AARoads Forum

I am curious to know if anyone clinched any of the states, but never traveled its interstates.

I did Nebraska on a 01 trip, but only on I-129.  I never did I-80 or I-76 the state's two only2 digit mainline interstates.

I also, did Alabama and Mississippi the first time there in 91 en route from Florida to Louisiana where I did not travel I-10 in going.   Traveling back I did though use I-10.


I am looking mainly for first visits where you entered a state, but never got to drive its interstates when you did.  I counted NE for myself because I-129 from Iowa does not go very far into the state.   Plus it also does not connect to the rest of the state's interstate system either unless its via I-29 itself via Iowa.

I had a layover at Detroit Airport. Only time I've been anywhere near Michigan.

Didn't leave the airport though, so kind of a weak clinch!

Is this "have not traveled on any interstates in state X" or "have not traveled on any 2dis in state X"?  If the latter, you can count Maryland for me (and technically DC as well, though I-66 in the district is a glorified stub and I-95 is only there on the Wilson Bridge); I've only been on US 15, I-270, I-495, and the Clara Barton Parkway.

Regardless, although not a state, Quebec was like this for a few years with me.  I first entered the province in 2009 during a school field trip to Ottawa (we visited the history museum).  I didn't get a chance to go on an Autoroute until 2012.  In the US, New Hampshire and Maine (also in 2009 for some reason) were similar, but in that case it was only a couple days before taking the interstates on the way back.

Possibly Ontario too, but that's really difficult to tell.  The border isn't well marked on the St. Lawrence River.  I've crossed the border there without stopping in Canada (and thus not having to report to customs) countless times.

Of the 47 states I have visited, I have not touched the Interstate System in one of them:
Nebraska: Visited Nebraska City via NE 2, on only visit to the state.
I have only driven on 3di's in one: Kansas.

Hmm, I don't think I have any.

Arkansas is probably my closest. I've driven about 380 miles in Arkansas and was only on the interstate from I-30 exit 73 to 78 and back, so 10 miles.

Wait...Maine! I drove into Maine at Fryeburg, drove down to Scarborough, and then back up to Fryeburg before heading back into New Hampshire. That didn't involve interstate to my recollection.

Delaware.

Michigan is the only one for sure.

for signed interstates... only Alaska.

Hmm...
1) North Carolina. Got lost with Brian Reynolds in the far northwest corner.
2) Maine. Went to Freeport and back from the family cabin in northern New Hampshire.

It was true of West Virginia the first time I visited (Harpers Ferry), but no longer is.

Quote from: english si on December 07, 2013, 12:40:23 PM
I had a layover at Detroit Airport. Only time I've been anywhere near Michigan.

Didn't leave the airport though, so kind of a weak clinch!

I know that for the county clinching community, there's a pretty big debate as to whether an airport layover counts.

For me, the only states I've been in without being on an interstate are Idaho and Wisconsin. My one passage through the state of Idaho was on US 89. I've been in Wisconsin twice and have never been on an interstate.

My sole foray into Nebraska was south on US 77, then back east into Iowa on I-129, so technically it doesn't count.

For first entries into a state, Mississippi (US 72), Michigan (M-63 and US 12), New Mexico (US 160 and NM 597), Utah (on foot) and Arizona (on foot) are the only ones, but I've subsequently been on interstates in those five states. (Three guesses where and how I entered those two states on foot).

For every other state, to the best of my recollection, I was on an interstate the first time I was there. It's possible that my first trips into Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee as a child didn't involve an interstate, but I doubt it.

Quote from: getemngo on December 07, 2013, 04:32:01 PM
I know that for the county clinching community, there's a pretty big debate as to whether an airport layover counts.

Why shouldn't it? Your feet were on the ground in the county.

Alaska. If we're counting airports, Utah (I've spent all of 15 minutes in Utah connecting from Vancouver en route to Reagan).

Does the short stretch of US 30 in West Virginia count?

Quote from: hbelkins on December 07, 2013, 04:52:08 PM

Quote from: getemngo on December 07, 2013, 04:32:01 PM
I know that for the county clinching community, there's a pretty big debate as to whether an airport layover counts.

Why shouldn't it? Your feet were on the ground in the county.

Extra Milers are weird. There are those that say it doesn't count if you cross the line and immediately turn around, those that say you have to physically set foot in the county, and even a few that only count a county if they've visited its seat.

Edit: And to add to Formulanone's post below me, an airport generally doesn't give you a feel for what the area is like.

Colorado and Arizona, which were just airport layovers. If you want to be precise, I set foot on the concrete ground because there was no jetway for my flight at DEN. So I felt the cool weather (and rain), although it's not exactly what I'd call experiencing the state.

Also, Vermont: Arrived through VT 9 from New York (NY 7), had dinner, and left.

I walked into/around the Oklahoma-Missouri-Arkansas tripoint for my first visit to OK, and arrived into MO by US Route 71. I've subsequently driven on Interstates in both states.

As far as first entries into states-

Nevada- flew into Reno, drove to Tahoe in like 1990. That wouldn't have involved an interstate. Didn't get on an interstate in Nevada until 2009 or so around Las Vegas.
Washington- drove from Lewiston ID up to Pullman and back to Moscow ID in about 1998. Finally got on the interstate on a trip to the Tri-Cities in probably 2001.
Wisconsin- drove from Geneva IL to Lake Geneva WI in about 1993. Didn't get on an interstate in Wisconsin until 2007.
West Virginia- drove from Chillicothe Ohio to Huntington in probably 1989, repeated many times never getting on I-64 to my knowledge before getting on the WV turnpike to drive from Ohio to North Carolina in probably 1994.

Oh, I guess I've never been on an interstate in Hawaii either- we connected in Honolulu en route to Maui, so I've never been out of the airport in Oahu.

QuoteWhy shouldn't it? Your feet were on the ground in the county.

The idea is that you're in a secure transit zone that isn't really even under county jurisdiction. Personally, I don't count it but to each their own. For me that only applies in Minnesota- I've never been to Minnesota but I have connected in the Minneapolis airport many times.

I've connected in the Tokyo airport before, but I don't think it'd be right to say I've been to Japan since I never left the secure transit area. That may be slightly different though, since leaving that secure transit area (clearing passport control, etc) would be more challenging than walking out of the Minneapolis airport.

For me, Texas was the airport layover (Dallas).

In two other cases, New Mexico and Colorado, I put a hand or foot in each place (Four Corners).

Lastly, visited California (San Francisco), but took transit or walked everywhere.

For me, only Wyoming. I've been to Yellowstone, Jackson, and many of the US highways in the area, but never on any of the interstates there.

Montana and Idaho (trip to Yellowstone)
Nevada (until recently)
Utah, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Michigan (layovers)

Quote from: getemngo on December 07, 2013, 05:06:03 PM
Extra Milers are weird. There are those that say it doesn't count if you cross the line and immediately turn around, those that say you have to physically set foot in the county, and even a few that only count a county if they've visited its seat.

I think it's weirder to cross a county line and turn around. There's no reason to do that except for county counting grinding.

Since I'm older than the Interstate System, there are plenty of states that I first entered without riding on an interstate. I know my family took me from Indiana to Mount Rushmore in 1954, which covers Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa (I think). We also drove to Atlantic City several times. The first of those trips that I can remember was in April of 1956, when we took a side trip to DC on the way back. That clinched me Ohio, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and DC. If the Pennsylvania Turnpike was not in the Interstate System yet, I can count PA too.

As for states I've visited and still haven't traveled an interstate, I'd have only Rhode Island (crossed from Westerly to Fall River via Jamestown, before many interstates were built) and Nebraska (I haven't been back since '54).

First entrances that I can remember that did involve interstate travel:

Alabama: US 72 (traveled I-565)
Georgia: I-75
Florida: I-75
Illinois: I-24
Missouri: I-70
Kansas: I-670
Colorado: I-70
Nevada: US 93 (traveled I-15)
Wyoming: US 89 (traveled I-90)
South Dakota: I-90
Iowa: I-29
Nebraska: US 77 (traveled I-129)
Pennsylvania: either US 40 or I-70
New York: I-90
Maryland: Former US 48 (traveled I-70)
Delaware: US 13 (traveled I-95/295)
New Jersey: I-295
Vermont: US 7 (traveled I-91)
New Hampshire: NH 9 (traveled I-89)
Maine: ME 4 (traveled I-95)
Massachusetts: I-95 No, wait. Entered on US 7 and drove straight through to Bennington, Vt., where I spent the night and re-entered Massachusetts on I-95 the next day.
Rhode Island: traveled I-95
Arkansas: I-55
Louisiana: I-59
Texas: I-30
Oklahoma: I-40
Connecticut: US 6/202 (traveled I-84)
Minnesota: US 14/61 (traveled I-90)

I'm not sure about North Carolina. My first entrance was probably on US 441/Newfound Gap Road as a kid but I have no real memory of it.

Also, South Carolina. Entered from Georgia on US 25 but I don't remember if any interstate travel was involved.

I don't count airport layovers as a "visit" to a state, so I never say I have been to Georgia even though I have connected through Atlanta Hartsfield.  Among states I have driven in (all 50 plus DC with the exception of HI, WI, LA, AL, GA, and FL), I have traversed some part of the Interstate system.

WW, OH, and IN via US30. I've since clinched I-90, however.
If airport layovers count, then GA and NC.

dfilpus: I bet you've been to Maine May 2007 or later. :D

Quote from: NE2 on December 07, 2013, 06:29:43 PM

Quote from: getemngo on December 07, 2013, 05:06:03 PM
Extra Milers are weird. There are those that say it doesn't count if you cross the line and immediately turn around, those that say you have to physically set foot in the county, and even a few that only count a county if they've visited its seat.

I think it's weirder to cross a county line and turn around. There's no reason to do that except for county counting grinding.

Agreed

Quote from: yakra on December 07, 2013, 07:39:25 PM
dfilpus: I bet you've been to Maine May 2007 or later. :D

Actually, It was decades before that. We drove on part of the original I-295 to get through downtown Portland. We were following US 1 up the coast and never drove on any part of I-95.

I've been on interstates on every state I've ever driven in, but I have manage to make it border to border in a few states without doing so.  Some examples:

WV: US 11 (I-81 was total backed up)
VA: US 340 (ok, so it's the 1 mile section near Harper's Ferry.)
DE: US 13, DE 92, US 202, DE 141, DE 4, DE 279
VT: Twice. US 4, and VT 11/VT 30/VT 149
NH: E-W: NH 11, N-S: US 1
ME: US 302, ME 111/ME 11
MD: MD 896 :sombrero:

Idaho, Montana, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.  A small bit of interstate (I-25) in New Mexico and (I-91) in Vermont.

My only one would be Maine.  My family vacationed in Jackman once, and we came in from the north after visiting Montreal.

I went on a road trip with my dad (qguy) to Painted Post, NY back in 2009 to drive all of I-99 as well as the future part up US 15. I can't remember if we actually got on I-86 or not before turning back down 15, but if not, then I've never been on any of New York's Interstates.

Delaware (entered on foot only walking around the Mason Dixon marker at the corner); Alabama, New Hampshire, (drove in on a non-interstate and immediately turned around; Arizona.

I've heard all kinds of anal-retentive rules about what it takes to "count" a state. Supposed I'm in the airport lounge and someone calls me and asks where I am. Am I going to say "Arizona" or "I'm not in any state right now". If I decide to smack the guy next to me with a newspaper, does that mean I get away from it because I'm not really in Arizona and thus there's no state to prosecute me? I told a friend at work I was going to go to Oregon and turn around to say I had been there. She said it doesn't count unless you eat a meal there, so I told her I'd bring some trail mix along in the car.

I've been on some length of interstate in every state I've been to, and there are a several states (IL, MO, KS, TX, OK, SC, NC) where I've yet to stray more than a block away from an interstate.

In terms of the opposite extreme, Louisiana wins. I entered from the north on US 65 and exited to the east on I-20, for a total of 16 miles on an interstate. I barely clipped a corner of the state in general: only two counties sorry, parishes :-D worth.

Mississippi also gets honorable mention, my route through the state was I-20, US 49, I-65, US 98. A bit more distance on interstates but mostly off of them. The sun set when I was in Hattiesburg and the only stop I made in the state was to briefly pull over on US 98 and put my feet on the ground for two seconds so I could say I'd been to Mississippi.

I was also almost exclusively off interstates through Utah (only I-70 from CO to US 191, and I-15 from UT 9 to AZ). but unlike Mississippi which was pretty forgettable, I actually saw some really cool stuff in Utah, so I don't file it under "I've barely been there".

I have Arizona. (Traveled on AZ 89A)

I have Illinois. (By foot in Chicago)

I would have DC, except it's not a state.



I have passed through a lot of states by train. Does that count? If not, does changing trains in Portland, Oregon count?

Quote from: Mdcastle on December 07, 2013, 11:10:53 PM
Delaware (entered on foot only walking around the Mason Dixon marker at the corner); Alabama, New Hampshire, (drove in on a non-interstate and immediately turned around; Arizona.

I've heard all kinds of anal-retentive rules about what it takes to "count" a state. Supposed I'm in the airport lounge and someone calls me and asks where I am. Am I going to say "Arizona" or "I'm not in any state right now". If I decide to smack the guy next to me with a newspaper, does that mean I get away from it because I'm not really in Arizona and thus there's no state to prosecute me? I told a friend at work I was going to go to Oregon and turn around to say I had been there. She said it doesn't count unless you eat a meal there, so I told her I'd bring some trail mix along in the car.

If somebody calls you and asks where you are, the correct answer would be "the Phoenix Airport" not "Arizona"- then let the person talking to you decide where you are. If I were talking to you on the phone and you said "Arizona", I and I assume most people would assume you're not sitting at the airport.

