I have driven the entirety of I-70 (in both directions) and US 30 (westbound) in West Virginia. I've been to exactly two counties, both discontinuous and both in the panhandle. I have barely, and I mean BARELY been to the state, but I can count even though it makes me feel dirty. I did get out of the car to drain the lizard and purchase a Coke, and getting out of the car is a requirement for each new state I visit. I-70 is 14 miles from the Ohio border to the Pennsylvania border. US 30 is a mere 3 1/2 miles from the Ohio border to the Pennsylvania border. So I've driven approximately 32 miles within the state. I drove at about 75 MPH on I-70 and probably 65 or 70 on US 30. Add in my c-store visit and I've been in West Virginia for less than a half hour. And I've been to the state three times!
The clinching of both highways was also extremely lame, especially US 30.
Can anybody beat my pathetic clinching of the Mountaineer State?
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmob-rule.com%2Fimg%3Fs%3DWV%26amp%3Bru%3Dbugo%26amp%3Bgu%3D%26amp%3Bbu%3D%26amp%3Biu%3D&hash=5571d08856051d1cba3c1aae0e31b21ccae74d58)
Until a couple weeks ago, the only time I had been to Pennsylvania was on I-90 once, without ever exiting.
Until a year ago, I'd only been to Alabama once in 1994 (when I was six) when I was at a wedding in Pensacola and rode across the state line with my cousins to Alabama and promptly turned around, just so what we could say we had been to Alabama.
For now, my weakest is probably Mississippi. I've only clipped the very northeastern corner of Mississippi- came in on US 72 and left on US 45. I believe Mississippi is the only state in which I've entered without leaving the car.
How about I-94 in Indiana? Or I-90 or US 2 in Idaho?
The only parts of Montana and Idaho I've visited have been parts of Yellowstone.
This doesn't beat bugo's US 30 WV example, but AZ in my case: in on US 64, out on US 160. A total of 9.5 miles, excluding a few footsteps at Four Corners proper.
I imagine there's somebody out there who's clinch of New Mexico consists of the 0.9 mile of US 160 near Four Corners. Even if one drove up to the monument on the way, it's a total of about a mile-and-a-half.
Also nearby: the extent of my driving on Colorado...in on US 160, out on CO 41, a total of 14.5 miles. Aside from my flights through Denver airport, this is my only travel in Colorado.
The only times I've been in Minnesota or Utah were airport layovers, which I'm not even sure I want to count. Minnesota is especially embarrassing since I live a state over.
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). For Arkansas my first visit was just north on US 65 to east on US 82 on a loop out of Vicksburg with the primary purpose of saying I'd visited Arkansas. For Oregon, we crossed over into Astoria from Washington after a camping night near US 101 on the Washington side of the Columbia, but at least stopped for breakfast to make it somewhat less pathetic. I can't be sure of this one, as it would have happened long before I kept track of such things, but I bet my first trips through New Hampshire were just I-95 to get to and from Maine, and Delaware just passing through on I-95 also. Each can be done in, what, 10 to 20 minutes?
Fortunately, I've been able to come up with longer visits to each since those initial clinchings. In fact, I just looked and realized I've spent a night in all but Idaho and Nebraska, and Nebraska will be taken care of on a trip this summer.
I would have had a pathetic clinching of North Dakota a few years before I actually ended up making a more substantial visit. I was in Minneapolis for much of April 1997, but that's the month of the massive Red River flooding, and the weekend I had set aside for that ride was near the peak of the flooding (including the big fire in downtown Grand Forks), and I probably couldn't have gotten across into North Dakota if I tried.
This one wasn't the case for me, but I think one common pathetic clinch might be to take I-684 through the segment where it clips Connecticut without an exit. There's also the I-86/NY 17 dip into Pennsylvania, but at least there's an exit there.
My friend and I crossed the DRB from Delaware into NJ last summer (neither of us I believe had ever been to NJ). We stopped so she could use the bathroom then went back into Delaware permanently.
I-81 into West Virginia. One county clinched, and it's 26 miles. Seriously, with a 70 MPH speed limit that does not even last into Virginia, only 15 minutes invested, without exiting.
US 522 in MD (~2 miles total, part of it concurrent with I-70)
Edit: This wasn't the only time I was ever in MD, but it was the only time in MD that trip.
I've only been on US 58 and VA 70 in Lee County, Virginia. That is the extent of my time in VA, and I have zero time in West Virginia.
I count two counties in Texas entirely because of layovers at DFW.
If anyone ever managed to have their only time in DC be driving on the portion of I-95 that enters the district on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, that would be the ultimate example of this. Can't personally claim it though - not only have I spent a decent amount of time in DC through a combination of a school field trip and family vacation, I've never been on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
My most pathetic county clinch in the US is Sussex County, NJ. Only been in it on that portion of I-80 that dips though very quickly. If we include Canada, Frontenac County, ON has it beat: only been in it by boat.
My most pathetic state clinch is RI. Only been on I-195, RI 146, and a piece of I-95, and never got out of the car (currently the only state/province I've visited where that is true).
I have entered Utah for a total of 15 minutes at SLC airport. Flew in from Vancouver and rushed through to connect to a flight to Reagan (barely made it). It's too pathetic to count it as a state I've visited for normal purposes, but I guess for this thread I could list it. I'll remedy the situation this fall with a visit to the Valley of the Gods and the Moki Dugway en route from Albuquerque to the Grand Canyon.
For Minnesota, I have a minimal amount of road travel, probably less than ten miles. On one trip I flew into MSP for a business trip, took a cab to the hotel in St. Paul, and never went anywhere other than the courthouse across the street from the hotel. On the other trip I flew into MSP, took a cab to Minneapolis, and due to heavy rain used the skywalk between the hotel and the office I was visiting.
