Will You Visit All 50 States Before You Kick The Bucket?
The All 50 Club Follows Members Who Set Goals To Travel To All U.S. States Within Their Lifetime And Share Their Experiences
Some people collect teapots, some people “bag” mountain tops, but among RVers the most prized collection is likely to be a visit to all 50 states. For many dedicated travelers, checking another state off their list is a cause for celebration.
Alicia Rovey is one of these people. In 2006, she started the All Fifty Club, an organization that would help avid travelers keep track of their journeys and celebrate their accomplishments.
“At the time I had young kids and wasn’t traveling a lot myself,” she says. “But it was still very much on my mind.” When she started the club, she had visited 46 states. It would take her until 2015 to check off the final four.
“I began the All Fifty Club website to inspire and encourage travelers to reach for their goals,” she says. “It’s a place where people can share their stories, track their travels, and celebrate achieving their goals.”
People can join the All Fifty Club when they have 35 states under their belt. “We say that in order to count a destination, you have to get your feet on the ground and breathe the air,” Alicia says.
In 2012, Alicia joined forces with her brother Eric Prior and they expanded the concept to include the Travelers’ Country Club, with levels ranging from Bronze starting at 15 countries to Platinum at 100 or more, and a Continent Club for those intrepid travelers who have visited six continents. The expanded Travel Goal Getter website gathers all the clubs in one place, including a listing of several hundred “Troika” members who have qualified for all three.
Eric also helped develop an iPad app that helps keep track of states and countries visited with an easy access touch screen. The All Fifty Club and Travel Goal Getter app have been featured in stories in the Washington Post, Saturday Evening Post, and USA Today, as well as on major TV networks.
Currently, the clubs have over 4,300 members from all 50 states and over 21 countries. Ages range from college students to seniors. “We have members who love camping as well as those who prefer 5-star hotels,” Alicia explains. “Some members, such as a circus performer, salesman, and airplane accident investigator, have visited all 50 states as a part of their jobs. We have one member that has visited all 50 nine times.”
The website lists a number of unusual records achieved by members. The 50states7days Team made the fastest trip, visiting all the states in 6 days, 17 hours, 31 minutes, in July, 2015. Ethan Conner, from Northern Ireland, at age 2 was the youngest member to visit all 50 states. A recent new member, John Richard Huff, who has been working on the goal throughout his life, just reached all 50 at age 89.
Others set their own unique goals, from completing a Komen Race For A Cure to skydiving or disc golfing in every state. Some visit all the state capitals or get a small souvenir from each place they visited, while others eat a slice of pie at each stop to commemorate their journey. Lots of the All Fifty members make visiting all the National Parks their goal. Many travel at least part of the way by RV, including Alicia herself.
Don and Connie Statham, of Birmingham, AL, only recently completed their All Fifty goal with a 7-night cruise around the Hawaiian Islands, but racked up most of the states, as well as wide swaths of Canada and Mexico, while full-timing for 14 years. “We spent at least two nights in every state,” Don says. “We visited every province in Canada except Manitoba and Saskatchewan as well as seven Mexican states.”
Don says their most memorable trip was a 7-month 17,000-mile drive to Alaska. “We were able to see many National Parks along the way, including Death Valley, Yosemite, Devils Tower, Sequoia, Redwoods, Olympic, Grand Tetons, etc,” he says. “We hit Death Valley right after an unusual rain storm and saw plants blooming that hadn’t been seen in 100 years. Just lucky. We put the motor home (a 40-foot diesel pusher) and our 4-WD truck on a huge ferry in Bellingham, WA so we could see Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway then drove in through the Yukon for three solid months in Alaska. We drove out on the ALCAN Highway.”
Another ferry trip took the Stathams to Newfoundland in Eastern Canada. “We went up to the northern part and took a boat tour on the Western Brook Pond Fjord in Gros Morne National Park,” he recalls. “Just awesome in its grandeur.”
Don says that every state had something special to offer. “Looking at a map, you might think it was just flat and uninteresting, but when you get there you find something unique,” he says. “We loved the lifestyle, loved meeting the locals, finding out what their suggestions were.” Don reveals that local laundromats were Connie’s favorite place to meet and mingle.
Don and Connie have given up full-timing and settled back in Birmingham, thanks to the arrival of their first granddaughter. They haven’t given up traveling though, and will soon be cruising to Norway, looking for more fjords.
Alicia Rovey is still on the road and setting new travel goals. “My next goal is to help my family get to all 50,” she says. “Currently they are at 37.” Alicia and her kids, now 11, 13, 16 and 17, will be traveling through the Northeast this summer, hopefully in a camper, to get closer to their All Fifty goal.
Renee Wright
A graduate of Franconia College in Social Psychology, Renee has worked as Travel Editor for Charlotte Magazine and has written three travel guidebooks for Countryman Press among other writing assignments. She enjoys food and camping.
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