As far as who would prosecute you, you'd be under the authority of an airport authority, which would typically involve both TSA and airport police that are (depending on the airport, but almost always at airports large enough that you'd connect in) separate from your typical county sheriffs/city police. Depending on the crime, you're likely to be tried in a federal court if you commit an offense in the secure zone of an airport, so you're not really in the legal jurisdiction of whatever state. There's a very good chance the federal court will kick it back to the local court if it's a relatively minor offense, but that's their burden.

I've not been on the interstate in Oregon and Oklahoma. I'd say it's a trend, but I've logged a few interstate miles in Ohio. And Utah, to break the trend.

The first time I was in Maine, I logged a road's width of pavement before leaving the pavement for a day. In York county no less.

For me...Michigan...was in the UP along US 2 and US 8

Massachusetts and Delaware.

Have spent nearly a week in both states and never got near an Interstate.

I spent a long weekend in San Diego and never drove on an Interstate, but was a passenger in a car on I-15  for a few miles.

Quote from: corco on December 07, 2013, 05:16:00 PM
As far as first entries into states-

Nevada- flew into Reno, drove to Tahoe in like 1990. That wouldn't have involved an interstate. Didn't get on an interstate in Nevada until 2009 or so around Las Vegas.

Corco, if you traveled from the Reno airport to Lake Tahoe via the US 395 freeway, that would have been part of hidden I-580, which wasn't signed until 2012 but was approved by FHWA as a route in the 1980s.

Quote from: corco on December 07, 2013, 05:16:00 PM
The idea is that you're in a secure transit zone that isn't really even under county jurisdiction. Personally, I don't count it but to each their own.

Of course, a great many airports are owned by the county...

Quote from: empirestate on December 08, 2013, 07:11:20 AM

Quote from: corco on December 07, 2013, 05:16:00 PM
The idea is that you're in a secure transit zone that isn't really even under county jurisdiction. Personally, I don't count it but to each their own.

Of course, a great many airports are owned by the county...

And some (O'Hare, Midway) are owned by the city.

QuoteOf course, a great many airports are owned by the county...

Except that Minneapolis-St. Paul Int'l (MSP) is not one of them.

Back to the original topic, there are 3 states I've been to where I haven't touched an Interstate:  Idaho (SE portion), Arizona (near Four Corners), and Colorado (also near Four Corners).

Quote from: doorknob60 on December 07, 2013, 06:23:03 PM
For me, only Wyoming. I've been to Yellowstone, Jackson, and many of the US highways in the area, but never on any of the interstates there.

Your posts prompts me to add Wyoming to my list as well. I had forgotten about it. We went to Laramie for a Virginia—Wyoming football game but took US-287 in both directions and never used the Interstate in Wyoming.

I-129 is mostly in Nebraska.  It is fully signed.

(https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2596/3753379060_a37a1b38ef_z.jpg)

Montana. I've been to the corner of Yellowstone, and then all the way across on US 2 with several dips north and south, but never set tire on I-90 or I-15.
Idaho (for now), haven't been to the part of the state with Interstates. Plan to do that soon, though.

Only have crossed Pennsylvania on non-Interstate U.S. 15 from S to N and from N to S.

Also Vermont and New Hampshire headed east, but it was so long ago that I don't remember the routings, except that they were not on any Interstates.

Colorado for me although I may be on an interstate there tomorrow. I've only been to the Durango area for skiing.

Quote from: roadfro on December 08, 2013, 03:57:09 AM

Quote from: corco on December 07, 2013, 05:16:00 PM
As far as first entries into states-

Nevada- flew into Reno, drove to Tahoe in like 1990. That wouldn't have involved an interstate. Didn't get on an interstate in Nevada until 2009 or so around Las Vegas.

Corco, if you traveled from the Reno airport to Lake Tahoe via the US 395 freeway, that would have been part of hidden I-580, which wasn't signed until 2012 but was approved by FHWA as a route in the 1980s.

Heh, didn't realize it was a freeway that far back. Scratch that one off then.

If Washington, DC can count, I never got so much as one tire on the interstate there. Since there's some ambiguity about trains, I won't count my first (and so far only) visit to Arkansas.

If one counts first entries, then North Carolina at Newfound Gap in the 90's. I didn't take any interstates there until an early 2000's trip to Myrtle Beach, which used I-40 and I-26. Beyond that, I don't have any. Every state I've visited by car, I've had to use interstates.

How about US 395 from Reno NV to Las Vegas NV - 450 miles on nothing and a 75mph 2 lane road.

Or US 95 from Winnemucca NV to Boise ID; goes thru a desolate 120 miles of Oregon with no Interstates in that state.

Colorado: Entered from US-287/385 and turned around where convenient.
Kentucky: Entered from the bridge from Cairo, IL and turned around where convenient.

NM barely doesn't count–I was only in the state long enough to clinch NM-406...except for one time I entered Quay County on I-40 and did a U-turn across the median, so I was only on a few dozen yards of NM interstate. (This was probably illegal, but not hazardous because it occurred in the wee hours of the morning and there was little traffic.)

Quote from: corco on December 07, 2013, 05:16:00 PMI've connected in the Tokyo airport before, but I don't think it'd be right to say I've been to Japan since I never left the secure transit area. That may be slightly different though, since leaving that secure transit area (clearing passport control, etc) would be more challenging than walking out of the Minneapolis airport.

Yes, there's a difference between that, and an internal flight. Or what I did at Detroit, which was to enter the USA there.

Quote from: froggie on December 08, 2013, 09:04:17 AM

QuoteOf course, a great many airports are owned by the county...

Except that Minneapolis-St. Paul Int'l (MSP) is not one of them.

OK, so you would not count a layover at MSP as visiting a county, but you would if the airport were county-owned?

I personally would count a layover, but others upthread said they wouldn't.  Corco cited MSP as a specific example.  I was also replying to your comment that many airports are county-owned but MSP (again cited earlier by Corco) is not one of them.

I camped one night at Bear Lake in Idaho but was never on an Idaho interstate.

I camped one night at Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon but was never on an Oregon interstate.

Only foray into South Carolina was a few miles up US 17 from Savannah, GA, just to say I'd been to South Carolina.

Only trips to Nevada have been via plane to Las Vegas, so I've never driven anywhere in Nevada, but did ride a bus out to Hoover Dam.

My other 39 states visited have all involved at least some interstate highway travel.

I think I've driven Interstate in every state I've visited, but Nebraska holds the record for the least miles.

I've been in South Carolina for a week and never set a tire on an Interstate highway. However, I did not drive through the state.

I've crossed Vermont from south to north without using an Interstate highway earlier this summer (entered via U.S. 4, went north on U.S. 5 into Canada), but I already had all of its Interstates clinched.

I won't count all those occasions in which I clipped a corner of New York via Hemmingford Road, U.S. 11 and U.S.2.

The only one that I'd say currently counts for me is Ohio - crossed the river from Parkersburg, WV on what is almost certainly OH 618 to visit a family member's workplace just a few blocks into the state, then returned to West Virginia the same way. I haven't been to Ohio since (this was around 1997 or so).

My first visits to Alabama and Florida (on the same trip) also did not include any Interstate travel, but I have since accessed the Interstate system in those states. Same for DC, where my first visit didn't involve any roads at all, but rather the Metro and my own two feet.

And since we've mentioned airport layovers, Texas and Colorado would fall in that category for me.

Quote from: froggie on December 09, 2013, 12:21:48 PM
I personally would count a layover, but others upthread said they wouldn't.  Corco cited MSP as a specific example.  I was also replying to your comment that many airports are county-owned but MSP (again cited earlier by Corco) is not one of them.

I see. I was referring more generally to the principle that layovers wouldn't count because airports are operated under a different authority. As another example, since O'Hare is city-owned, would a visit there count as a clinch for Chicago but not for Cook County? (That's for those of you who subscribe to the above principle in the first place, of course.)

Quote from: empirestate on December 09, 2013, 11:00:22 PM

Quote from: froggie on December 09, 2013, 12:21:48 PM
I personally would count a layover, but others upthread said they wouldn't.  Corco cited MSP as a specific example.  I was also replying to your comment that many airports are county-owned but MSP (again cited earlier by Corco) is not one of them.

I see. I was referring more generally to the principle that layovers wouldn't count because airports are operated under a different authority. As another example, since O'Hare is city-owned, would a visit there count as a clinch for Chicago but not for Cook County? (That's for those of you who subscribe to the above principle in the first place, of course.)

Considering that Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, I'd say it does count under most criteria for clinching Cook County.  My criteria is just being on the land within a county.  Some require the county seat.

I don't care who runs the airport, to be honest. You paid to enter it, after all.

Many of us never get out of the car for every county, and that makes only your tires connected to the road.

Didn't we have a member here that waved their hand along a county line (not singling out someone, it's rather creative)?

Spend the night in the county? Or just taking a 20-minute nap?

So, everyone's going to have their own definitions.

Quote from: Kacie Jane on December 07, 2013, 10:12:32 PM
My only one would be Maine.  My family vacationed in Jackman once, and we came in from the north after visiting Montreal.

Oops, New Hampshire too.  My only "visit" to New Hampshire was getting off I-91 in Vermont to use the restroom, and crossing the river just to say we did.  (Also my only time on an interstate in Vermont, despite having visited multiple times.)

Quote from: formulanone on December 10, 2013, 08:52:25 PM
I don't care who runs the airport, to be honest. You paid to enter it, after all.

Many of us never get out of the car for every county, and that makes only your tires connected to the road.

Didn't we have a member here that waved their hand along a county line (not singling out someone, it's rather creative)?

Spend the night in the county? Or just taking a 20-minute nap?

So, everyone's going to have their own definitions.

Yes, and that's the beauty of it. I used to have mixed feelings about being in an airport as counting for anything, but I've since erased that concern with my continuing travels. If I have a layover at an unfamiliar airport (say, Rome on the way to Prague, hypothetically), I'd at least want to make enough time to get out of the terminal and stand on the ground.

Quote from: DevalDragon on December 09, 2013, 01:28:50 AM
How about US 395 from Reno NV to Las Vegas NV - 450 miles on nothing and a 75mph 2 lane road.

If you were taking the typical, shortest route from Reno to Vegas (447 miles downtown Reno to downtown Las Vegas), this would have involved about 30 miles on I-80 from Reno to Fernley.

The typical route is I-80 to Fernley > Alt US 50 & US 50 to Fallon > US 95 the rest of the way (no travel on US 395--using US 395 and cutting over somewhere adds 20 or more miles). The max speed limit on any of that is 70mph, and since the mid-2000s (as US 50 & US 50 A have been expanded to four lanes) only about 320 miles of the trip is two-lane highway.

There's never been a state I've been to where I completely missed the interstate system.  In fact, I'm hardpressed to name a state where I was barely on the interstate.  Maybe Tennessee, but my only time there was strictly the Clarksville area, and I did travel on I-24 there.  My one and only trip to Michigan did involve travel on I-94 between Ann Arbor and Jackson.  The fact of the matter is, if I'm going long distance to somewhere unfamiliar, I'm taking the interstate.

Here are some additional justifications for not counting airport layovers as visits or clinches:

*  Airports are culturally detached from the surrounding area (connecting through Istanbul Atatürk is not the same as setting foot in the Blue Mosque)

*  In many countries (e.g. Schengen zone countries, but not Russia and some others), transit passengers are not required or even allowed to clear passport control for the country the airport is in

Yeah, the cultural detachment for me is the big thing- at least if you drive and dont leave the car, you see what the county actually looks like. Flying into an airport that looks like every other airport... eh. But I also wont go out of my way to clinch a county- driving into one and immediately turn around feels like cheating to me- the point is to travel and see stuff, not to fill in a checklist. If you have more of the latter mentality then sure, an airport layover probably counts. To each their own though.

Culturally detached is an issue even with driving through.  For example, I only have Suffolk County, NJ because of the section of I-80 that barely clips the border.  When I clinched Fulton County, NY, it was only on Adirondack backroads; I never went near any form of civilization.  All of my more recent travels (as in, the ones where I was more than 5 years old) to Wyoming County, NY were entirely in Letchworth State Park.

In my eyes thats still better than an airport though- you at least get to see the surrounding counties and do a nearest neighbor sort of interpolation about what an area is like. If you fly into an airport, youre in this artificial microcosm that is completely different from everything outside of it.

Quote from: corco on December 11, 2013, 11:40:09 AM
In my eyes thats still better than an airport though- you at least get to see the surrounding counties and do a nearest neighbor sort of interpolation about what an area is like. If you fly into an airport, youre in this artificial microcosm that is completely different from everything outside of it.

For the record, I tend to agree with you on that. On my mob-rule county map I use a different classification for counties I've only visited via air- or seaport (i.e., a layover, or onboard a ship docked at port where I didn't go ashore). I've no current instances of this for the U.S., but I have some Canadian territory I've visited only via ocean-going vessels sailing inland waters, which I classify the same way.

But the quote I was interested by–and which I realize you're probably passing along as hearsay, so we may not get an answer from those who actually hold this view–was this:

QuoteThe idea is that you're in a secure transit zone that isn't really even under county jurisdiction.

That made me wonder, for those who use this criterion, would it count as a county visit for those airports the are under county jurisdiction?

Then somebody brought up O'Hare, owned by a city, which made me wonder if such a person would count this as a city visit but not a county one. And in the case of the NYC airports, owned by a bi-state authority, would it count as a visit to both states, but not to the underlying counties and municipalities?

A sort of corollary would be a foreign embassy or military installation...would a visit to such a place count as a visit to the home country? And/or, would it not count as a visit to the country hosting the installation?

But again, I myself tend not to count layovers, or at least I count them reluctantly and with a feeling of some dissatisfaction until I can return for a proper clinch of the territory.

Quote from: froggie on December 09, 2013, 12:21:48 PM
I personally would count a layover, but others upthread said they wouldn't.  Corco cited MSP as a specific example.  I was also replying to your comment that many airports are county-owned but MSP (again cited earlier by Corco) is not one of them.

