ARKANSAS!

The first weekend in June saw us decide to take a small weekend getaway to Arkansas. Arkansas was one of the few states we hadn’t ever spent the night in. So now was as good a time as ever.

On Friday night we drove straight through to Fairview Heights, IL. – more-or-less a suburb of St. Louis. Our destination was the Holiday Inn St. Louis/Fairview Heights. Having covered most of the counties in Illinois already, we hit no new ones on the way. The next day would be different.

On Saturday we set out due south from Fairview Heights. We then hit our first two new counties of the day: Monroe and Randolph – both in Illinois. In Randolph County we drove through the city of Chester, whose claim to fame is being the home of Popeye. The creator of the Popeye comic strip was born in Chester. And the city has embraced his legacy by building a Popeye museum and putting up statues of Popeye characters all over town. They plan to add several more over the coming years.

After leaving Chester we crossed the Mississippi River and entered Missouri. The majority of our Missouri driving had us weaving through the Mark Twain National Forest. The Forest is spread out over 29 counties – the most of any National Forest.  We saw a lot of trees, many windy roads, a deer and a turtle. Along the way we hit the new counties of St. Francois, Madison, Wayne, Reynolds, Carter, Shannon, Oregon and Ripley. Apparently our route took us right past a ranch where the Beatles spent a weekend getaway in 1964.

Leaving Ripley County we crossed the state line into Mammoth Spring, AR., and Fulton County. We stopped for gas and continued west toward Mountain Home, and Baxter County. Mountain Home was the furthest west we would go. We had to get to our hotel. So we headed southeast on HWY 5, entering Izard, Stone and Cleburne counties. Our entire drive through Arkansas was mountainous and remote. There were no major cities. But there were plenty of twisty roads. Eventually we hit the city of Concord. From there we headed northeast on the final leg of Saturday’s drive. We drove through Independence, Sharp and Lawrence Counties. We made a pit stop in the city of Walnut Ridge. Apparently the Beatles switched planes here once (en route to that ranch in Missouri). And the small city of Walnut Ridge has embraced this claim to fame. A local artist has created Abbey Road. There’s also a few other Beatles sights to be seen. Not to be overshadowed, Walnut Ridge also features a “guitar walk” which pays tribute to several country and western artists. Not bad for a town with less than 5000 people!

After leaving Walnut Ridge we headed north (on the Rock & Roll Highway) to our hotel in Pocahontas. In doing so we hit our final county of the day – Randolph. We had dinner at the El Acapulco Mexican restaurant and spent the night in the Days Inn & Suites: Pocahontas.

On Sunday we had about 10.5 hours of driving ahead of us. But before we left we had to visit the “meteorite” in Pocahontas. A farmer in 1859 “found” this rock and insisted it had fallen from the sky. Geologists have since confirmed that it is in fact an Earth-born local rock. But the city doesn’t care. And so it’s proudly displayed in front of the courthouse.

After leaving the meteorite we headed northwest and into Clay County. From there we went north and crossed into Missouri, and Butler County. We then hit Stoddard County and Bollinger County – the latter of which required a drive a couple miles out of our way, north of the city of Advance. No county left behind!

From there we headed east into Illinois. We had only four new counties left on the west side of the state. And our route was going to hit them all. Thankfully all four were stacked “on top of each other.” And with a straight northerly route, we hit Jackson, Perry, Washington and Clinton Counties. We stopped in the city of Centralia for Monical’s Pizza. (Which we highly recommend!) And from there we had a six-hour drive back home to Wisconsin with no new counties. We did however see a cool rainbow.

When it was all said and done our small weekend getaway featured about 25 hours of drive time. And we were back by 8:00 Sunday night. What’s next? Over the 4^th of July weekend we’re flying to California. We’ll see you there!

