Most pathetic state clinches

[bugo]

As part of our honeymoon, my wife and I spent a night in Savannah.  We crossed the US 17 bridge into South Carolina, immediately turned around, are crossed back into Savannah.  Could not have been in the state longer than 2-3 minutes.

The first time I was in South Carolina was exactly the same way. I wasn't driving, so I tricked my then-future now-ex father in law into crossing the Talmadge Bridge and turning around and heading back south. When I moved to Savannah I went to South Carolina a lot so the clinch is no longer pathetic.

[froggie]

I highly doubt anybody here has done this, but a contender for the most pathetic state clinch would be clinching Vermont by entering on VT 26 then turning around.  This is even shorter than the Wilson Bridge cutting the corner of DC!

On a side note, I can neither confirm nor deny that certain members of this forum have clinched VT 26 by means other than driving, bicycling, or walking...

[bugo]

I highly doubt anybody here has done this, but a contender for the most pathetic state clinch would be clinching Vermont by entering on VT 26 then turning around.  This is even shorter than the Wilson Bridge cutting the corner of DC!

Any "turn around at the state line" clinch is pathetic. The TAATSL clinches don't count for the purposes of this thread.

[geocachingpirate]

This is rather pathetic.  I live in NC and I had never been in SC, so of course I wanna visit!  My family and I were visiting some relatives in Southern Charlotte and I urged my Mom to just keep going on I-77 into SC, we took the first exit, and came back into NC using SC/NC 51 (Pineville-Matthews Road).  My Mom what just wondering why the f*ck we did that, but I couldn't have cared less what she felt, I finally made it to SC! 

[froggie]

Any "turn around at the state line" clinch is pathetic. The TAATSL clinches don't count for the purposes of this thread.

My example isn't a TAATSL on the face of it.  It's legitimately traveling the FULL length of VT 26 (which is roughly 53 feet).

[The Nature Boy]

For the longest time, the farthest into Maine I had been was to Kittery. I've traveled across the state a lot more now but it took me a while to move past Kittery.

[Brandon]

My Massachusetts one is my most pathetic.  Entered from New York on MA-2, left to Vermont on US-7.  One small corner of one county in the far northwest of the state.

[hbelkins]

Any "turn around at the state line" clinch is pathetic. The TAATSL clinches don't count for the purposes of this thread.

My example isn't a TAATSL on the face of it.  It's legitimately traveling the FULL length of VT 26 (which is roughly 53 feet).

Aren't there some photos of that feat floating around somewhere?

[Truvelo]

As far as I'm concerned a clinch is a clinch regardless of how far into a state you penetrate. In the Utah example I mentioned I did step out of the car and set foot on the ground. That's enough for me.

[bugo]

Any "turn around at the state line" clinch is pathetic. The TAATSL clinches don't count for the purposes of this thread.

My example isn't a TAATSL on the face of it.  It's legitimately traveling the FULL length of VT 26 (which is roughly 53 feet).

Sounds like a good place to take my stick horse...

[bugo]

Has anybody turned around at a state line and later found out that the state line was incorrectly marked and you didn't actually enter that state? This is a poor example for this thread, but the Minnesota welcome center on EB I-90 is in South Dakota. I went on a trip with a friend and we stopped at the Minnesota welcome center and slept for a few hours...I thought I was in Minnesota but later found out I was actually in South Dakota.

[Jim]

I don't count this one as pathetic, but more as just unusual.  I am almost sure that my first time in British Columbia was on the Continental Divide Express Quad ski lift at Sunshine Village.  Most of the ski area is in Alberta, but that chair crosses into B.C. and back to Alberta on the way up.  I'm pretty sure I also was on skis in B.C. for parts of the runs off that chair.  Maybe this is more appropriate for a separate thread about interesting or unusual ways of clinching a state/province/country/county/etc.

[Kacie Jane]

I highly doubt anybody here has done this, but a contender for the most pathetic state clinch would be clinching Vermont by entering on VT 26 then turning around.  This is even shorter than the Wilson Bridge cutting the corner of DC!

Any "turn around at the state line" clinch is pathetic. The TAATSL clinches don't count for the purposes of this thread.

How might one define "at the state line" though?  (My U-turn in New Hampshire example wasn't actually a U-turn -- we made a turn or two and then turned around in a parking lot, but did just go back into Vermont the way we came.)

[TheStranger]

Both of mine come from my trip as a youngster (ca. 1998) to the Northeast:

- Pennsylvania via the short segment of NY 17 (I-86) that dips to reach US 220
- Rhode Island via I-95...while asleep

[wphiii]

This is my "clinch" of Kansas.

In fairness, I did stop and buy some souvenirs at the Route 66 store in Riverton and ate dinner in Baxter Springs, which is more than I actually did during my "clinch" of Alabama (driving through on I-10).

Oh, and airport layovers absolutely do not count unless you leave the premises of the airport while on the ground.

[noelbotevera]

When I was about 1 or 2, my entire family flew to Denver, Colorado, only staying there for a brief time. We caught another flight to Cheyenne when we were going to Devil's Tower. Not even a layover.