One reason I thought this issue could pose a bit of a conundrum is the question of what constitutes a "layover." Is there some minimum duration or is "feet touched the ground" enough? Earlier in this thread I noted that in August 2005 I flew from Vancouver to Salt Lake City on Delta and then had 15 minutes to connect to another Delta flight to Reagan Airport near DC. (Thank God for US Customs pre-clearance in Vancouver, otherwise this would have been impossible.) Obviously I was "in Utah," but I find it hard to justify the idea of counting it simply because our time there consisted of waiting very impatiently for our gate-checked bags to come off the CRJ we took for the first leg, then racing through the terminal to reach the gate for the next leg and making it just in time and then having to gate-check our bags again because we were among the last passengers to arrive. We didn't look around or pay attention to anything at all. Hence, to me it doesn't really feel like we visited Utah at all.

When I've connected at Heathrow going to and from Scotland and Denmark, however, I've spent a good deal more time at the airport (typically most of it in the British Airways lounge) and it feels more like I was actually in the London area for a while, though no doubt part of this is because I always make a point of stopping at the whisky shop!  :-D

All the more reason why I think in many ways it's unreasonable to try to apply universal hard-and-fast "rules" to this sort of thing.

Quote from: vdeane on December 11, 2013, 11:33:36 AMCulturally detached is an issue even with driving through.  For example, I only have Suffolk County, NJ because of the section of I-80 that barely clips the border.  When I clinched Fulton County, NY, it was only on Adirondack backroads; I never went near any form of civilization.  All of my more recent travels (as in, the ones where I was more than 5 years old) to Wyoming County, NY were entirely in Letchworth State Park.

It can indeed be an issue with driving (John Steinbeck famously described the Interstates themselves as a way to travel all over the US without seeing any of it), but that is true to a much lesser degree than it is for airports.  Even when you drive on an Interstate (built to standards which consist of an overlay of FHWA Interstate-specific standards on top of Green Book freeway standards, and so very homogenous nationally), you still get a good idea of the topography and landscapes of the area you pass through.  When you go through an airport, you are on a large flat piece of ground and what you see on the inside is a cookie-cutter interior designed by one of ten large engineering consultant firms that specialize in airport terminals.  (American airports, in my experience, are even less likely than their international counterparts to depart from the basic concourse-pier-bridge architectural idiom.  We have the flying saucer at LAX, the Eero Saarinen terminal at Dulles, and the old circular terminal building--has that been demolished?--at JFK, but all of those landmarks are about fifty years old and have no recent counterparts.  Meanwhile, major European airports have been adding architectural landmarks like Terminal 5 at Heathrow, Terminal 4 at Barajas, etc.)

Quote from: 1995hoo on December 11, 2013, 12:20:26 PMOne reason I thought this issue could pose a bit of a conundrum is the question of what constitutes a "layover." Is there some minimum duration or is "feet touched the ground" enough?

I would say that it is a layover if (a) you never exit the secured zone (airside), or (b) any exit you do make (e.g. to clear TSA to catch a connecting flight immediately after clearing passport control and Customs after arriving in the US on an international flight) is for the sole purpose of air travel.

QuoteEarlier in this thread I noted that in August 2005 I flew from Vancouver to Salt Lake City on Delta and then had 15 minutes to connect to another Delta flight to Reagan Airport near DC. (Thank God for US Customs pre-clearance in Vancouver, otherwise this would have been impossible.) Obviously I was "in Utah," but I find it hard to justify the idea of counting it simply because our time there consisted of waiting very impatiently for our gate-checked bags to come off the CRJ we took for the first leg, then racing through the terminal to reach the gate for the next leg and making it just in time and then having to gate-check our bags again because we were among the last passengers to arrive. We didn't look around or pay attention to anything at all. Hence, to me it doesn't really feel like we visited Utah at all.

When I've connected at Heathrow going to and from Scotland and Denmark, however, I've spent a good deal more time at the airport (typically most of it in the British Airways lounge) and it feels more like I was actually in the London area for a while, though no doubt part of this is because I always make a point of stopping at the whisky shop!

These are both layovers.  To have been in London properly you need to be able to dab silicone dust (from Tube tunnels) out of your nose with a handkerchief.  For British cultural geographers Heathrow and the surrounding area (where airport workers live) is one of the great stereotyped examples of a cultural bubble.

My personal experience supplies one marginal example.  When I returned to the US in December 2010, connecting through Minneapolis-St. Paul, I had an extended time gap between arriving and departing flights, which I used to take the Hiawatha line to see the new I-35W St. Anthony Falls bridge.  I feel I had a very constrained experience of Minneapolis and Hennepin County because I had to be back at the airport at a very definite time and did not have the freedom to go very far from a light-rail transit line, let alone anywhere in the county that I wished.  However, if I were keeping track of clinched counties, it would be unreasonable to use an airport layover criterion to exclude Hennepin County.

I think we're referring to two different concepts. You're using "layover" in the strict sense as the airlines would use it. While that is a correct meaning, I'm referring to it in the practical sense of asking what constitutes "enough" for purposes of saying you've "been" somewhere. In my view–others may disagree–my extremely brief 15-minute transit of a portion of the Salt Lake City airport is not enough for me to count Utah on any list of places I've been. But I'm not sure what would be "enough." Simply transiting Heathrow, even over a couple of hours, clearly isn't sufficient to say you've "been to London," especially since the airport isn't in London (thankfully, I have otherwise visited that city), but if you're there for a few hours I probably wouldn't quibble with the statement that you've been to England in some fashion.

In other words, I don't think 100% consistency necessarily works because to me there's some concept of "reasonableness" built in. I don't know where I think the line is, though.

Quote from: empirestate on December 11, 2013, 12:09:19 PM

Quote from: corco on December 11, 2013, 11:40:09 AM
In my eyes thats still better than an airport though- you at least get to see the surrounding counties and do a nearest neighbor sort of interpolation about what an area is like. If you fly into an airport, youre in this artificial microcosm that is completely different from everything outside of it.

For the record, I tend to agree with you on that. On my mob-rule county map I use a different classification for counties I've only visited via air- or seaport (i.e., a layover, or onboard a ship docked at port where I didn't go ashore). I've no current instances of this for the U.S., but I have some Canadian territory I've visited only via ocean-going vessels sailing inland waters, which I classify the same way.

But the quote I was interested by—and which I realize you're probably passing along as hearsay, so we may not get an answer from those who actually hold this view—was this:

QuoteThe idea is that you're in a secure transit zone that isn't really even under county jurisdiction.

That made me wonder, for those who use this criterion, would it count as a county visit for those airports the are under county jurisdiction?

Then somebody brought up O'Hare, owned by a city, which made me wonder if such a person would count this as a city visit but not a county one. And in the case of the NYC airports, owned by a bi-state authority, would it count as a visit to both states, but not to the underlying counties and municipalities?

A sort of corollary would be a foreign embassy or military installation...would a visit to such a place count as a visit to the home country? And/or, would it not count as a visit to the country hosting the installation?

But again, I myself tend not to count layovers, or at least I count them reluctantly and with a feeling of some dissatisfaction until I can return for a proper clinch of the territory.

To me, I'm not sure that county ownership even matters. If you're Larry Craig and you tap your foot the wrong way in the Minneapolis airport bathroom, you're going to federal court. If you buy alcohol in the Salt Lake City airport, you're following different rules than the rest of the county. I guess I see it as the court you end up in dictates where you are- so even if Minneapolis were owned by Hennepin County, you'd still be in some weird federal bubble, not in the actual county.

Very rarely is an airport you'd actually connect in owned and operated by a county straight up- it's usually an airport authority over which the county has some but not all jurisdiction. The ground may be owned by the county and then leased to the airport authority, but it's not owned and operated by the county straight up. A lot of smaller airports are- not so much the hubs.

Quote from: corco on December 11, 2013, 02:54:11 PM
Very rarely is an airport you'd actually connect in owned and operated by a county straight up- it's usually an airport authority over which the county has some but not all jurisdiction. The ground may be owned by the county and then leased to the airport authority, but it's not owned and operated by the county straight up. A lot of smaller airports are- not so much the hubs.

A counter-example to this is McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, which is a regional hub for several major airlines (including Southwest, the airport's largest carrier). McCarran is located in unincorporated Clark County and wholly owned and operated by the county. The airport is managed by the county's director of aviation, and operated under policy direction from the county commissioners--there is no airport authority board.

Rhode Island, New Jersey & Delaware for sure.

Possibly Nebraska too, but both times I was in that state involved crossing the Missouri at Sioux city and I can't remember if we ever used I-129.

Quote from: Buck87 on December 14, 2013, 04:19:24 PM
Rhode Island, New Jersey & Delaware for sure.

Possibly Nebraska too, but both times I was in that state involved crossing the Missouri at Sioux city and I can't remember if we ever used I-129.

It's actually difficult to visit New Jersey without being on an Interstate at some point. You'd either have to enter and leave in Sussex County, or have a destination just on the other side of one of the tunnels. (Or you took a train through, or you count Newark Airport as NJ.)

Based on the states you listed - Amtrak from Boston to DC?

Quote from: empirestate on December 11, 2013, 12:09:19 PM

QuoteThe idea is that you're in a secure transit zone that isn't really even under county jurisdiction.

That made me wonder, for those who use this criterion, would it count as a county visit for those airports the are under county jurisdiction?

With regards to airports, I fail to see how who owns or operates it matters. I count a county as clinched so long as I have been on the surface of the earth, in a vehicle on the surface of the earth, and/or on a structure on the surface of the earth somewhere within its boundaries. This means that yes, an airport layover absolutely counts as a county clinch.

Not that it makes a huge difference for me, though, since I don't fly much and there is only one county I claim to have clinched by airport only (Wake County, NC). Isn't even obvious on my map since I've been to a few adjacent counties by car.

Quote from: J N Winkler on December 11, 2013, 01:45:55 PMThese are both layovers.  To have been in London properly you need to be able to dab silicone dust (from Tube tunnels) out of your nose with a handkerchief.

So my trip to Central London on Tuesday doesn't count, because I crossed London mostly on foot* and above-ground Underground lines? :P

*I decided to clinch road, rather than rail this time (have toyed with Overground via Clapham Junction), and took this route (https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Park+Crescent%2FA4201&daddr=51.5182242,-0.1387631+to:51.5345188,-0.1385892+to:51.5145499,-0.1183012+to:Blackfriars+Rd%2FA201&hl=en&sll=51.524152,-0.141535&sspn=0.017249,0.042272&geocode=FUYvEgMda779_w%3BFRAbEgMd9eH9_ynbsrNaKht2SDF_8b0G_Q78bQ%3BFbZaEgMdo-L9_yknK3xFIBt2SDHDYj7koWx02Q%3BFbUMEgMd4zH-_yl_XZCxygR2SDHZbfvaD4YlGA%3BFfrkEQMdnWf-_w&t=h&dirflg=w&mra=dme&mrsp=0&sz=15&via=1,2,3&z=15) in order to fully clinch the A4201, A5204 and A4200, and add more to what I've done on the A400...

Quote from: Steve on December 15, 2013, 07:58:45 AM

Quote from: Buck87 on December 14, 2013, 04:19:24 PM
Rhode Island, New Jersey & Delaware for sure.
Possibly Nebraska too, but both times I was in that state involved crossing the Missouri at Sioux city and I can't remember if we ever used I-129.

It's actually difficult to visit New Jersey without being on an Interstate at some point. You'd either have to enter and leave in Sussex County, or have a destination just on the other side of one of the tunnels. (Or you took a train through, or you count Newark Airport as NJ.)
Based on the states you listed - Amtrak from Boston to DC?

Correct on Sussex County. It was the weakest of all my state clinches. On the way back from a family road trip vacation to New England we came across 84 and stayed in Port Jervis, NY. While there my dad drove us about a half mile into NJ so we could say we'd been there. Earlier on the same trip we went through RI, missing the interstates by entering at Fall River, going through Newport over to US 1, and staying on it all the way into Mystic.

As for Delaware, on another trip the year before we cut across its southwestern corner (stopping to eat lunch somewhere near Seaford) while driving from the Virginia Beach area to DC.

Quote from: Buck87 on December 15, 2013, 05:19:14 PM

Correct on Sussex County. It was the weakest of all my state clinches. On the way back from a family road trip vacation to New England we came across 84 and stayed in Port Jervis, NY. While there my dad drove us about a half mile into NJ so we could say we'd been there. Earlier on the same trip we went through RI, missing the interstates by entering at Fall River, going through Newport over to US 1, and staying on it all the way into Mystic.

Ah, you were on I-895. ;) (That's what would have connected to the stub freeway just north of Newport.)

I am glad that I don't have any "weak" state clinches, at least. Every state I've been to, I've also slept in at least overnight. Can't even say that of most of my nation clinches!


iPhone

Quote from: formulanone on December 10, 2013, 08:52:25 PM
Didn't we have a member here that waved their hand along a county line (not singling out someone, it's rather creative)?

This would be me and Jake. The story was that we were on a trip across western north Texas to pick up a bunch of counties, and of course looking for the most efficient way to snag every county reachable. The target in question was Rockwall County, and our plan of attack was, starting in Knox County, head south along FM 2279, which enters Haskell County and runs alongside the Haskell—Stonewall county line, and find a way to turn west on a county road or driveway to enter Stonewall County.

Unfortunately, we drove the length of the highway and found no such turnoff before FM 2279 curved back around to the east, away from the line. So we pulled over, estimating from the DeLorme atlas we had that the fenceline between the adjacent property and the ROW was probably the county line. So we walked to the fence and waved our hands over the theoretical line. I marked the county in a lighter shade of my "clinched" color on my mobrule map, with the legend "questionably clinched"; I would like to go back and definitively enter the county at some point.

QuoteSpend the night in the county? Or just taking a 20-minute nap?

This question is relevant for me, as my mobrule map has a category for "slept here". I restrict "slept here" to mean that I spent some portion of time asleep, in a building. This restriction is to avoid ambiguity when I nap in a car. It also resolves problems arising from Boy Scout camping trips I took when I was younger, not all of which I could remember by the time I put together my county map, and, in many cases that I can remember, the campsite was close enough to a county line to make it guesswork.