                                                   NEW COUNTIES - 27

                                                   TOTAL COUNTIES FOR 2015 - 186

                                                   ALL TIME COUNTY TOTAL - 948



7/17/17 UPDATE: We recently realized that in putting our county list together, we had inadvertently failed to include two counties that we had previously entered. On a summer, 2014 road trip, we went to Disneyland in California (Orange County). And upon leaving Disneyland for Las Vegas, we entered Riverside County as well. So even though it says 948 total counties in this post above, the actual number at the time was 950.

MONTANA!

Memorial Day weekend, 2015 found us taking a little road trip to Montana. Our definition of “little” ended up equating to nearly 36 hours of drive time. But hey, we had fun!

We left our home on Friday night and drove to my fiance’s mother’s house. She lives on the far west side of Wisconsin. So this gave us a nice jump start for the weekend ahead.

On Saturday morning we headed out. Our destination was Aberdeen, South Dakota. Along the way we picked up four new counties in Minnesota: Pope, Stevens, Big Stone and Traverse – the latter of which we had to drive a mile out of our way to reach. While we did hit a few additional counties leading up to these four, they’d all been ones we’d been to before.

In the city of Glenwood we stumbled upon an interesting display entitled “Pottyville.” Apparently a couple of neighbors decided to start a used outhouse collection - the results of which you can see below.

After leaving Traverse County we headed south and west, crossing into South Dakota on HWY 12 in Ortonville. We followed the highway all the way to our hotel, the TownePlace Suites in Aberdeen. Along the way we drove through Grant, Roberts, Day and Brown Counties. We’d hoped to stop in Webster to see the museum that holds the world’s largest hairball. But it was closed by the time we arrived. So that grossness will have to wait for another day.

We did however get to visit an unusual park in Aberdeen. Being as L. Frank Baum (author of “The Wizard Of Oz”) had once lived in Aberdeen, the city built a park called “Storybook Land.” It features several Oz-themed attractions as well as other storybook attractions and a petting zoo. It was wonderfully odd. But it was very well-maintained. We found it a little strange that a town the size of Aberdeen would be able to support such a place. But they do. Be sure to go into Dorothy’s house to experience the tornado!

On Sunday we had our longest driving day planned. We got an early start, got back on HWY 12, and headed west. We picked up Edmunds, Walworth and Corson County before we took our first detour. After we crossed the Missouri River we veered south a few miles to see the (disputed) grave of Sitting Bull. We then took a slight side trip a little further south to cross into Dewey County. It was the middle of nowhere. And there was no county sign. But we went far enough to know that we were in.

We then got back on HWY 12 and continued northwest.  The highway runs parallel to the North Dakota border for 30-40 miles. At its closest point it’s less than one mile away. So of course we had to cross over into Sioux County.

When we got back on HWY 12 in South Dakota again we only had to go about two miles in order to get into Perkins County. We of course had to stop in Lemmon to see their Petrified Wood Park.

After hovering close to North Dakota for so long, HWY 12 finally crosses the state line. As we entered we crossed Adams County off our list. We then had to take another detour to hit Harding County, SD. So we followed HWY 22 south from the city of Reeder. It was 12 miles there and back. But in the quest for “no county left behind” we did it. Once we got back on HWY 12 we continued northwest, driving through Bowman and Slope Counties in North Dakota. We then crossed the border into Montana – and Fallon County.

We had planned to fill the car with gas in Baker, MT before heading south on HWY 7/323 toward Alzada. Unfortunately we forgot. About halfway there (picking up Carter County on the way) we suddenly realized that gas might be a problem. We had enough gas to get to Alzada. But according to our GPS there were no gas stations in Alzada. And the closest one was in Hulett, Wyoming – about 30 miles south of Alzada. And according to our car we’d run out of gas about two miles before we got there. Although we had a phone signal, we had no internet access. So we couldn’t verify anything. We decided we’d go for Hulett. Our GPS was nice enough to give us the phone number for the gas station there. So of course I tried it just to verify that they were still open for business. And of course they didn’t answer. So again we started to panic. The fact that it was raining didn't help any. We then decided to contact AAA. They were able to confirm that in spite of our GPS, there was indeed a gas station in Alzada. And sure enough as we pulled into town we saw the B&J Convenience Store. The gas was a little pricey. But it was a very welcome sight.