Has anybody turned around at a state line and later found out that the state line was incorrectly marked and you didn't actually enter that state? This is a poor example for this thread, but the Minnesota welcome center on EB I-90 is in South Dakota. I went on a trip with a friend and we stopped at the Minnesota welcome center and slept for a few hours...I thought I was in Minnesota but later found out I was actually in South Dakota.

I think this was an error by the contractors in Minnesota, or that part of South Dakota has been annexed recently.

[froggie]

Has anybody turned around at a state line and later found out that the state line was incorrectly marked and you didn't actually enter that state? This is a poor example for this thread, but the Minnesota welcome center on EB I-90 is in South Dakota. I went on a trip with a friend and we stopped at the Minnesota welcome center and slept for a few hours...I thought I was in Minnesota but later found out I was actually in South Dakota.

True, the Minnesota Welcome Center on I-90 is on the South Dakota side.  However, unless you made an (illegal) U-turn in the median, you would've had to enter Minnesota in order to turn around.

On a side note, one reason it's not in Minnesota is due to a rail line just over the border from South Dakota, and they wanted to capture customers who might turn north on MN 23.

[CtrlAltDel]

As far as I'm concerned a clinch is a clinch regardless of how far into a state you penetrate. In the Utah example I mentioned I did step out of the car and set foot on the ground. That's enough for me.

For me, it's a bit different. My rule is that to count as a clinch, I have to something relatively unique in that state. Driving through someplace doesn't count unless that road is somehow different from other roads. Airports don't count either, again, unless there's something relatively rare there. For example, my first time in Nevada was a layover at Las Vegas airport, which wouldn't count, except that there are slot machines there. After losing money for twenty minutes or so, I counted Nevada as officially clinched.

With that criterion, my weakest clinch is New Mexico. I've driven through a number of times, but for whatever reason, I've never stopped to do anything. I count it as clinched though, because I turned left in Albuquerque, but next time I'm there, I'll be doing something else a bit more solid.

[jeffandnicole]

Clearly, 'clinching' is in the eye of the beholder.  If I was in an airport for a layover, I don't see how using the bathroom and browsing my phone isn't a clinch, but playing slots is a clinch, but that's definitely a personal statement.  If I drove thru a state without stepping out, that's a clinch to me.  Think of Delaware: Most people are in the state for a whole 15 minutes.  Unless you have to stop at the Delaware Service Plaza, or eat or get refueled, there's no real reason to stop in Delaware. Same with any other small state.  But I would feel you definitely clinched that state.

[okroads]

From July 2005-July 2009, the only time I had been in New Hampshire was via I-89 South to Exit 18 (the 3rd exit) in Lebanon, then back north on I-89 to I-91, where I headed back south to I-90/Mass Pike. I was in New Hampshire just long enough to pick up a state map and fill up the gas tank.

[Pete from Boston]

I highly doubt anybody here has done this, but a contender for the most pathetic state clinch would be clinching Vermont by entering on VT 26 then turning around.  This is even shorter than the Wilson Bridge cutting the corner of DC!

Any "turn around at the state line" clinch is pathetic. The TAATSL clinches don't count for the purposes of this thread.

Ok, so we're going for the most pathetic that's not that pathetic.

[english si]

Oh, and airport layovers absolutely do not count unless you leave the premises of the airport while on the ground.

Who made you definer of 'clinch'? Who made you able to remove airports from states?

I have a stamp on an old passport saying 'DTW' - if I entered the US there, surely I entered Michigan as well? Yes it's pathetic, and many people wouldn't count it, but it seems to me that I was in Wayne County, MI to all intents and purposes, even if on the outward journey I didn't step outside.

While I stepped outside (oddly didn't get a high-spec gate), when internationally transiting via Bangkok the first time, I had a sticker saying that I wasn't in transit and didn't enter Thailand then. I wouldn't count that, but would the second time, when I took an internal flight from the airport, so entered the country - despite not going outside.

[theline]

My clinch of West Virginia was even weaker than the OP. I've "visited" the state just twice, once each way on I-70 during one vacation trip. I wish I could say that I had never stopped there, but my wife got a speeding ticket from the WV State Patrol on the return (WB) trip. We were coasting downhill at about 65 MPH, in the old 55 NSL days. I then had to take over the wheel and was stopped again that same day in eastern Ohio, while coasting downhill at 62 MPH. I got off with a warning, and spent the rest of the trip at 55. It was excruciating.

It's odd that I never returned to WV, since I've lived in Indiana my whole life and made many trips to the East and Southeast. I've been to all the surrounding states and done tourist activities in all. I guess nothing ever attracted me to WV. Maybe my one experience soured me on the state.

[tidecat]

My only visit to Texas has been at DFW.

The most pathetic county clinch is the roughly 1/2 mile of I-71 in Trimble County, Kentucky.

[thenetwork]

In the past, I've had a couple pathetic clinches.  For a long time, my only visit to Alabama was a very pathetic drive down US 72 from Tennessee until the first convenient place to turn around (so maybe 10 minutes in the state). 

I'm guilty of the US-72-to-clinch-Alabama drive as well! 

I also did the quickie clinch of Nebraska (at the time) by taking US-20 West one exit from Sioux City, IA from I-29 then coming back to continue my trek east.  I had since clinched all of US-6 in Nebraska when I relocated to Colorado.