Quote from: Scott5114 on December 16, 2013, 02:06:05 AM

Quote from: formulanone on December 10, 2013, 08:52:25 PM
Spend the night in the county? Or just taking a 20-minute nap?

This question is relevant for me, as my mobrule map has a category for "slept here". I restrict "slept here" to mean that I spent some portion of time asleep, in a building. This restriction is to avoid ambiguity when I nap in a car. It also resolves problems arising from Boy Scout camping trips I took when I was younger, not all of which I could remember by the time I put together my county map, and, in many cases that I can remember, the campsite was close enough to a county line to make it guesswork.

I have a category called "Overnight visit", which is more or less the same...sleeping in a hotel would count as this, but if I passed through during the night on a sleeper bus, it just gets a regular "visited" designation whether or not I was wake. (I'm not too thrilled about counting counties that I passed through in my sleep, but it's equally unsatisfactory to have uncolored gaps in what's otherwise a line of clinched counties along a route. Plus, I can't always determine exactly when I passed through them and whether I was, in fact, awake or not–but I can be sure that I did get them.)

As an extra wrinkle, though, I would count an overnight visit if I, in fact, stopped in a county for the night even if I didn't actually happen to sleep that night. But, if the bus were parked for several hours in one spot, it wouldn't count as overnight, even if I were asleep all that time.

FWIW, I count all of my airport layovers because I still had unique experiences in each one. Rather than make some arbitrary classification to determine whether I was there or not, if I'm on the ground there, I count it.

My favorite layover stories:

International: I was in Incheon Interational Airport in South Korea for two layovers. On the first one, I was in a gift shop full of Hello Kitty merchandise (I love Hello Kitty). I noticed a rack of t-shirts and went over to look at them. The Korean lady working there noticed me, walked over, and said matter-of-factly "you're too fat!" I was so shocked! She was right, there was no way I was going to fit in any of those shirts, but I would have figured that out! It was the same honesty I noticed with other Koreans as well as the Vietnamese on my trip. Not meant to be offensive, just matter-of-fact and in simple English.

National: It was morning and I was layed over in Phoenix. I was pretty depressed and decided that I wanted a drink. I had just turned 21 two days prior and had not had a legal drink yet. I walked up to this "saloon" in the airport and ordered a jack and coke because it was the most "badass western cowboy" drink I could think of, lol! The bartender did not want to serve me because my vertical license was torn practically in half. I explained "your ID would be, too, if you've been the places I've been". He served me. I looked around at all of the decorations - animal skulls, cacti, etc. - when I noticed a wooden sign for Jerome, Arizona 5 miles. I asked if Jerome was a real place - the bartender said "Yes, but it's much further than 5 miles. More like an hour and a half away. It's the largest ghost town in America and an artist colony." My father's name was Jerome and he had passed away the year before. I was convinced that my father was "there" with me as I drank my first legal drink, and it was a great source of comfort in an otherwise crappy time in my life.


ETA; I only have two states at this point that are only clinched via airport - Arizona and Indiana. My first visits to Florida and California were also clinched by airport, but I've taken longer trips there since. I originally first clinched NH, OH, and WV via non-interstates. It's very likely that I first clinched PA and DE on non-interstates (I grew up 7 miles from PA) but I have no way of truly knowing.

Quote from: Scott5114 on December 16, 2013, 02:06:05 AM

Quote from: formulanone on December 10, 2013, 08:52:25 PM
Didn't we have a member here that waved their hand along a county line (not singling out someone, it's rather creative)?

This would be me and Jake. The story was that we were on a trip across western north Texas to pick up a bunch of counties, and of course looking for the most efficient way to snag every county reachable. The target in question was Rockwall County, and our plan of attack was, starting in Knox County, head south along FM 2279, which enters Haskell County and runs alongside the Haskell–Stonewall county line, and find a way to turn west on a county road or driveway to enter Stonewall County.

Unfortunately, we drove the length of the highway and found no such turnoff before FM 2279 curved back around to the east, away from the line. So we pulled over, estimating from the DeLorme atlas we had that the fenceline between the adjacent property and the ROW was probably the county line. So we walked to the fence and waved our hands over the theoretical line. I marked the county in a lighter shade of my "clinched" color on my mobrule map, with the legend "questionably clinched"; I would like to go back and definitively enter the county at some point.

Ah, that was it.

Quote from: empirestate on December 16, 2013, 02:51:03 AM

Quote from: Scott5114 on December 16, 2013, 02:06:05 AM

Quote from: formulanone on December 10, 2013, 08:52:25 PM
Spend the night in the county? Or just taking a 20-minute nap?

This question is relevant for me, as my mobrule map has a category for "slept here". I restrict "slept here" to mean that I spent some portion of time asleep, in a building.

I have a category called "Overnight visit", which is more or less the same...sleeping in a hotel would count as this, but if I passed through during the night on a sleeper bus, it just gets a regular "visited" designation whether or not I was wake.

Pretty much what I do; there's a separate category for the airport layover-only counties and those for overnight (whether living there for years, a week, or just spending one night). I suppose you usually have a meal, so that pretty much defines a basic tenet of "being there".

Quote from: Laura Bianca on December 16, 2013, 08:25:15 PM
International: I was in Incheon Interational Airport in South Korea for two layovers. On the first one, I was in a gift shop full of Hello Kitty merchandise (I love Hello Kitty).

Terminal 5 at LAX has a collection of the KH stuff; to the point my daughter wants me to keep going back to Los Angeles, because she think that's where it's made.

Airport terminals aren't always a drab collection of materials; there's some unique things about each one, and some have some local color and design, even if just the terminal artwork; FLL's brassy inlays on the floors, meant to resemble sand on the beach, and the coral designs on the walls; SEA's salmon, leading you to the water fountains...things like that. And I tend to strike up some conversations that you wouldn't necessarily get from a diner or from roadgeeking alone in a large enough airport, although some of it is the usual weary flight stories, travel tips, and how-to-get-this-from-that-airline tales.

That said, they're also places I'd like to visit just because they're big enough cities I'd like to see again one day from outside the fences.

Back to the original question:

I've been to 37 states (all except AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, ME, MT, ND, OR, RI, UT, WA & WY).  The only states that I've visited and not made it onto at least a little bit of Interstate pavement are MN (changed planes there in my only visit), NH, NV (taxi passed by a junction for I-15 in Vegas, but we never got on it), SD (crossed over I-29, but continued on SR-50), VT and WI. 

If the question is at the time of clinching the state, here are mine with where/route:

Alaska - Layover at Anchorage Airport July 1996 (Still have not been on any Interstate.)
California - Layover at LAX Airport July 1996 (Still have not been on any Interstate.)
Colorado - US 385 south of Lamar May 2004 (Since been on I-25, I-70, I-76, and I-270.)
District of Columbia - Amtrak train June 1985 (Still have not been on any Interstate.)
Kansas - US 83 from Nebraska to Oklahoma May 2000 (Since been on I-35, I-70, I-135, I-470, I-235, I-335, and I-435.)
Maryland - Amtrak train June 1985 (Since been on I-95 and I-395)
Minnesota - Layover at MSP Airport December 1994 (Since been on I-35, I-90, I-94, I-394, I-494 and I-694.)
Montana - MT 59 south of Broadus May 2003 (Still have not been on any Interstate.)
New Jersey - Layover at EWR Airport July 1995 (Since been on I-78, I-80, I-95, I-280, and I-295)
New Mexico - NM 128 east of Jal May 2006 (Still have not been on any Interstate.)
Ohio - Amtrak train June 1985 (Since been on I-71, I-74, I-75, I-76, I-77, I-80, I-90, I-275, I-280, I-471, I-475 and I-480.)
Pennsylvania - Amtrak train June 1985 (Since been on I-80, I-81, I-84, I-95, I-279, I-376 and I-380)
Tennessee - Layover at Memphis Airport January 1995 (Since been on I-24, I-40, I-55, I-75 and I-240)
Virginia - DC Metro Yellow Line June 1985 (Since been on I-64, I-66, I-81, and I-581.)
West Virginia - Amtrak train June 1985 (Since been on I-70 and I-79.)
Wisconsin - born March 1976 in Oshkosh (Since been on all but I-535.)

I once went to Bennington, Vermont via US 7 and have never been on an interstate in that state.  On the hand, there's Delaware, which I've gone through on I-95 and I-295, but Ive never been off the interstates in that state.

Quote from: vdeane on December 11, 2013, 11:33:36 AM
Culturally detached is an issue even with driving through.  For example, I only have Suffolk County, NJ because of the section of I-80 that barely clips the border.  When I clinched Fulton County, NY, it was only on Adirondack backroads; I never went near any form of civilization.  All of my more recent travels (as in, the ones where I was more than 5 years old) to Wyoming County, NY were entirely in Letchworth State Park.

I assume you mean Sussex County?  Suffolk County is in New York (and also Massachusetts).

Of the 35 states I've been to, I've been on an interstate in 27 of them. Of the remaining states, the only two in which I have significant mileage are Alabama and Florida. My visits to IA, AR, and MD were quick trips just to say I'd been there, I passed through NJ on a boat, and MI and MN are airport visits only.

(Yes, I realize this is a six-year threadbump...)

Never saw this thread until today.

Of the lower 48 states, the following states that I haven't been on an interstate would be:

Oregon: Was on U.S. 101 and U.S. 20 throughout the state
Montana: U.S. 20 for 10 miles (that could change this year)
Hawaii and Alaska: Haven't been there yet

Former states that would be in this list would include:
Kansas: First time I did this drive, I was on U.S. 66 through Kansas (have since driven on the interstates through Kansas)
Texas: Was in Houston a few times before the U.S. 66 trip made me go on Interstate 40
New York: U.S. 20 first time visiting New York (interstates after that)

I have been to 39 states

No interstates:

South Carolina - US 17 to Myrtle Beach and other state routes around there
Idaho -- ID 53, US 95, US 2, and ID 200
New Mexico -- US 160
Colorado -- US 160, US 491

Since my last post in this thread (6+ years ago), I've added one state (MT) that I've now been to but did not take an Interstate.  For that matter, I didn't take ANY highways...took Amtrak instead.

Only two for me:
NE: US-75
AZ: US-89
This is only because I visited a very small part of those two states.

Upthread (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=11070.msg263701#msg263701), six years ago, I said I didn't count states as visited solely on the basis of airport layovers.  Now I do, though I don't count the county(ies) the airport(s) is (are) in.  I have also since visited WI, AL, LA, and FL by car.  On that basis, I have visited 49 states (all except HI) plus DC, and have travelled on Interstates (counting unsigned ones) in all of them except GA.

Since my last post I've crossed off all the states I had listed. I've now been on an interstate in all 48 of the states I have visited. 

Ones that really count
Virginia – US Routes only (plus Amtrak)
Arkansas – US Routes and state highways only

Ones that probably don't count
Ohio – In transit on Amtrak only
West Virginia – In transit on Amtrak only
Georgia – Airline transfer only

Utah, Delaware, and Minnesota.

The only state where I've not traveled on an Interstate is Rhode Island; the sole time I went through there back in 1988 I came in from CT on US 1, cut across RI 138 to Newport, and left into MA on RI/MA 24.  Came close with NH, though; a couple of miles on I-95 NB heading toward Maine; cross-NH trips were done on US 2 and 302.  I do count unsigned Interstates, so Alaska's out -- and I have been on all the H-series in HI except H-201, which was commissioned after the last time I was over there. 

West Virginia and Texas

Delaware is the only one for me. Entered on US 40, left on DE 1.

No states, but one federal district. (out of 48+1)

Can't think of any, including DC (clipped a little of I-66 and I-395), and HI (was on part of H-1).  MO would be the only state, but I never left the airport.  Closest would be WV (I-81), and IN (I-70, part of which was duplexed with I-65)

Quote from: Eth on December 09, 2013, 10:06:11 PM
The only one that I'd say currently counts for me is Ohio - crossed the river from Parkersburg, WV on what is almost certainly OH 618 to visit a family member's workplace just a few blocks into the state, then returned to West Virginia the same way. I haven't been to Ohio since (this was around 1997 or so).

My first visits to Alabama and Florida (on the same trip) also did not include any Interstate travel, but I have since accessed the Interstate system in those states. Same for DC, where my first visit didn't involve any roads at all, but rather the Metro and my own two feet.

And since we've mentioned airport layovers, Texas and Colorado would fall in that category for me.

The only changes since my last post are in the airport layover category: strike Texas off the list and replace it with Arizona.

So it's still just Ohio when it comes to states in which I've been on any road at all.

I think it is only Utah for me, changing planes at SLC

Kansas is a maybe, but I still think I was on I-35 or I-435 at some point in KC, KS

Had to go back and look to see if I had answered previously. I had. Since then, I've been on interstates in Wisconsin, so Idaho remains the only state in which I've been in but never traveled on an interstate. I've since added California to my total of states visited, but was on I-80 and a couple of other Bay Area interstates when I was there, so it doesn't go on the list.

Been to 49 states and DC.  Been on interstates in all of them.

Interesting question, which is probably why there's been almost 20 replies since the bump earlier today.

I thought I had none (out of 26 states visited), but then I remembered Montana. I did quite a bit of surface traveling during my 2016 trip to Flathead County, but never came even remotely close to an interstate!

Colorado I've visited via an airport layover only, so that would potentially count as well.

I've been to 33 states (counting DC as a "state").  I have been on an Interstate highway in each of them, save for the exceptions below:

Colorado, Missouri, and Texas - Airport only; never left the building.

Iowa - only SR 165, in Carter Lake

Arizona - only US 93, near Hoover Dam.  (Note:  This was in 2008, prior to the completion of the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, when US 93 was routed over the top of Hoover Dam, and also prior to the I-11 designation)

So my answer is either 2 or 5, depending whether airport only clinches are counted.