After we filled up we headed northwest on HWY 212. Our goal was the city of Boyes, and more specifically Powder River County. Hitting this county was a 35-mile “turnaround.” Generally speaking we would never travel that far just for one county. But it was in the middle of nowhere. And we’d managed to get into every other county surrounding it. If we didn’t go these 35 miles now, we’d have to go much further at some point in the future. No county left behind…

We immediately turned around and followed HWY 212 back from where we’d come. Shortly after Alzada we passed into the state of Wyoming. We spent about 20 miles in it before we got back into South Dakota – and the new county of Butte. The one Wyoming county we were in was one we’d gotten to two years earlier.

We drove through the city of Sturgis. It was a few months before the annual motorcycle convention. But the motif is always evident.

From Sturgis we got onto HWY 34 – which was basically a straight shot to our hotel in the state capitol of Pierre. Along the way we picked up the new counties of Ziebach, Haakon, Stanley and Hughes. We spent the night at the Best Western Ramkota Hotel. Ziebach County is apparently the 15th least-visited U.S. county among county collectors. So it was nice to cross that hard one off our list!

On Monday we headed out for the long journey home. We got on HWY 34 and went east, following it all the way to the Minnesota border. Along the way we drove through Hyde, Buffalo, Jerauld, Sanborn, Miner, Lake and Moody Counties. Once we got into Minnesota the road changed into HWY 30. We continued to follow it through Pipestone, Murray, Cottonwood and Watonwan Counties.

As we headed toward Mankato we entered Blue Earth County. We had to slightly veer off course and cross the Minnesota River once we entered town. By doing so we ended up in Nicollet County. From there we were able to put our home into the GPS. We still had about six hours of driving. But the most direct route home also picked up Waseca, Steele and Dodge Counties. And as we approached Rochester, there were no new counties to reach the rest of the way.

It was a crazy fun weekend, and arguably our most ambitious weekend road trip to date. In the end we drove 2200 miles in 36 hours. What’s up next? We’re only two weeks away from a weekend road trip through Missouri and Arkansas. We’ll see you then!

                                                NEW COUNTIES – 42

                                                TOTAL COUNTIES FOR 2015 – 159

                                                ALL TIME COUNTY TOTAL – 921

                                               


7/17/17 UPDATE: We recently realized that in putting our county list together, we had inadvertently failed to include two counties that we had previously entered. On a summer, 2014 road trip, we went to Disneyland in California (Orange County). And upon leaving Disneyland for Las Vegas, we entered Riverside County as well. So even though it says 921 total counties in this post above, the actual number at the time was 923.

THE FLORIDA KEYS

In late April we decided to take a little weekend getaway to the Florida Keys. We had less than two full days in Florida. So our time was limited. Nonetheless we covered a fair amount of ground.

We flew into Fort Myers, arriving about 9:30 at night. We had a 2.5 hour drive to get to our hotel in Homestead. The airport was in Lee County. The route itself passed through Collier, Broward, then finally Miami-Dade counties. We arrived at the Hampton Inn & Suites around midnight. So even though the majority of the drive went through the Florida Everglades area on I-75, we couldn’t really see much of it.

The following morning we set out for our desired destination: Key West. It’s a beautiful drive down HWY 1. The entire Florida Keys are in Monroe County. Thus it was the only new county for us that day. The first city you hit is Key Largo. And it’s nearly impossible to not start singing the Bertie Higgins song as you’re passing through. “Here’s lookin’ at you kid…”

Key West is the end of the road. You know it from the mile marker zero. The chaos of Duval St. also tells you you’ve arrived.

