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113 Hours, 48 States

Started by US71, June 05, 2014, 10:18:13 AM

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US71


How to drive 48 states in 113 hours.
I have to disagree with this: several states are hardly touched at all. US 71 at Texarkana counts as Texas, Downstream Casino counts as Kansas and Oklahoma, Four Corners counts as Arizona and New Mexico. 

Anyone have a better routing?

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Zeffy

Oh yes, let's barrel through NYC-Newark-Trenton-Philadelphia-Wilmington-Baltimore because you wouldn't hit traffic or anything in those areas. (Not to mention city street driving in DC before you swing on I-70 towards West Virginia)

Quote from: US71 on June 05, 2014, 10:18:13 AM
I have to disagree with this: several states are hardly touched at all. US 71 at Texarkana counts as Texas

Technically, though it is a cheat of a route, it does enter the Texas state limits, which the objective is to just touch the state so I guess you could count that as "touching".
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Jim

The linked article calls it "the most efficient drive"?  Really?  I'm pretty sure that until someone proves P=NP (which is probably doesn't) and a much more efficient way of computing this kind of thing is devised, or maybe a general purpose quantum computer can be built and programmed to do this, none of us will ever know the "most efficient" route for a graphs even orders of magnitude smaller than the one formed by all roads in the Lower 48.
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oscar

#3
Barry Stiefel actually did 48 states (but not D.C.) in less than 168 hours, depending on the exact times he crossed the California (state #1)/Nevada border on day 1, and crossed into Arizona (state #48) on day 8 at Four Corners, which are not noted on his website. This doesn't count the time spent from his starting point in San Jose to the Nevada border on day 1, his return from Four Corners to the Bay Area on days 8-9, or his side trips by air to Hawaii and Alaska on days 9-10.

He did his trip solo. His time included overnight stops as well as stops to refuel, and the lodging-hunting and traffic delays you'd expect here and there on such a long trip. 

http://www.barrystiefel.com/50_states_in_a_weeks_vacation/50_states_in_a_weeks_vacation.htm

The trip plotted by Stephen Von Worley, cited at the beginning of this thread, not only seems purely hypothetical, but also relies on multiple drivers to skip the overnight stops. It's unclear he'd factored in the bathroom breaks needed by all those drivers, unless he couid get them to synch those breaks with refueling stops. OTOH, he did assume a 55mph average speed, which would provide a fudge factor for refueling and other short stops. BTW, Stiefel reports an average speed of 47mph for the driving part of his tour, including overnight and other stops. Applying that to Von Worley's estimate of 124 hours (don't know where 113 hours comes from) would increase it to 145 hours.
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hbelkins

Quote from: US71 on June 05, 2014, 10:18:13 AM

How to drive 48 states in 113 hours.
I have to disagree with this: several states are hardly touched at all. US 71 at Texarkana counts as Texas, Downstream Casino counts as Kansas and Oklahoma, Four Corners counts as Arizona and New Mexico. 

So? Many of us count as visited any counties we've entered in this manner. Not everyone is as meticulous as James Schul, who doesn't count a county as visited unless he visits the courthouse.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

Brandon

Quote from: US71 on June 05, 2014, 10:18:13 AM

How to drive 48 states in 113 hours.
I have to disagree with this: several states are hardly touched at all. US 71 at Texarkana counts as Texas, Downstream Casino counts as Kansas and Oklahoma, Four Corners counts as Arizona and New Mexico. 

Anyone have a better routing?

Given that Four Corners is only accessible from New Mexico on a road that goes into both Colorado and Arizona, the only state one could get by going there and not driving into is Utah.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

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oscar

Quote from: Brandon on June 06, 2014, 01:29:28 PM
Quote from: US71 on June 05, 2014, 10:18:13 AM

How to drive 48 states in 113 hours.
I have to disagree with this: several states are hardly touched at all. US 71 at Texarkana counts as Texas, Downstream Casino counts as Kansas and Oklahoma, Four Corners counts as Arizona and New Mexico. 

Anyone have a better routing?

Given that Four Corners is only accessible from New Mexico on a road that goes into both Colorado and Arizona, the only state one could get by going there and not driving into is Utah.

But the route discussed upthread went to Four Corners after crossing Colorado, and exited (after a backtrack into Colorado) northwest through Utah, so both Arizona and New Mexico but not Utah would be its "cheats". 

Barry Stiefel's route went to Four Corners from New Mexico, via Colorado, and exited through Arizona, so Utah was his only "cheat".