I have a grand total of zero. I have been on a 2di in every state I have visited, to wit:


IA I-29
IL I-55
MO I-44
OK I-44
TX I-40
NM I-40
AZ I-40
CA I-40
NV I-15
UT I-15
CO I-70
KS I-70
NE I-80
WI I-39/I-90
MI I-69/I-94
IN I-80/I-94
OH I-70
PA I-70
WV I-70
MD I-68
VA I-81
DE I-95
NJ I-95
CT I-95
RI I-95
MA I-93
NH I-95
ME I-95
VT I-89
NY I-87
AR I-55
LA I-55
MS I-55
AL I-10
FL I-10
GA I-95
SC I-95
NC I-26
TN I-26
KY I-75
HI I-H1
SD I-90
WY I-90
OR I-84
WA I-5
ID I-15
MT I-90
ND I-94
MN I-94

DC I-66


Quote from: cabiness42 on December 09, 2013, 12:31:34 PM
I camped one night at Bear Lake in Idaho but was never on an Idaho interstate.

I camped one night at Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon but was never on an Oregon interstate.

Only foray into South Carolina was a few miles up US 17 from Savannah, GA, just to say I'd been to South Carolina.

Only trips to Nevada have been via plane to Las Vegas, so I've never driven anywhere in Nevada, but did ride a bus out to Hoover Dam.

My other 39 states visited have all involved at least some interstate highway travel.

Since this post, I have driven on interstates in South Carolina and Nevada, so just Idaho and Oregon now.

Two for me:
Maryland: Entered at US-301 at the DE border, left on US-50 at the DC border.
Wyoming: Been to Yellowstone NP, Grand Teton NP, and Jackson, crossing at West Yellowstone, MT or ID-33/WY-22.

A close call would be Delaware as I used US-13, DE-1, and US-301 to get through it, but I entered from NJ on I-295.

By the way, it's probably implied, but I'm not counting states where I've been only for airport layovers (those being TX, CO, and IL).

Quote from: doorknob60 on January 27, 2020, 02:17:23 PM
Two for me:
Maryland: Entered at US-301 at the DE border, left on US-50 at the DC border.

Did you follow the freeway from where US 301 and 50 merge on the eastern shore? If so, then you were on an unsigned interstate (I-595). The interstate designation begins at the MD 70 Annapolis interchange and extends to I-495.

I've been to Delaware via train from Philadelphia to Wilmington, but was never in a car within the state of Delaware.  So I haven't been on a road in Delaware, let alone an Interstate!

I'll format it in much the same way CtrlAltDel did:

CA: home state. all 2dis except for I-40 and all current 3dis
HI: I-H1
OR: I-5
WA: I-5
NV: I-80, I-580, I-15, I-515 (future I-11)
UT: I-80, I-15, possibly I-215
AZ: I-40
WY: I-80, I-25
CO: I-25, I-270
TX: I-35
IL: I-90/I-94, I-190
TN: I-65, I-40, I-24
KY: I-64, I-65, I-71, I-264, I-265, I-75, I-275
IN: I-65, I-70, I-69
OH: I-275, I-71, I-270, I-90, I-77
MD: I-95, I-495
DE: I-95, I-295
PA: I-95, I-676, then-future I-86
NY: I-90, I-190, I-290, I-88, then-future I-86, I-95, I-278, I-478, I-78
NJ: I-95, I-278, I-287, I-78, I-295
CT: I-95
RI: I-95
MA: I-90, I-93, I-95

I have very little memory of my 1992 DC trip other than going to Smithsonian and being driven down surface streets, so I can't quite tell if we ever used 395 to go to Arlington or if my family kept us away from the freeways on that one.  This also would apply to Virginia as well.

I suppose I can make a list as well, where a bold route denotes a clinch in that state:

AL - 20, 22, 59, 65
AZ - 15, 17, 40
AR - 40, 55, 555
CA - 5, 8, 80, 280, 305, 580, 805
CO - 25, 70, 76, 225
DC - 395
FL - none
GA - 16, 20, 24, 75, 85, 95, 185, 285, 575, 675, 985
ID - 15, 84, 86
IL - 55, 64, 70, 255, 270
IN - 65
IA - 29, 80
KS - 35
KY - 64, 65, 71, 264
ME - 95
MD - none
MA - 90, 93, 95
MI - airport only
MN - airport only
MS - 22, 55, 69, 269
MO - 29, 35, 44, 49, 55, 64, 70, 170, 255, 270, 435, 670
MT - 15, 90
NE - 80, 180
NV - 15, 80
NH - 95
NJ - boat only
NM - 25, 40
NY - 495, 678
NC - 40, 95, 140
OK - 35, 40, 44, 235, 240, 244, 444
OR - 82, 84
SC - 85, 526
SD - 29, 229
TN - 24, 40, 55, (69), 75, 124
TX - 10, 14, 20, 27, 30, 35, 35W, 35E, 37, 45, 69, 345, 410, 610, 820
UT - 15, 70, 80, 84, 215
VA - 395
WA - 5, 82, 90, 405
WY - 25, 80, 180

I've been to 13 states and DC. I've been on Interstates in all of them except VA, DC and NY. For NY, I've only been to JFK for a layover, and I've only used the Metro or walked in VA and DC.

Quote from: english si on December 07, 2013, 12:40:23 PM
I had a layover at Detroit Airport. Only time I've been anywhere near Michigan.

Didn't leave the airport though, so kind of a weak clinch!

I have been to the Miami International Airport about a dozen times, but never anywhere else in Florida, so, of course, no interstates. I have been to West Yellowstone, MT, but nowhere else in Montana, so, therefore, no interstate.

Been to 48 States, the only one I didn't touch an Interstate was Kansas since I was following Old US 66. 

Oklahoma and Kansas for me.

Looks like Idaho (clipped US 12, and had to head back to work) and Utah (still just airport-only visits) are my newest answers, since I originally posted.

I have been on Interstate highways in 45 other states.

Only state I've traveled through, without using an interstate....Kansas, last year (because I couldn't follow I-29, from St. Joseph, Missouri to Omaha/Council Bluffs, due to flooding along the Missouri River).

If I've been in South Dakota, I'm reasonably sure I wasn't on an Interstate there.

To answer this question another way, using a much more informal definition of "making it"...

There's only one state in which I've "made it" with my wife on an Interstate–and that's only if you count a parking area as part of the Interstate itself.  Missouri.  On all other states' Interstate highways, I have remained celibate.

Quote from: hbelkins on January 27, 2020, 04:08:11 PM

Quote from: doorknob60 on January 27, 2020, 02:17:23 PM
Two for me:
Maryland: Entered at US-301 at the DE border, left on US-50 at the DC border.

Did you follow the freeway from where US 301 and 50 merge on the eastern shore? If so, then you were on an unsigned interstate (I-595). The interstate designation begins at the MD 70 Annapolis interchange and extends to I-495.

I did, wasn't actually aware that designation existed, interesting. Probably a good call leaving it unsigned though, US-50 is a perfectly good designation (I feel the same way about I-580 in Nevada on US-395, but oh well).

Since I'm replying, might as well expand on my list:

OR: All (I-5, I-82, I-84, I-105, I-205, I-405)
WA: I-5, I-82, I-90, I-182, I-205, I-405 (only missing I-705)
CA: I-5, I-8, I-10, I-15, I-80, and too many 3dis to remember or count
ID: All (I-15, I-84, I-86, I-90, I-184)
NV: I-15, I-80, I-215, I-515 (been on what is now I-580, but was not signed at the time)
UT: I-15, I-80, I-84, I-215
MT: I-15, I-90
AZ: I-15
MA: I-90, I-93, I-95, I-495
RI: I-95
CT: I-95
NY: I-78, I-95, and probably a couple others on a bus traveling between JFK and Manhattan (likely 678 and 495)
NJ: I-78, I-95, I-195, I-295
PA: I-76, I-95, I-276
DE: I-295
MD: Unsigned I-595
VA: I-64, I-264, I-464, I-664
WY: None

Quote from: doorknob60 on January 28, 2020, 04:36:36 PM
I did, wasn't actually aware that designation existed, interesting. Probably a good call leaving it unsigned though, US-50 is a perfectly good designation (I feel the same way about I-580 in Nevada on US-395, but oh well).

I don't really mind having I-580 signed, but renumbering the exits on it was a dumb idea (even if required) because the freeway continues on to the north with US 395 exit numbers. In my opinion the 32-exit gap at I-80 is much more confusing for the average driver than whether or not there are interstate shields on the part south of 80.

I've only clipped Kansas and Illinois. Went through the old US 66 alignment through Baxter Springs, KS and crossed into Illinois from Cape Girardeau, MO to go the back way to Memphis.


iPhone

I've been on at least one stretch of interstate in every state I've been in. My most recent trip to WV involved only US-522, but on previous trips to the state I have been on I-64, I-77, and I-81

Every state that I've been to, I've been on an interstate in, with the exception of Arizona (airport layover).

When I first visited Kansas in 2018, I did so following old US 66, but then in December of 2019 I drove across the state on I-70.

My first visits to all of the northern New England states I'm fairly certain did not involve interstates, nor did my first visit to Illinois (via O'Hare, the CTA, and some state highways).

Mississippi:  Trip from Memphis to Tunica casinos didn't take me on the interstate.   

California:  Flew in to San Diego for a work conference and took Harbor Drive to downtown. 

Two states that I've traveled by automobile without using an interstate: VT and HI.

And two more if counting layovers: FL (trip to EC), CA (trip to HI). 

Quote from: BrianP on January 29, 2020, 05:19:59 PM
Two states that I've traveled by automobile without using an interstate: VT and HI.

And two more if counting layovers: FL (trip to EC), CA (trip to HI). 

You didn't use I-H1 when leaving the airport in Honolulu?

in 1992, I drove from Nampa, Idaho to Winnemucca, Nevada on US 95.  US 95 passes through the southeast corner of Oregon.  Obviously, There is no interstate highway in the deep southeast of Oregon (although I-84 was fairly close by).  In 1995, I drove from Death Valley to Sacramento by way of Beatty Nevada.  I went from NV 374 to US 95, until I got to 95A and went through Yerrington, Nevada.  Then, I turned left on US 50 and took it all the way into into Sacramento. 

I've been to Denver, CO, but only on a layover between Sacramento and Dallas.  I spent about an hour at the old Stapleton International Airport.  This was back in May of 1992. 

Quote from: kphoger on January 29, 2020, 05:35:37 PM

Quote from: BrianP on January 29, 2020, 05:19:59 PM
Two states that I've traveled by automobile without using an interstate: VT and HI.

And two more if counting layovers: FL (trip to EC), CA (trip to HI). 

You didn't use I-H1 when leaving the airport in Honolulu?

Perfectly plausible; when I went, my GPS routed me on HI 92 into the city (it was around rush hour, so traffic on I-H1 might have been bad). I did drive on the Interstates later on in my visit, though.

For that matter, he didn't say anything about being on Oahu at all.

I'll list my Travel Mapping (http://travelmapping.net/user/?units=km&u=7_8) mileage in each state where I haven't been on an interstate:

VT = 98.57 km / 61.25 mi (around Rutland/Killington and Jay Peak)
AR = 78.50 km / 48.78 mi (around Eureka Springs)
NH = 60.52 km / 37.61 mi (across Northern NH)
MT = 15.50 km / 9.63 mi (through West Yellowstone)
TX = 0 km (layover at DFW)

Quote from: Eth on January 29, 2020, 09:41:02 PM
For that matter, he didn't say anything about being on Oahu at all.

I assumed he flew into Honolulu.  I realize now that he might have simply transferred from there to another airport in Hawaii.

Quote from: kphoger on January 29, 2020, 05:35:37 PM

Quote from: BrianP on January 29, 2020, 05:19:59 PM
Two states that I've traveled by automobile without using an interstate: VT and HI.

And two more if counting layovers: FL (trip to EC), CA (trip to HI). 

You didn't use I-H1 when leaving the airport in Honolulu?

Nope.  I flew in directly to Kona.  It was supposed to be the same on the way back.  But the plane had a problem and couldn't fly over the ocean.  So they flew us to Honolulu where we had to catch another flight back to the mainland.

If I'm not mistaken, there are direct flights from the mainland to at least Maui and the Big Island.  Would not shock me if Kauai has direct flights as well.

Quote from: froggie on January 31, 2020, 10:58:54 AM
If I'm not mistaken, there are direct flights from the mainland to at least Maui and the Big Island.  Would not shock me if Kauai has direct flights as well.

Yep.  I flew direct from Chicago to Kahului. 

Quote from: froggie on January 31, 2020, 10:58:54 AM
If I'm not mistaken, there are direct flights from the mainland to at least Maui and the Big Island.  Would not shock me if Kauai has direct flights as well.

It does. One itinerary of mine from 2018 was Atlanta → LAX → Lihue → Honolulu.

I have passed through Vermont but entirely on US-7 and US-2.  That's the only one I can recall.

Quote from: webny99 on January 25, 2020, 10:16:42 PM
Interesting question, which is probably why there's been almost 20 replies since the bump earlier today.

I thought I had none (out of 26 states visited), but then I remembered Montana. I did quite a bit of surface traveling during my 2016 trip to Flathead County, but never came even remotely close to an interstate!
Colorado I've visited via an airport layover only, so that would potentially count as well.

Wow, I read the post above this one and did a double take: how could I miss such an obvious one?
Vermont counts for me as well.

I've been to 38 states and traveled on interstates in every one of them. In fact, I think I was on an interstate during my first visit to every one of them, except for Alabama, where I had a brief layover at Birmingham's airport on the way to Florida. I since made up for that with a couple of drives all the way down 65 to Mobile.

Come to think of it, I racked up first visits to a bunch of other states without seeing an interstate, only because the Interstate System had yet to be invented. I'm not counting them though. (Yes, I am that old.) I've returned to all at some point using the interstates.

Quote from: kphoger on January 30, 2020, 02:19:33 PM

Quote from: Eth on January 29, 2020, 09:41:02 PM
For that matter, he didn't say anything about being on Oahu at all.