We spent one night in Key West at the Best Western Key Ambassador Resort, then had to drive back to Fort Myers for an evening flight. Did we drive directly to the airport on the same route back? Of course not! We had seven more counties to hit! This time instead of getting back on I-75 we went north toward the small cities of Belle Glade and Pahokee. Both places are in Palm Beach County. We stopped in the Belle Glade McDonald’s for a quick bite to eat. Our route then continued north on HWY 98, hovering right next to Lake Okeechobee.  Eventually we hit the Martin County line. Both of these counties are fairly common visits for county collectors. But I’m guessing that few of us enter them where we did.

We turned around and headed back to Pahokee, going through it and continuing to follow the Lake until we were headed west toward the city of Clewiston. Considering that we drove right next to about 1/3 of the entire Lake, we were amazed how little of it can actually be seen from the road. There’s a bluff that rises higher than the road almost the entire way. A few miles before hitting Clewiston we entered Hendry County – one of the rarer counties for county collectors to hit. The same can be same for Glades County (which we hit next) just to the north of it. By this point we were on HWY 80 headed west. Unbeknownst to us the road actually barely crossed into Glades County. But just to “be sure” we turned on HWY 27 north toward Moore Haven, went about the equivalent of a city block, then turned around. But thanks to this little side trip we were able to snap a picture of the county sign.

At this point we put Sarasota in the GPS. Once we hopped on I-75 we crossed into Charlotte, DeSoto and Sarasota Counties. Our time in DeSoto County was very brief – perhaps only 1000 feet before the Sarasota County line. But I still managed to get a picture of the county sign. Sarasota County was our last new county of the trip. And once we hit it we had to go another five miles before we were able to get of the interstate and turn around to go back toward the airport.

Our weekend getaway netted 12 new counties, completing the entire lower third of Florida, and giving us 117 new counties for 2015. Our grand total now stands at 879. What’s next? A Montana road trip awaits us over Memorial Day weekend. We’ll see you then!


7/17/17 UPDATE: We recently realized that in putting our county list together, we had inadvertently failed to include two counties that we had previously entered. On a summer, 2014 road trip, we went to Disneyland in California (Orange County). And upon leaving Disneyland for Las Vegas, we entered Riverside County as well. So even though it says 879 total counties in this post above, the actual number at the time was 881.

DOLLYWOOD!

Over Easter weekend we decided to take a road trip to Dollywood. Since a good portion of the route found us going into places we hadn’t yet been, there was a fair amount of interstate driving. But as county collectors, we still ended up taking a funky path to get there. As two of our kids had yet to enter North and South Carolina, we ended up going around the Pigeon Forge (Dollywood) area and entering it from the opposite end.

On Thursday night we headed south and spent the night at the Town Place Suites by Marriott in Lafayette, IN. We’ve covered this part of the route multiple times in the past. So there were no new counties that night. But Friday was very different.

The following morning we got up early knowing there was a very long day of driving ahead. We headed southeast toward Indianapolis. But instead of continuing on the interstate toward Louisville, we veered off southwest toward Evansville. On the way we picked up Monroe, Greene, Daviess, Pike, Gibson, Vanderburgh and Warrick counties.

We then crossed the Ohio River and entered Kentucky. We entered Henderson, Webster, Hopkins and Christian Counties before crossing the border into Tennessee – and Montgomery County. About a mile-and-a-half past the border we got off the highway at the far north end of Clarksville and headed north for about one mile. We took a picture by the “welcome to” signs for both Kentucky and Tennessee. And by crossing back into Kentucky we briefly entered Todd County – a county we had just missed entering when we crossed into Tennessee a few minutes earlier.

After getting back on the highway we continued south east through Nashville toward Chattanooga. We drove through Cheatham, Rutherford, Bedford, Coffee, Grundy and Marion Counties. We hit another county or two near Nashville that we’d passed through on a previous trip. But the above counties were new for us.

Instead of heading directly into Chattanooga we instead got off the highway near South Pittsburg. We then drove into Alabama – just to cross into another state. Why not? We picked up Jackson County, AL in the process.

