and in addition got some counties in Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota - 65 total counties overall. The trip covered almost 3,700 miles in 6 days. We also visited Teddy Roosevelt National Park and the International Peace Park in North Dakota. During these two trips we went from Mexico (in Big Bend NP) to Canada (International Peace Park).
I also recently took four trips with Tanya to complete Illinois and Missouri (25 total in both plus 1 county in Iowa) between 30 June and 3 July 2023 and a trip to Colorado which completed that state between 27 Sep and 3 Oct 2023 (8 total new counties). In addition, We took two other trips: one to Iowa and a larger trip in September 2024 to visit Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming.
The first trip involved wandering thru parts of the Ozark Mts in southern Missouri and thru extensive areas of America’s richest farmlands in sections of central and northern Illinois. We passed through Springfield IL just days after many in the city lost power due to tornados and strong storms, and visited Peoria and Champaign as well. While I had been to all those cities in the past, it was interesting to return after 20, 30, or even 40 years to see how they had changed. We covered over 2100 miles, 26 new counties in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri, and passed through St Louis, Burlington IA, Chester IL (proud home of Popeye the Sailor), and Branson Mo. In addition we visited towns with such interesting names as Hilda and Humansville MO and Pekin IL.
As noted the second trip completed the 64 counties of Colorado (8 new counties). In addition we visited four National Parks (Rocky Mountain, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Mesa Verde, and Great Sand Dunes), as well as riding the Durango to Silverton narrow guage railroad. We also attended a Colorado Rockies game with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and saw many brightly colored trees throughout the state.
Between 15-17 March 2024 we made a quick trip to Chicago to see the dyeing of the Chicago River for St Patrick’s Day (a Tanya bucket list item - I saw the event in 1995 during the AAG Meeting). While on this trip we made a quick run thru southeastern Iowa and visited 11 previously unvisited counties. As I said, this was a quick trip, and while it was fun to see the river activities in Chicago, it would have also been nice to have taken a little more time. Alas, sometimes you simply have to fit things in as you can - but we did get some Garrett’s Popcorn while in Chicago.
Finally, was a trip in September 2024 primarily to Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. During this trip these three states were completed along with 1 county in eastern Washington near Spokane (22 total counties). In addition we visited Glacier and Teddy Roosevelt National Parks (the latter visit got Tanya into North Dakota, the last CONUS state she needed to visit), as well as Devil’s Tower National Monument.
Last updated: 17 September 2024