I assumed he flew into Honolulu.  I realize now that he might have simply transferred from there to another airport in Hawaii.

Or used some other type of port altogether...

I've been in 45 states, but the only state where I don't think I've been on the interstate is Delaware. I only made it as far north as the Rehoboth/ Lewes area when I lived in SE VA, and the only interstates are in the north by Wilmington.

This question is more thought-provoking than it may seem. I've been to 47 states and it turns out that I've made it onto an interstate in every single one of them.  While I was doing the driving.  Thought that there might be a couple where that wasn't the case (MT, LA), but no - I-15 and I-10 respectively. 

Only ones for me are North Dakota, Montana and Idaho because I passed through them on the train.

Me?  Likely Texas - I was changing planes in both directions while on a roadtrip with someone else and never left the secured parts of DFW.

Mike

Alabama. Entered on US 43, left it via SR 207.

Looking back at this thread, I see I listed Alaska and Wyoming and then mentioned that I didn't think Utah counted because I had only passed through the Salt Lake City airport for about 15 minutes connecting between flights. I got back to Utah a few years ago via a rental car and didn't go anywhere remotely close to an Interstate as all the travel was in the far southeast corner of the state (Bluff, Mexican Hat, Monument Valley), so I can now list that state regardless of such questions.

Those are still the only three I've visited without going on an Interstate at some point, though. I guess technically in Wyoming I drove on the I-80 business route in Laramie, but I don't consider that a true Interstate.

Idaho (Amtrak; ID 53, US 95, US 2, ID 200)
New Mexico (US 160, NM 597)
Colorado (US 160, US 491)
South Carolina (US 17, SC 9, SC 65, SC 31, SC 22)

Quote from: 1995hoo on April 01, 2020, 09:21:59 AM
Looking back at this thread, I see I listed Alaska and Wyoming and then mentioned that I didn't think Utah counted because I had only passed through the Salt Lake City airport for about 15 minutes connecting between flights. I got back to Utah a few years ago via a rental car and didn't go anywhere remotely close to an Interstate as all the travel was in the far southeast corner of the state (Bluff, Mexican Hat, Monument Valley), so I can now list that state regardless of such questions.

Those are still the only three I've visited without going on an Interstate at some point, though. I guess technically in Wyoming I drove on the I-80 business route in Laramie, but I don't consider that a true Interstate.

In the course of answering the thread about states in which you've been on an Interstate and/or US highway but not a state highway, I noted my Travel Mapping log doesn't show any Interstate travel in Minnesota. I'm reasonably confident that's wrong because I'm pretty sure I remember riding in a cab on I-35W between MSP airport and downtown Minneapolis on a business trip in the summer of 1999, but I don't remember the route and the exits used, so I don't list it in Travel Mapping.


(edited to fix a typo)

Two states for me. Oklahoma and Kansas.

Only New Mexico for me.

Quote from: webny99 on January 25, 2020, 10:16:42 PM
I thought I had none (out of 26 states visited), but then I remembered Montana. I did quite a bit of surface traveling during my 2016 trip to Flathead County, but never came even remotely close to an interstate!

Colorado I've visited via an airport layover only, so that would potentially count as well.

Came back to this thread because of the "states where you haven't been on a state route" and realized an embarrassing oversight...

I've also never been on an interstate in Vermont. I've crossed I-91 in Brattleboro, but the rest of my travels in Vermont haven't even been near an interstate. So, my current tally is three states (CO*, MT, and VT). That aligns with my TM log, which shows interstate travels in 25 states out of 28 visited.

---

* I know airport layovers are a whole 'nother subject, but I do count my layover in DEN because we deplaned directly onto the ground outside and walked from there into the airport.

Hawai'i is my only one. I've only been on a layover there between San Francisco and Majuro, Marshall Islands.

Mine is Florida as I've only flown there. Same for Colorado. I drove down to North Carolina from the Hampton Roads along US 17.

Quote from: bulldog1979 on January 27, 2020, 07:27:18 PM
I've been to 13 states and DC. I've been on Interstates in all of them except VA, DC and NY. For NY, I've only been to JFK for a layover, and I've only used the Metro or walked in VA and DC.

I'm up to 25 states plus DC now, and I need to take VA off this list (used I-495, I-95, I-295 and I-64 in the state last December) and add several that I've only visited via Amtrak: IA, NE, CO, UT and NV.  NY is still an airport-only state, and DC is still a walking- and transit-only district.

Wyoming is the only real one for me, we visited Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Jackson, but no interstates.

Tennessee is close, I only drove on about 8 miles of I-40 between Foothills Pkwy and the NC State Line. Also Delaware I immediately exited I-295 after the Delaware Memorial Bridge onto US-13 to enter Maryland via US-301. The only place I've been in South Carolina is Carowinds on the border with NC, including less than a mile of I-77 before exiting at the first exit in the state.

If you count airport layovers (I don't count them as visiting, but "travel through" I guess could count), then you can add Colorado (DEN), Texas (IAH, DFW), and Illinois (ORD).

I am 100% confident that Delaware is on that list for me.  About 95% sure Nebraska is too.

That's it though.

The only state I have road mileage in but no interstates is Maryland.

I've been to Minnesota and Michigan by airport layovers, and I've only passed through New Jersey on the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. Obviously, no interstate mileage in those states.

Missouri is the only one for me, having never left St Louis airport.  Every other state (and DC) that I've visited, I've managed to hit at least one interstate.  I've clinched every mile of interstate in CT and DE.

New York and Minnesota. The former by the Lincoln Tunnel and Manhattan visit, the latter by MSP airport.

Kansas and Oklahoma. For Kansas I just clipped the SE corner by Baxter Springs. For Oklahoma I stayed on US and state highways.

My sole visit to Delaware was a trip from Philadelphia to Wilmington and back, via SEPTA.  I haven't driven on any roads at all in the state of Delaware.

Quote from: formulanone on January 28, 2020, 08:20:23 AM
Looks like Idaho (clipped US 12, and had to head back to work) and Utah (still just airport-only visits) are my newest answers, since I originally posted.

Still no new visits to Idaho, but visited Utah last year, so it's now 46 states that I've been on an Interstate.

Quote from: Rothman on January 25, 2020, 09:35:40 PM
Been to 49 states and DC.  Been on interstates in all of them.

Been to 50 states.  Only been on Interstates in 49 of them.  AK is the exception.

Idaho can come off my list, as I was on sections of I-184 and I-84, along with I-15, last year.

Add North Dakota to my list. We never strayed off US 2 on our trip last year.

Arizona: Layover at Sky Harbor
Nevada: Never got of the Las Vegas strip.
Alabama: Drove into state on US 72, turned around at the first exit.
Delaware: Walked around the Mason Dixon marker.

South Carolina for me

I've been on an interstate highway in every state among the lower 48 except Oklahoma. I drove across its panhandle once on US-54, and later that day passed through the very spot featured in the slide show on this site's home page.

My list as of this week, to be changed soon:

Montana - Only used US 2 and state highways
Utah - Light rail only
New Jersey - Bus and train only
Minnesota - Airport only
Texas - Airport only

Quote from: Rothman on August 19, 2022, 08:24:01 PM

Quote from: Rothman on January 25, 2020, 09:35:40 PM
Been to 49 states and DC.  Been on interstates in all of them.

Been to 50 states.  Only been on Interstates in 49 of them.  AK is the exception.

I'm assuming you don't count unsigned interstates because they're for sissies?

4 states for me.

Arkansas: I went on a day trip to Eureka Springs from Branson, MO (2 counties).
Montana: Stayed in West Yellowstone for a few nights on my 3-week road trip out west (1 county).
New Hampshire: On my Maritimes trip, we passed through Coos County on NH 26 (1 county).
Vermont: I've been several times to Vermont including skiing at Jay's Peak, Killington/Pico, and Okemo, and also drove through the northeast corner on a trip to the Martimes, but none of these trips were near an interstate (4 counties total).

Besides an airport layover at DEN, none for me.

Quote from: roadman65 on December 07, 2013, 12:22:28 PM
I am curious to know if anyone clinched any of the states, but never traveled its interstates.

I did Nebraska on a 01 trip, but only on I-129.  I never did I-80 or I-76 the state's two only2 digit mainline interstates.

I also, did Alabama and Mississippi the first time there in 91 en route from Florida to Louisiana where I did not travel I-10 in going.   Traveling back I did though use I-10.


I am looking mainly for first visits where you entered a state, but never got to drive its interstates when you did.  I counted NE for myself because I-129 from Iowa does not go very far into the state.   Plus it also does not connect to the rest of the state's interstate system either unless its via I-29 itself via Iowa.

Even leaving aside states that I have visited before the I-system was completed but never since and sections of roads that eventually became interstates:
I've been to West Yellowstone in Montana early I-system, but never on any roads that eventually became interstate
I've been to Miami International Airport in transito a bunch of times, but, never leaving the airport, so never on anything but airport property.
I've been to the San Juan Airport in transito numerous times. The one time that I stayed in town, I stayed at the Condado. It looks like I would have just been on a PR-route and not on anything in the I-system.

Briefly went into Arizona a few years ago to see Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon as part of a larger vacation; I came down from the north on US-89 and AZ-98, and left on US-89A and AZ-389.

The topic says "traveled through", so I don't see how an airport layover–even if you walked the tarmac from airplane to terminal, or even if you stayed in the hotel next door overnight–could count.

So, even though I claim to have been to Georgia by virtue of transferring at ATL en route from Chicago to Amsterdam, I don't claim to have traveled through Georgia.

With that in mind, I think my only such state is Arkansas.  The only time I've been there was our 11th anniversary, but we never left Carroll County and the extreme northwest corner of Benton County (coming down from Seligman, MO).

Closest would be for me both VT and NH.  Traveled mostly on the non freeways.

As an adult I have only driven a small part of I-91 in Brattleboro and never drove any interstate in NH, but was a child passenger on I-89, part of I-93, and the 16 miles of I-95 in that particular state.  I have drove NH 9, HH 101, NH 101A, and US 3 from Nashua to MA.

Got to be Delaware, driving back from Ocean City, Maryland to Manassas, Virginia.  Figured on at least seeing a bit of Delaware, but that seems to be all there is of Delaware.  Did US-113->Delaware/Maryland-404 back to US-50.  That was a 3rd of the state by road, which didn't take very long.

Quote from: kphoger on August 23, 2022, 10:33:31 PM
The topic says "traveled through", so I don't see how an airport layover–even if you walked the tarmac from airplane to terminal, or even if you stayed in the hotel next door overnight–could count.

So, even though I claim to have been to Georgia by virtue of transferring at ATL en route from Chicago to Amsterdam, I don't claim to have traveled through Georgia.

With that in mind, I think my only such state is Arkansas.  The only time I've been there was our 11th anniversary, but we never left Carroll County and the extreme northwest corner of Benton County (coming down from Seligman, MO).

Whoops, Virginia also counts.  My dad and I once traveled to Charlottesville by Amtrak, then rented a car at the airport and drove up to Shenandoah National Park.  We stayed at the lodge, did some hiking, visited the town of Fort Royal.  But we stayed between I-64 and I-66 the whole time, then took Amtrak back to Chicago again.

And, now that I think of it...  Would Ohio and West Virginia count for me?  The train passed through those states on the way out and back.  I traveled through them, even though I never set foot off the train in them.

Quote from: BlueOutback7 on August 18, 2022, 02:05:13 PM
Mine is Florida as I've only flown there. Same for Colorado. I drove down to North Carolina from the Hampton Roads along US 17.

Looks like I goofed up here. While I have been to Florida, I flew to West Palm Beach and have been on I-95 in Palm Beach County, so this isn't accurate. The only ones for me are Colorado and North Carolina. Colorado I flew into Durango, which is nowhere near any of the state's Interstates. For North Carolina, I was staying in Virginia and we drove down to the welcome center along US 17 for my first and only "visit"  to the state. New Mexico counts too via Four Corners Monument.

Quote from: kphoger on August 23, 2022, 10:33:31 PM
The topic says "traveled through", so I don't see how an airport layover–even if you walked the tarmac from airplane to terminal, or even if you stayed in the hotel next door overnight–could count.

So, even though I claim to have been to Georgia by virtue of transferring at ATL en route from Chicago to Amsterdam, I don't claim to have traveled through Georgia.

But you traveled through the ATL airport over the course of that trip. The airport is in Georgia. Therefore you traveled through Georgia.

Quote from: US 89 on August 24, 2022, 09:29:29 AM

Quote from: kphoger on August 23, 2022, 10:33:31 PM
The topic says "traveled through", so I don't see how an airport layover–even if you walked the tarmac from airplane to terminal, or even if you stayed in the hotel next door overnight–could count.

So, even though I claim to have been to Georgia by virtue of transferring at ATL en route from Chicago to Amsterdam, I don't claim to have traveled through Georgia.

But you traveled through the ATL airport over the course of that trip. The airport is in Georgia. Therefore you traveled through Georgia.

I think the distinction is about the word "through". If we wanted to get that technical, you haven't traveled "through" a state unless you entered one side and exited the other. By that logic I haven't traveled "through" South Dakota despite having been to Mount Rushmore, nor Maine, despite having been to Acadia NP. But of course, that's just silly.

Quote from: webny99 on August 24, 2022, 10:00:05 AM

Quote from: US 89 on August 24, 2022, 09:29:29 AM

Quote from: kphoger on August 23, 2022, 10:33:31 PM
The topic says "traveled through", so I don't see how an airport layover–even if you walked the tarmac from airplane to terminal, or even if you stayed in the hotel next door overnight–could count.

So, even though I claim to have been to Georgia by virtue of transferring at ATL en route from Chicago to Amsterdam, I don't claim to have traveled through Georgia.

But you traveled through the ATL airport over the course of that trip. The airport is in Georgia. Therefore you traveled through Georgia.

I think the distinction is about the word "through". If we wanted to get that technical, you haven't traveled "through" a state unless you entered one side and exited the other. By that logic I haven't traveled "through" South Dakota despite having been to Mount Rushmore, nor Maine, despite having been to Acadia NP. But of course, that's just silly.