After leaving Alabama we turned back north, got on the highway and headed briefly into Hamilton County, TN, before entering the state of Georgia – and Dade County. A car accident slowed us to a near stop for about 30 minutes. Eventually the road weaved back into Tennessee. But instead of keeping on the interstate we got off south of Chattanooga, entering Rossville, GA – and Walker County. We then got on I-75 toward Atlanta.

Our destination was ultimately Dollywood. But by this point we were well south of it. We had to hit the Carolinas. So we continued south, then east toward the Greenville, SC area. We hit several counties in Georgia along the way: Catoosa, Whitefield, Gordon, Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Fulton, Dekalb, Gwinnett, Barrow, Jackson, Banks, Franklin and Hart. Finally we crossed into South Carolina and hit Oconee and Anderson Counties in the process.

Instead of following the direct route north into North Carolina, we ended up exiting near a town named Powdersville. We had to weave our way through city streets in order to cross the border into Pickens County. There was no county sign. But the Riverview Baptist Church was in. And we passed right by it.

At this point we were able to put our Pigeon Forge hotel into the GPS. The direct route would take us right where we needed to go. We finished up South Carolina with Greenville County before entering North Carolina. We then drove northeast through the state hitting Henderson, Buncombe and Haywood Counties.

Somewhere in the Great Smoky Mountains (and a driving rain storm) we crossed back into Tennessee. We hit Cocke County, Jefferson County (driving past the Bush Brothers (baked beans) Cannery in Chestnut Hill) and Sevier County. With that we finally reached the Hampton Inn & Suites in Pigeon Forge. After 17 hours in the car, we were exhausted. But the next day made up for it.

On Saturday we went spent the day in Dollywood. The entire 17-hour crazy ride from the day before was forgotten thanks to an endless supply of roller coasters. I highly recommend the Wild Eagle.

After leaving the park that evening we drove about two hours to our hotel in Williamsburg, KY. In the process we drove through Blount, Knox, Anderson and Campbell Counties in Tennessee and Whitley County, KY. We spent the night at the Cumberland Inn.

On Sunday we had about a 10-hour drive home. We headed north on I-75. We made a brief stop in Corbin, KY to see the original café where Harland Sanders made KFC. Yes, we bought some. After getting back on the highway we drove through Laurel, Rockcastle, Madison, Fayette, Scott, Woolford, Franklin and Shelby Counties.

In Louisville we stopped in to see the grave of President Zachary Taylor. Once we left, in order to finish off our new counties for the trip, we had to get off the direct route and cross the Ohio River into New Albany, IN. We then headed north on a route that paralleled I-65 about 15 miles to the east. We continued north picking up Floyd, Harrison and Washington Counties. Our last new county was Brown County. It was easy to get into but very difficult to get out of. We eventually wormed our way through (after maybe 20 miles of road) and got onto highway 46 – which in turn put us back on to I-65. The next five hours were spent on a direct route home to Wisconsin – and no more new counties.

All tolled we hit 64 new counties over this three-day weekend. That brings our total to 867 and 105 for 2015. What’s next? We have a flight to Florida coming up in two weeks. We’ll see you then!


7/17/17 UPDATE: We recently realized that in putting our county list together, we had inadvertently failed to include two counties that we had previously entered. On a summer, 2014 road trip, we went to Disneyland in California (Orange County). And upon leaving Disneyland for Las Vegas, we entered Riverside County as well. So even though it says 867 total counties in this post above, the actual number at the time was 869.

IOWA VALENTINE'S WEEKEND ROAD TRIP

Our first road trip of 2015 found us spending Valentine’s Day weekend traversing the state of Iowa. This was actually our second road trip in Iowa where knocking off counties was our primary focus. Iowa often has a reputation for being somewhat boring and having “nothing but corn fields.” That never bothered us too much. There are fun things to find if you know where to look. What does bother us is the fact that while traveling into remote areas you’re bound to find yourself having to spend time on gravel roads. One time we even found ourselves on a “road” that was actually a dirt field. I kid you not! (Check the corner of Mockingbird Ave. and 350^th St. near Brayton – not to mention the tree in the middle of the road a half-block to the right.) Thankfully, while we saw many gravel roads on this trip, our route managed to avoid every single one of them.