BTW, I've never been to Four Corners. though I'm not above other kinds of "cheats".
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
http://www.alaskaroads.com/home.html

jeffandnicole

Quote from: US71 on June 05, 2014, 10:18:13 AM

How to drive 48 states in 113 hours.
I have to disagree with this: several states are hardly touched at all. US 71 at Texarkana counts as Texas, Downstream Casino counts as Kansas and Oklahoma, Four Corners counts as Arizona and New Mexico. 

Disagree with what?  The purpose isn't to take a week-long vacation in each state - it's to touch each state.  As long as he does that, it's a good route.

I would love to do such a trip myself.  I wouldn't be going for record time, and it would have to be a round trip.  I would like to include Alaska & Hawaii as well, which would mean a flight and car rental in each state (I've already driven in Hawaii, so the purpose of doing it again would be to say I drove every state in a single trip).  Heck, I wold like to incorporate driving into Canada & Mexico into such a trip as well...again, just to say I did it.

Most people, if I were to tell them I want to do such a trip, would simply say "WHY???".  And then probably quickly walk away from me. :-)  Heck, many people question why I drive from Jersey to Florida instead of flying.  Most people don't like roads.  Most people don't like flying.  But between the 2, looking at the distance, most consider flying the lesser of the 2 evils.

corco

#8
Yeah, it is what it is. If the person who took this drive started espousing their opinions on Texas and New Mexico based on their experiences during this drive, then they're idiots. If they want to say they technically entered those states for a brief period of time, well, that's accurate. Such a drive isn't necessarily my cup of tea, but if you take it on face value as what it is, it is that.

As long as they don't mix it up with pretending they've experienced each state- the drive itself is about the macro, the checklist of hitting all 48 states as quickly as possible, not any individual state.

Personally, I would separate this drive from any formal acknowledgement of entering a state. "I took a drive to hit all 48 states as quickly as possible" would have no bearing on whether or not I would say I have been to Texas.

agentsteel53

I think the average would get better than 55mph once the western states are reached.  do the northeast at night to avoid traffic.
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Mapmikey

Quote from: Brandon on June 06, 2014, 01:29:28 PM


Given that Four Corners is only accessible from New Mexico on a road that goes into both Colorado and Arizona, the only state one could get by going there and not driving into is Utah.

There is parking all the way around the monument area so you can drive in all 4 states by visiting the monument...

Mapmikey

jeffandnicole

So...just wondering...

If one were to take a drive to hit all 48 states as once, what would be their criteria for hitting all 48 states? 

If I did it, I would need to stop and take a pic of me in front of *something* that says I was in that state.  A Post Office with the town/zip outside, or a business with their address in front of it, for example.  I guess I could always stop at a gas station and get a gallon or more of gas, just to have the credit card receipt with the address on it as proof as well.

SSOWorld

How one claims to be in  a state/county/country/town whatever is a matter of perspective.  I've been in NYC, but I never got out of the car.  Does that not count?  Same for Reno, KC, Memphis, Baton Rouge and Jackson (MS).
Scott O.

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texaskdog

Quote from: oscar on June 06, 2014, 02:04:20 PM
Quote from: Brandon on June 06, 2014, 01:29:28 PM
Quote from: US71 on June 05, 2014, 10:18:13 AM

How to drive 48 states in 113 hours.
I have to disagree with this: several states are hardly touched at all. US 71 at Texarkana counts as Texas, Downstream Casino counts as Kansas and Oklahoma, Four Corners counts as Arizona and New Mexico. 

Anyone have a better routing?

Given that Four Corners is only accessible from New Mexico on a road that goes into both Colorado and Arizona, the only state one could get by going there and not driving into is Utah.

But the route discussed upthread went to Four Corners after crossing Colorado, and exited (after a backtrack into Colorado) northwest through Utah, so both Arizona and New Mexico but not Utah would be its "cheats". 

Barry Stiefel's route went to Four Corners from New Mexico, via Colorado, and exited through Arizona, so Utah was his only "cheat".

BTW, I've never been to Four Corners. though I'm not above other kinds of "cheats".

I say setting foot in a state counts, even if you can't drive there.

Alps

I've now "been to" all 50 states. "Being to" involves 2 of the 3: Staying overnight, stopping for some activity, or driving through a significant length of the state even if I don't stop. If I were to attempt an "all 48 states" challenge that hasn't been done, I would want to try "hit all 48 capitals." That changes the game - you can essentially reduce the problem to something solvable by finding the shortest links between pairs of nearby capitals and then running an algorithm over the network. Any programmers with some spare time this weekend?

oscar

The general topic of what it takes to "clinch" a state is related to the similar issue for county-clinching, which is discussed beginning around page 4 of another thread and probably in other places on this forum.
my Hot Springs and Highways pages, with links to my roads sites:
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corco

#16
QuoteThat changes the game - you can essentially reduce the problem to something solvable by finding the shortest links between pairs of nearby capitals and then running an algorithm over the network. Any programmers with some spare time this weekend?