I think kphoger's concern has more to do with the word "travel".  Clearly one can transit "through" Georgia, but were they really "there"?

Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 24, 2022, 10:02:24 AM

Quote from: webny99 on August 24, 2022, 10:00:05 AM

Quote from: US 89 on August 24, 2022, 09:29:29 AM

Quote from: kphoger on August 23, 2022, 10:33:31 PM
The topic says "traveled through", so I don't see how an airport layover–even if you walked the tarmac from airplane to terminal, or even if you stayed in the hotel next door overnight–could count.

So, even though I claim to have been to Georgia by virtue of transferring at ATL en route from Chicago to Amsterdam, I don't claim to have traveled through Georgia.

But you traveled through the ATL airport over the course of that trip. The airport is in Georgia. Therefore you traveled through Georgia.

I think the distinction is about the word "through". If we wanted to get that technical, you haven't traveled "through" a state unless you entered one side and exited the other. By that logic I haven't traveled "through" South Dakota despite having been to Mount Rushmore, nor Maine, despite having been to Acadia NP. But of course, that's just silly.

I think kphoger's concern has more to do with the word "travel".  Clearly one can transit "through" Georgia, but were they really "there"?

You haven't been to a place until someone politely tells you to slow down or "it's been fun, just not real fun".

Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 24, 2022, 10:02:24 AM

Quote from: webny99 on August 24, 2022, 10:00:05 AM

Quote from: US 89 on August 24, 2022, 09:29:29 AM

Quote from: kphoger on August 23, 2022, 10:33:31 PM
The topic says "traveled through", so I don't see how an airport layover–even if you walked the tarmac from airplane to terminal, or even if you stayed in the hotel next door overnight–could count.

So, even though I claim to have been to Georgia by virtue of transferring at ATL en route from Chicago to Amsterdam, I don't claim to have traveled through Georgia.

But you traveled through the ATL airport over the course of that trip. The airport is in Georgia. Therefore you traveled through Georgia.

I think the distinction is about the word "through". If we wanted to get that technical, you haven't traveled "through" a state unless you entered one side and exited the other. By that logic I haven't traveled "through" South Dakota despite having been to Mount Rushmore, nor Maine, despite having been to Acadia NP. But of course, that's just silly.

I think kphoger's concern has more to do with the word "travel".  Clearly one can transit "through" Georgia, but were they really "there"?

Is this like "if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to witness it, does it really make a noise?'

I don't come to aaroads to engage is such philosophical debates. :-D :-D :-D

Quote from: SEWIGuy on August 24, 2022, 10:13:33 AM
Is this like "if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to witness it, does it really make a noise?'

I don't come to aaroads to engage is such philosophical debates. :-D :-D :-D

I don't come to AARoads to see pointless nitpicking arguments about nomenclature, but it's what I see two-thirds of the time.

Quote from: kphoger on August 24, 2022, 08:40:40 AM

Quote from: kphoger on August 23, 2022, 10:33:31 PM
The topic says "traveled through", so I don't see how an airport layover–even if you walked the tarmac from airplane to terminal, or even if you stayed in the hotel next door overnight–could count.

So, even though I claim to have been to Georgia by virtue of transferring at ATL en route from Chicago to Amsterdam, I don't claim to have traveled through Georgia.

With that in mind, I think my only such state is Arkansas.  The only time I've been there was our 11th anniversary, but we never left Carroll County and the extreme northwest corner of Benton County (coming down from Seligman, MO).

Whoops, Virginia also counts.  My dad and I once traveled to Charlottesville by Amtrak, then rented a car at the airport and drove up to Shenandoah National Park.  We stayed at the lodge, did some hiking, visited the town of Fort Royal.  But we stayed between I-64 and I-66 the whole time, then took Amtrak back to Chicago again.

And, now that I think of it...  Would Ohio and West Virginia count for me?  The train passed through those states on the way out and back.  I traveled through them, even though I never set foot off the train in them.

If you took the Cardinal from Cincy to Charlottesville, you also passed through Kentucky. The train crosses the river in Cincy and follows the Kentucky side, and I think it crosses from Kentucky into West Virginia without going back into Ohio.

Quote from: paulthemapguy on August 24, 2022, 10:26:34 AM

Quote from: SEWIGuy on August 24, 2022, 10:13:33 AM
Is this like "if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to witness it, does it really make a noise?'

I don't come to aaroads to engage is such philosophical debates. :-D :-D :-D

I don't come to AARoads to see pointless nitpicking arguments about nomenclature, but it's what I see two-thirds of the time.

As per the MUTCD, please express this in a vulgar fraction. :)

Quote from: formulanone on August 24, 2022, 08:01:16 PM

Quote from: paulthemapguy on August 24, 2022, 10:26:34 AM

Quote from: SEWIGuy on August 24, 2022, 10:13:33 AM
Is this like "if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to witness it, does it really make a noise?'

I don't come to aaroads to engage is such philosophical debates. :-D :-D :-D

I don't come to AARoads to see pointless nitpicking arguments about nomenclature, but it's what I see two-thirds of the time.

As per the MUTCD, please express this in a vulgar fraction. :)

I don't come to AARoads to see pointless nitpicking arguments about nomenclature, but it's what I see two-damn-thirds of the time.

Quote from: hbelkins on August 24, 2022, 03:20:50 PM

Quote from: kphoger on August 24, 2022, 08:40:40 AM

Quote from: kphoger on August 23, 2022, 10:33:31 PM
The topic says "traveled through", so I don't see how an airport layover–even if you walked the tarmac from airplane to terminal, or even if you stayed in the hotel next door overnight–could count.

So, even though I claim to have been to Georgia by virtue of transferring at ATL en route from Chicago to Amsterdam, I don't claim to have traveled through Georgia.

With that in mind, I think my only such state is Arkansas.  The only time I've been there was our 11th anniversary, but we never left Carroll County and the extreme northwest corner of Benton County (coming down from Seligman, MO).

Whoops, Virginia also counts.  My dad and I once traveled to Charlottesville by Amtrak, then rented a car at the airport and drove up to Shenandoah National Park.  We stayed at the lodge, did some hiking, visited the town of Fort Royal.  But we stayed between I-64 and I-66 the whole time, then took Amtrak back to Chicago again.

And, now that I think of it...  Would Ohio and West Virginia count for me?  The train passed through those states on the way out and back.  I traveled through them, even though I never set foot off the train in them.

If you took the Cardinal from Cincy to Charlottesville, you also passed through Kentucky. The train crosses the river in Cincy and follows the Kentucky side, and I think it crosses from Kentucky into West Virginia without going back into Ohio.

And one reason I know this is because for years, there was a sign on US 23 in the South Shore area, not far from the U.S. Grant bridge into Ohio, that pointed the way to the "Amtrac" station.

I think the question is about whether one only used roads that aren't Interstates. Otherwise, I've "traveled through" Alaska without using an Interstate--at 30000+ feet.

Quote from: hbelkins on August 24, 2022, 03:20:50 PM

Quote from: kphoger on August 24, 2022, 08:40:40 AM

Quote from: kphoger on August 23, 2022, 10:33:31 PM
The topic says "traveled through", so I don't see how an airport layover–even if you walked the tarmac from airplane to terminal, or even if you stayed in the hotel next door overnight–could count.

So, even though I claim to have been to Georgia by virtue of transferring at ATL en route from Chicago to Amsterdam, I don't claim to have traveled through Georgia.

With that in mind, I think my only such state is Arkansas.  The only time I've been there was our 11th anniversary, but we never left Carroll County and the extreme northwest corner of Benton County (coming down from Seligman, MO).

Whoops, Virginia also counts.  My dad and I once traveled to Charlottesville by Amtrak, then rented a car at the airport and drove up to Shenandoah National Park.  We stayed at the lodge, did some hiking, visited the town of Fort Royal.  But we stayed between I-64 and I-66 the whole time, then took Amtrak back to Chicago again.

And, now that I think of it...  Would Ohio and West Virginia count for me?  The train passed through those states on the way out and back.  I traveled through them, even though I never set foot off the train in them.

If you took the Cardinal from Cincy to Charlottesville, you also passed through Kentucky. The train crosses the river in Cincy and follows the Kentucky side, and I think it crosses from Kentucky into West Virginia without going back into Ohio.

Well yeah, but I've clinched I-24 in Kentucky (and driven part of I-69 before it was I-69), so Kentucky clearly doesn't count for me.

---

Quote from: webny99 on August 24, 2022, 10:00:05 AM

Quote from: US 89 on August 24, 2022, 09:29:29 AM
But you traveled through the ATL airport over the course of that trip. The airport is in Georgia. Therefore you traveled through Georgia.

I think the distinction is about the word "through". If we wanted to get that technical, you haven't traveled "through" a state unless you entered one side and exited the other. By that logic I haven't traveled "through" South Dakota despite having been to Mount Rushmore, nor Maine, despite having been to Acadia NP. But of course, that's just silly.

Yes, the distinction is about the word "through", but not in the way you imagined.

In my mind, "traveling through" an area means that I engaged in some form of ground transportation between two points in that area.  It doesn't have to mean that I transited the entire state from border to border, but the number of locations I've been within the state has to be greater than one.

By way of analogy:  Imagine that you've never been west of the Great Plains before.  Your recently retired in-laws invite you and your wife to join them on a vacation in Telluride.  The four of you fly into Denver, rent a car, slip and slide your way over the snow-covered Rockies, and settle in at the ski resort.  Halfway through the vacation, your father-in-law talks everyone into taking a day trip down to Four Corners.  So you all head down through Dolores and Cortez, cross into the extreme northwestern corner of New Mexico, pay the entrance fee, park, and walk up to the monument.  You've been feeling sick to your stomach lately, so you immediately find the nearest bench and just flop down while everyone else takes selfies and shops for knick-knacks.  When they're finally ready to head out, you decide that you really shouldn't leave without actually stepping on the crossing point.  You stand up, head four yards over to the big circle and cross, and walk a tight circle around the center–three steps each in Colorado, Utah, and Arizona, before landing back in New Mexico.  You take your wife's hand and walk back to the car, and everyone heads back northeast to Telluride.  After the vacation is over, your co-workers ask you where-all you traveled.  And you tell them that, besides spending time in Colorado, you also took a hiking trip through Utah and Arizona.

Sorry, but I don't think that little walk around the circle at Four Corners counts as "a hiking trip through Utah and Arizona".  Have you been to those two states?  Yes.  Have you walked through those states?  No.  You've only been to one single spot in Utah, so you cannot claim to have traveled through it.

In a similar way, I don't consider my trek from one end of ATL to the other as "traveling through Georgia".  Rather, the airplane touched down at a single spot in Georgia, I never left that spot, and then another airplane took off from the same spot.  I've been to Georgia, I've traveled by way of Georgia, but I haven't traveled through Georgia.

I think the answer is none, but I've only been on interstates in Delaware and South Carolina between the state line and the nearest exit to it.

Quote from: 1995hoo on April 10, 2020, 10:42:43 AM

Quote from: 1995hoo on April 01, 2020, 09:21:59 AM
Looking back at this thread, I see I listed Alaska and Wyoming and then mentioned that I didn't think Utah counted because I had only passed through the Salt Lake City airport for about 15 minutes connecting between flights. I got back to Utah a few years ago via a rental car and didn't go anywhere remotely close to an Interstate as all the travel was in the far southeast corner of the state (Bluff, Mexican Hat, Monument Valley), so I can now list that state regardless of such questions.

Those are still the only three I've visited without going on an Interstate at some point, though. I guess technically in Wyoming I drove on the I-80 business route in Laramie, but I don't consider that a true Interstate.

In the course of answering the thread about states in which you've been on an Interstate and/or US highway but not a state highway, I noted my Travel Mapping log doesn't show any Interstate travel in Minnesota. I'm reasonably confident that's wrong because I'm pretty sure I remember riding in a cab on I-35W between MSP airport and downtown Minneapolis on a business trip in the summer of 1999, but I don't remember the route and the exits used, so I don't list it in Travel Mapping.


(edited to fix a typo)

Updating my answers above to add California. I've made two business trips there this year and not only did I not go on any Interstates, I didn't drive at all–I took the BART between the airport and downtown and primarily walked everywhere I needed to go.

Quote from: kphoger on August 26, 2022, 09:39:19 AM

Quote from: webny99 on August 24, 2022, 10:00:05 AM

Quote from: US 89 on August 24, 2022, 09:29:29 AM
But you traveled through the ATL airport over the course of that trip. The airport is in Georgia. Therefore you traveled through Georgia.

I think the distinction is about the word "through". If we wanted to get that technical, you haven't traveled "through" a state unless you entered one side and exited the other. By that logic I haven't traveled "through" South Dakota despite having been to Mount Rushmore, nor Maine, despite having been to Acadia NP. But of course, that's just silly.

Yes, the distinction is about the word "through", but not in the way you imagined.

In my mind, "traveling through" an area means that I engaged in some form of ground transportation between two points in that area.  It doesn't have to mean that I transited the entire state from border to border, but the number of locations I've been within the state has to be greater than one.

By way of analogy:  Imagine that you've never been west of the Great Plains before.  Your recently retired in-laws invite you and your wife to join them on a vacation in Telluride.  The four of you fly into Denver, rent a car, slip and slide your way over the snow-covered Rockies, and settle in at the ski resort.  Halfway through the vacation, your father-in-law talks everyone into taking a day trip down to Four Corners.  So you all head down through Dolores and Cortez, cross into the extreme northwestern corner of New Mexico, pay the entrance fee, park, and walk up to the monument.  You've been feeling sick to your stomach lately, so you immediately find the nearest bench and just flop down while everyone else takes selfies and shops for knick-knacks.  When they're finally ready to head out, you decide that you really shouldn't leave without actually stepping on the crossing point.  You stand up, head four yards over to the big circle and cross, and walk a tight circle around the center–three steps each in Colorado, Utah, and Arizona, before landing back in New Mexico.  You take your wife's hand and walk back to the car, and everyone heads back northeast to Telluride.  After the vacation is over, your co-workers ask you where-all you traveled.  And you tell them that, besides spending time in Colorado, you also took a hiking trip through Utah and Arizona.