We drove into both Blackhawk and Bremer Counties, before spending the night at a Hilton Garden Inn in Cedar Falls. The following morning we set out for Omaha – with a few side trips of course. We pulled off highway 20 and made our way through Grundy County and up into Butler County. I managed to take a picture of one of the many gravel roads we would encounter.

From there we sort of zigzagged through the “third and fourth row” of Iowa’s counties, moving from east to west covering Hardin, Franklin, Hamilton, Wright, Webster, Humboldt, Pocahontas, Calhoun, Buena Vista, Sac, Ida, Cherokee, Woodbury and Plymouth Counties. We then reached the state border and crossed over into South Dakota – knocking off Union County there. During that stretch we found a landlocked lighthouse and the world’s largest popcorn ball – which was a bit moldy.

Once we crossed back into Iowa, we then crossed the border into Nebraska. Again we zigzagged south, crossing in and out of Iowa and Nebraska several times. In doing so we hit Dakota, Thurston, Burt and Washington Counties in Nebraska, and Monona and Harrison Counties in Iowa. We then settled in for the night at the Sheraton hotel in Omaha. For the first time in a long time, neither of our two hotels on this trip had refrigerators in the room. Oh well. We’d been in Omaha before. So that county wasn’t new to us. But a visit to the pedestrian bridge connecting Iowa and Nebraska was.

The next day we headed back home. We headed south from Omaha, eventually hooking up with highway 34 – which we more or less followed from the west end of Iowa to the east. The new counties we hit in the first part were Mills, Montgomery, Adams and Union. We then crossed into Clarke and Warren Counties – two we’d hit about six months earlier. Then we crossed into Lucas, Marion, Mahaska, Monroe Wapello, Keokuk, Jefferson, Henry, Washington, Louisa and Muscatine Counties. Along the route we found a really cool restored Phillips gas station, the grave of the oldest man to enlist in the Civil War, and the house from the famous “American Gothic” painting.

The last scheduled stop we made was in the above mentioned Louisa County. In the small city of Columbus Junction you’ll find an old swinging bridge. It rocks and sways when you’re on it. It might not be for the faint of heart. It was pretty cool though.

Once we passed through Muscatine County, our new counties were finished. We added 40 new ones to bring our total up to 803. We now have just over 25% of them covered. The next trip we have is scheduled for Easter weekend. We’ll see you then!


7/17/17 UPDATE: We recently realized that in putting our county list together, we had inadvertently failed to include two counties that we had previously entered. On a summer, 2014 road trip, we went to Disneyland in California (Orange County). And upon leaving Disneyland for Las Vegas, we entered Riverside County as well. So even though it says 803 total counties in this post above, the actual number at the time was 805.

FIRST NEW COUNTY OF 2015

Our first trip of 2015 turned out to be a big one. My fiancé won the grand prize at her company picnic this past summer. That prize paid for most of a Disney Cruise for us and our four kids. Although it was a pretty big trip, in terms of counties, it was very small. In fact we only traveled through two counties - one of which we'd already been to.

On Sunday January 11, 2015 we flew into Orlando and spent the night at the Hyatt Regency at the airport. We found ourselves in Orange County, Florida. But having been to Disneyworld in 2014, this county was a repeat.

But the next day we got in our rented limo to head to our cruise ship in Cape Canaveral. About 25 miles to the east, on HWY 528 we crossed into Brevard County. This represented out first new county in 2015, and our 763rd overall.

Here's a picture I took of our cruise ship (the Disney Dream) in Cape Canaveral.

We'll have more to come in February!


7/17/17 UPDATE: We recently realized that in putting our county list together, we had inadvertently failed to include two counties that we had previously entered. On a summer, 2014 road trip, we went to Disneyland in California (Orange County). And upon leaving Disneyland for Las Vegas, we entered Riverside County as well. So even though it says 763 total counties in the post above, the actual number at the time was 765.