Still the traveling salesman problem, we still haven't figured out how to do that by computer yet without just brute forcing it. With 48 cities you're looking at a novemdecillion of combinations. Your computer can't do that yet.

If you start restricting it to certain clusters, you'd either need to specify a city for it to enter whichever cluster which would really hurt the validity of the analysis, and you'd still have to account for every possible order of visiting capitals within the cluster, or once again specify the order your self which would still invalidate it.

Honestly, humans are pretty good at solving it ourselves (with this many cities but not so many cities as to blow our own minds, we'd probably be more accurate than any algorithm that could reasonably run with today's computers). I bet if a few of us came up with an alternative, we could compare the alternatives and get pretty darn close.

US71

Quote from: jeffandnicole on June 06, 2014, 03:22:20 PM
So...just wondering...

If one were to take a drive to hit all 48 states as once, what would be their criteria for hitting all 48 states? 

If I did it, I would need to stop and take a pic of me in front of *something* that says I was in that state.  A Post Office with the town/zip outside, or a business with their address in front of it, for example.  I guess I could always stop at a gas station and get a gallon or more of gas, just to have the credit card receipt with the address on it as proof as well.
Stop at the local c-store, take a dump, buy a soda or tea, get a receipt ;)
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sammi

Quote from: US71 on June 07, 2014, 10:41:37 AM
Stop at the local c-store, take a dump, buy a soda or tea, get a receipt ;)

"Counties I've taken a dump in:" :)

getemngo

Quote from: agentsteel53 on June 06, 2014, 03:06:10 PM
I think the average would get better than 55mph once the western states are reached.  do the northeast at night to avoid traffic.

I've heard a rule of thumb that, on a long roadtrip, you should expect to average no more than 60 mph once you factor in stops for food, gas, and bathroom, unexpected traffic, and construction. Of course you can change this a bit by driving way above the limit, and by using drive-thrus or packing your own food.

When Barry Stiefel visited 21 states in a calendar day, he tried to stay at 9 over, and he still "only" averaged 66 mph. Granted, this was in 2003 and some speed limits were probably lower.
~ Sam from Michigan

KEVIN_224

I feel so sad! The most states I've ever been in for one day? Seven. (CT/NY/NJ/PA/DE/MD/VA)

States I've slept in: ME/NH/VT/MA/CT/NY/NJ/PA/DE/VA/NC/FL/TN/OH/IN/IL
State lines I've walked across: VT<>NH (Brattleboro to Chesterfield) / RI<>MA (Pawtucket to Attleborough) / NY<>NJ (into Montague, NJ close to where I-84 just misses NJ) / PA<>NJ (Philadelphia to Camden via Ben Franklin Bridge)

No, I will NOT make a dumping list! Ha ha!!

Makes me wonder what would be the fastest way to touch the 6 New England states? Obvious starting points would either be Kittery, ME or Thompson, CT (touches both the RI and MA borders).

hbelkins

I think my tops for one day is seven. CT-NY-NJ-PA-MD-WV-KY. Also SD-NE-IA-IL-IN-OH-KY.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

Arkansastravelguy

11 for me, I-95 from Bangor Maine to Greensboro, NC


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corco

#23
8 for me if Canadian provinces count - WI->IL->IN->MI->ON->QC->VT->NH

Otherwise I'm struggling to think when I've broken six TN->KY->IL->MO->IA->NE, OH->IN->IL->MO->KS->CO, and AL->MS->TN->KY->IL->MO

Jim

We regularly do 10 states (plus DC depending on route) within a 24-hour stretch when traveling to Florida. NY-NJ-PA-DE-MD-DC-VA-NC-SC-GA-FL.

Without looking too hard, I'd guess my record is 12 plus DC on one of the trips from FL where we were aiming for the Springfield, MA, area instead.  So it's the reverse of the above, adding in CT and MA.  We've also occasionally clipped WV and TN on these trips, but on those, probably wouldn't have hit DE or NJ.

The rest of the country has states that are too big for me to expect to find another trip that included more.
Photos I post are my own unless otherwise noted.
Signs: https://www.teresco.org/pics/signs/
Travel Mapping: https://travelmapping.net/user/?u=terescoj
Counties: http://www.mob-rule.com/user/terescoj
Twitter @JimTeresco (roads, travel, skiing, weather, sports)



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