Sorry, but I don't think that little walk around the circle at Four Corners counts as "a hiking trip through Utah and Arizona".  Have you been to those two states?  Yes.  Have you walked through those states?  No.  You've only been to one single spot in Utah, so you cannot claim to have traveled through it.

In a similar way, I don't consider my trek from one end of ATL to the other as "traveling through Georgia".  Rather, the airplane touched down at a single spot in Georgia, I never left that spot, and then another airplane took off from the same spot.  I've been to Georgia, I've traveled by way of Georgia, but I haven't traveled through Georgia.

I knew you'd have a thorough explanation and this did not disappoint. This makes sense to me.

Ultimately, I think what we're getting at here is that the thread title should say "been to" if we want it to be perfectly accurate, but almost 200 replies in.. no big deal.

I can only comment on this thread by technicality, my favorite!

I've entered Montana by like 2 miles when my family went to Yellowstone, and decided to see the north gate on US-89 and stop in Gardiner.

I also had a stopover once in New Orleans, Louisiana for about 20 minutes on the way home from the Bahamas on a trip with my high school band.

Quote from: hobsini2 on December 18, 2013, 09:39:30 PM
If the question is at the time of clinching the state, here are mine with where/route:

Alaska - Layover at Anchorage Airport July 1996 (Still have not been on any Interstate.)
California - Layover at LAX Airport July 1996 (Still have not been on any Interstate.)
Colorado - US 385 south of Lamar May 2004 (Since been on I-25, I-70, I-76, and I-270.)
District of Columbia - Amtrak train June 1985 (Still have not been on any Interstate.)
Kansas - US 83 from Nebraska to Oklahoma May 2000 (Since been on I-35, I-70, I-135, I-470, I-235, I-335, and I-435.)
Maryland - Amtrak train June 1985 (Since been on I-95 and I-395)
Minnesota - Layover at MSP Airport December 1994 (Since been on I-35, I-90, I-94, I-394, I-494 and I-694.)
Montana - MT 59 south of Broadus May 2003 (Still have not been on any Interstate.)
New Jersey - Layover at EWR Airport July 1995 (Since been on I-78, I-80, I-95, I-280, and I-295)
New Mexico - NM 128 east of Jal May 2006 (Still have not been on any Interstate.)
Ohio - Amtrak train June 1985 (Since been on I-71, I-74, I-75, I-76, I-77, I-80, I-90, I-275, I-280, I-471, I-475 and I-480.)
Pennsylvania - Amtrak train June 1985 (Since been on I-80, I-81, I-84, I-95, I-279, I-376 and I-380)
Tennessee - Layover at Memphis Airport January 1995 (Since been on I-24, I-40, I-55, I-75 and I-240)
Virginia - DC Metro Yellow Line June 1985 (Since been on I-64, I-66, I-81, and I-581.)
West Virginia - Amtrak train June 1985 (Since been on I-70 and I-79.)
Wisconsin - born March 1976 in Oshkosh (Since been on all but I-535.)

California now is off the never interstate list. I was on I-80 to Reno.

Quote from: webny99 on January 31, 2020, 05:15:27 PM

Quote from: webny99 on January 25, 2020, 10:16:42 PM
Interesting question, which is probably why there's been almost 20 replies since the bump earlier today.

I thought I had none (out of 26 states visited), but then I remembered Montana. I did quite a bit of surface traveling during my 2016 trip to Flathead County, but never came even remotely close to an interstate!
Colorado I've visited via an airport layover only, so that would potentially count as well.

Wow, I read the post above this one and did a double take: how could I miss such an obvious one?
Vermont counts for me as well.

Cross Vermont off the list: I traveled about 55 miles on I-89 yesterday.

That leaves Montana + Colorado (airport only) as the only states on my list.

Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on December 09, 2013, 12:31:34 PM
I camped one night at Bear Lake in Idaho but was never on an Idaho interstate.

I camped one night at Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon but was never on an Oregon interstate.

Only foray into South Carolina was a few miles up US 17 from Savannah, GA, just to say I'd been to South Carolina.

Only trips to Nevada have been via plane to Las Vegas, so I've never driven anywhere in Nevada, but did ride a bus out to Hoover Dam.

My other 39 states visited have all involved at least some interstate highway travel.

I hadn't updated this in quite a while. I've been on interstates in 45 of the 48 states I've visited, with Oregon, Idaho and Vermont being the ones with US/state highways only.

This applies to two of the more recent states I've clinched:

North Carolina: stayed almost exclusively within GSM National Park
Maine: traveled up NH-16 to get there and stayed close to the state border while in Maine

Update, down to 3 states. Vermont no longer applies for me now that I've travelled a small portion of I-89.

Quote from: 7/8 on August 23, 2022, 11:22:13 AM
4 3 states for me.

Arkansas: I went on a day trip to Eureka Springs from Branson, MO (2 counties).
Montana: Stayed in West Yellowstone for a few nights on my 3-week road trip out west (1 county).
New Hampshire: On my Maritimes trip, we passed through Coos County on NH 26 (1 county).
Vermont: I've been several times to Vermont including skiing at Jay's Peak, Killington/Pico, and Okemo, and also drove through the northeast corner on a trip to the Martimes, but none of these trips were near an interstate (4 counties total).

Oklahoma. 25 or so years ago, I drove up US-54 on my way from Tucumcari, NM to Wichita, KS.

Hawaii. I've only driven there on Maui, which has no interstate.

The only state I've driven less in is Alaska, since I've never been there. All other 47 I've driven through on interstates.

Hmm... I've got:

North Carolina (I don't count I-whatever it is they want to call US-17; not every road needs to be an interstate),
Georgia (conference in Atlanta, took Metra to get places),
Colorado and New Mexico (both briefly crossed into near the tripoint with Oklahoma),
Utah, Alabama, and Minnesota (airport transfer),
And maybe Florida (conference, depending on the exact route the taxi took between the airport and the conference center and where exactly I-595 ends)

Out of the states I have been to, there are these 4:

Kansas: Only been on K-27.
Maryland: Only been in the Capitol Heights metro station
Nevada: Only been on US 50
Oklahoma: Only been along the US 287 corridor

Quote from: Great Lakes Roads on January 25, 2020, 03:48:14 AM
Never saw this thread until today.

Of the lower 48 states, the following states that I haven't been on an interstate would be:

Oregon: Was on U.S. 101 and U.S. 20 throughout the state (Might change this year) Happened in July 2023 when I drove on parts of I-5, I-84, and I-405 as well as a clinch on I-105 and I-205.
Montana: U.S. 20 for 10 miles (that could change this year) Happened in July 2020 when I drove on parts of I-90 and I-15 as well as a clinch on I-115 and unsigned I-315.
Hawaii and Alaska: Haven't been there yet

Former states that would be in this list would include:
Kansas: First time I did this drive, I was on U.S. 66 through Kansas (have since driven on the interstates through Kansas)
Texas: Was in Houston a few times before the U.S. 66 trip made me go on Interstate 40
New York: U.S. 20 first time visiting New York (interstates after that)

Been a while since I've updated this list, but Oregon is the only state that I haven't been on an interstate...

Looks like I failed to update this list for myself. Idaho gets scratched off my list; I've been on I-15, I-84, and I-184.

North Dakota gets added; I crossed the state on US 2 and didn't venture onto an interstate.

I've been to far eastern Kentucky, which has no Interstates. That's about it. Honorable mentions include airport layovers I had in Colorado and Texas, as well as when I passed through a corner of Washington State on a ferry.

I have two states, all of them stretches!

When my family went to Yellowstone, we drove up US 89 to Gardner, Montana, and then turned around and returned to Wyoming.

I also had a layover in Louisiana for a return flight from the Bahamas trip my high school band went on.

Iowa and, if you don't count I-5 from the Oregon border to SR 14, Washington State.

I've been to DC. Can't recall if I was on any of their interstates. I was on a tour bus.

I have been on an Interstate in all 21 states I have visited plus DC.

Michigan: M-66 from the IN state line to Sturgis and back twice for lunch
Mississippi: US-82 from the AL state line to Columbus and back, just 'cause

Quote from: Great Lakes Roads on January 25, 2020, 03:48:14 AM
Never saw this thread until today.

Of the lower 48 states, the following states that I haven't been on an interstate would be:

Oregon: Was on U.S. 101 and U.S. 20 throughout the state Happened in July 2023
Montana: U.S. 20 for 10 miles (that could change this year) Happened in July 2020
Hawaii and Alaska: Haven't been there yet

Former states that would be on this list would include:
Kansas: The first time I did this drive, I was on U.S. 66 through Kansas (have since driven on the interstates through Kansas)
Texas: Was in Houston a few times before the U.S. 66 trip made me go on Interstate 40
New York: U.S. 20 first time visiting New York (interstates after that)

Updated this list (should've done this a while ago)! Hawaii will be off that list next month...

Montana and Hawaii are now the only two remaining states I've visited, but have also not travelled upon an Interstate.

Forgot about this thread:

Kansas (K-27)
Maryland (Capitol Heights metro station)
Nevada (US 50) I have traveled along I-15 through the state as of May
Oklahoma (US 287)

The remaining three states are the states I've spent the fewest time in.

My answer hasn't changed, since I still have Hawai'i as the only state where I haven't, but I was trying to think of the first time I visited states, and which didn't include an interstate.

Colorado (on foot at Four Corners. We then continued and I traveled on I-25 and I-76 later in that trip, but I had since ceased to be in Colorado at least for a few minutes between my first entry and leaving the state)
Hawai'i (only transited HNL)
Michigan (transited DTW)
Nevada (transited LAS)
New York (transited ROC)
Pennsylvania (transited ABE)
Tennessee (transited MEM)
Utah (on foot at Four Corners in 1991. Didn't return to Utah until 2005 other than a few circles around the quadripoint)
Wisconsin (on US10 to go to Prescott, WI from my home in Hastings, MN)

Quote from: JayhawkCO on February 29, 2024, 11:10:28 AM
My answer hasn't changed, since I still have Hawai'i as the only state where I haven't, but I was trying to think of the first time I visited states, and which didn't include an interstate.

In light of that...  I had probably driven all the way across Oklahoma a dozen times before ever using an Interstate in Oklahoma.  That's because those earlier trips were "all the way" across the panhandle.

Wyoming: I've only been to the Yellowstone/Grand Teton/Jackson area

DC: Entered via US-50, left via Amtrak

I plan to cross the entirety of Kansas this summer on US-400. I'll also pop into Oklahoma at the tri-point, though "traveled through" is a stretch for that. That said, I'll probably ruin it a few days later in the trip when I visit Kansas City and likely use I-435 within Kansas.

Close call for Delaware I suppose, entered via I-295 but I got off on US-13 and entered Maryland on US-301.

Tennessee is another close call, the only stretch is I-40 from Foothills Pkwy to the NC border.

Oklahoma - my wife is from a little town in Arkansas near the state line and far from any interstates, so we've  made a few trips over the border when we're there but never on an interstate.

Washington state - entered by plane, took public transit from Seattle airport to downtown and back.  I might have gotten in a cab at some point downtown but I don't think any freeways were involved.

I used to be able to claim Mississippi, but in 2022 I took I-10 into the state to get some crossings on the CSX NO&M Subdivision (and have since taken I-20/I-59 and I-22 in the state as well).

I believe the only states I've been to/through without using a (signed) interstate are Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Alaska.

None for me.  I've been to every state except Alaska and have been on at least one Interstate highway in all 49 of them.

Alabama, but it was an airport layover in Birmingham, with no road usage whatsoever.

I count airport layovers, so for me, that would be an airport layover in Minnesota (Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport). I still haven't traveled on any mile of road in Minnesota, let alone an interstate highway in Minnesota.

As for former situations: I was able to claim Vermont for a day until I took I-89 to get between Waterbury, Burlington, and Enosburgh. I also claimed Illinois because I had a layover at O'Hare in 2016, but drove on I-90 in Illinois in 2021 (and have since used a multitude of interstates in Illinois).

When I originally posted in this thread, it was January 2020, before I and my friend went on our 22-state journey from SF to Daytona Beach, Florida for the Coke Zero 400 in 2021.  With that in mind, I now have three states that qualify for this - all due to using US routes as part of long journeys in that 2021 epic roadtrip!

CA: home state. all 2dis and all current 3dis
HI: I-H1
OR: I-5
WA: I-5
NV: I-80, I-580 (driven it after the 580 signs came pu), I-15, I-515/I-11
UT: I-80, I-15, possibly I-215
AZ: I-40, I-10
WY: I-80, I-25
CO: I-25, I-270
TX: I-35, I-40, I-35E, I-10
IL: I-90/I-94, I-190, I-55, I-70, I-64
TN: I-65, I-40, I-24
KY: I-64, I-65, I-71, I-264, I-265, I-75, I-275, (then-future I-165)
IN: I-65, I-70, I-69, I-64
OH: I-275, I-71, I-270, I-90, I-77
MD: I-95, I-495
DE: I-95, I-295
PA: I-95, I-676, then-future I-86
NY: I-90, I-190, I-290, I-88, then-future I-86, I-95, I-278, I-478, I-78
NJ: I-95, I-278, I-287, I-78, I-295
CT: I-95
RI: I-95
MA: I-90, I-93, I-95
NM: I-40, I-10
OK: I-40, I-235, I-44
MO: I-44, I-55
WV: I-64, I-77
VA: I-77/I-81
NC: I-77, I-74, I-40, I-73
SC: I-95
GA: I-516, I-95, I-75, I-85, I-20
FL: I-95, I-4
AL: I-20, I-65
AR: I-40/I-55

KS: used only former US 66 (and Alt US 69 which uses half of its path)
MS: used only US 72
LA: used only US 79 or US 80