Quote from: vdeane on June 07, 2015, 03:26:15 PM
If anyone ever managed to have their only time in DC be driving on the portion of I-95 that enters the district on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, that would be the ultimate example of this.
I don't know any such people, but I'm certain there are a great many of them and that almost none of them, aside from members of this forum, realize they passed through DC.
I was riding back to FL from SD along I-29 when I crashed at a Motel 6 in Sioux City, IA. The next morning I had to cross the Missouri River just to clinch Nebraska as I have not been there yet. I ate a McDonalds right before US 77 crosses into Iowa for its very short tenor in that particular state, before continuing back on I-29 south.
Stopped to use a payphone on I-10 in Alabama.
For years my only time in Kentucky was a token cross of the bridge from Rain Man (yes, we all hummed) then back into Cincinnati.
Strangely, I have never laid over in a state I have not been to before or since by land (though I set foot in Portugal this way).
For a period of about 15 years or so, my only time in Pennsylvania came from entering the state on I-79 (I was visiting family in the Morgantown, WV area), turning around (probably at exit 1 in Mt. Morris; hard to remember, I was about 7 years old at the time), and going back to West Virginia. I've since visited the western Philadelphia suburbs as well as the Lancaster County area.
I've also gone through both Rhode Island and New York without leaving the car. At least in the case of Rhode Island I still traversed the entire state on I-95, and in the case of New York it involved driving on city streets through the Bronx thanks to my GPS attempting to route me around traffic.
My standing most pathetic clinch (unless you count airport layovers in Texas and Colorado) is probably Ohio, which I entered solely for the purpose of visiting a family member's place of business somewhere in Marietta, probably within a half-mile of the Ohio River (she lived across the river in West Virginia). That was about 20 years ago, and I haven't been back since.
Should layovers in airports of a state we never drove in, nor been on any road within, be considered a clinch of the state?
I know a bit off topic, and if you did pass through a particular state's airport, it would be far from pathetic, but I did not know in which topic to have a question about that in being not directly related to roads, but could have some of us talking about them if brought out which would bring roads into off topic. This here is somewhat on point as it is a question about the clinch part.
Quote from: noelbotevera on June 07, 2015, 01:01:32 PM
I-81 into West Virginia. One county clinched, and it's 26 miles. Seriously, with a 70 MPH speed limit that does not even last into Virginia, only 15 minutes invested, without exiting.
The 70-mph limit now does carry over into Virginia since sometime after the speed limit statute was amended in 2010.
I take VA is like Texas with two different parts of the state having different freeway maximums? Western VA has the 70 while Eastern VA has 65 similar to Eastern Texas with its 75 mph and Western Texas and its 80.
I count layovers at DTW as 'visiting Michigan'. To be fair, they weren't that short ones, and I made the effort to leave the air conditioned terminal...
...for 2 seconds. I literally walked out the door a step, then stepped backwards through the doorway.
And, in my favour, I hadn't gone through the border of the US at that point. I've slept in the state of Michigan, unlike my AZ clinch (that was an all-day trip from Vegas to the Grand Canyon).
Though that doesn't take the biscuit - I count Northumberland as 'driven through' in my English county clinch. 4 miles of road/10 minutes that I don't remember, but assume I went through, given I visited Birdoswald Roman Fort (a mile and a half outside the county).
I've clinched Saskatchewan by virtue of having left the Saskatoon airport and went for a 20 minute walk to stretch my legs. Weak sauce, but I'll take what I can get.
Quote from: roadman65 on June 07, 2015, 04:06:06 PM
Should layovers in airports of a state we never drove in, nor been on any road within, be considered a clinch of the state?
Different people have their own definitions. I know one person who doesn't consider a county officially visited until he sees the courthouse. For me, if I've physically been in a county or state, it counts, even if I just drove through and didn't stop, or drove there specifically to visit it and then turned around (I have a bunch of counties under my belt doing exactly that).
To answer Jeremy's original question, Nebraska. I have one county, that being Dakota. In on US 77, out on I-129, no stops. Honorable mention would be York County, Maine. That's the only county in Maine I've ever visited, but I have been there twice via different routes and actually stopped there during the Portsmouth, NH meet, although I didn't get out of the car because I got sick during the meet tour. Further honorable mentions would be Bear Lake, Idaho (drove through via US 89, but stopped) and Clark County, Nevada (had an overnight stay).
Someone who hits Connecticut via I-684 would be quite pathetic. No exits within the state and it's not even in Greenwich for 1.5 miles.
An interesting tidbit- I-87 gained its intrastate status only after it was moved off of I-684 and onto the Thruway
I have Mississippi clinched because I was in Memphis and drove down I-55 to MS 302 Goodman Rd and did a exit U turn before heading on to Texas on I-40 and I-30.
BTW, My layover clinches are at LAX and Anchorage.
I did the same thing with Mississippi by coming out of Memphis and turning around. One that I'm attempting on doing for an upcoming road trip, when the weather becomes alright and I get two to three days off is a trip out to Missouri. I'll be heading toward Joplin and saw that there is an exit just before the Oklahoma border off of I-44 (US 400 I think) and that a road turns off from that highway that reaches a point where Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma meet. The Kansas one won't count since I've driven I-70 across that state but I've never been in Oklahoma before. I hope on stopping at that point and walking into Oklahoma and then turning back, that's probably about as weak as it gets but at least I can cross that state off my list.
:clap: on the Okla, Kansas, Mo move.
Quote from: roadman65 on June 07, 2015, 04:17:16 PM
I take VA is like Texas with two different parts of the state having different freeway maximums? Western VA has the 70 while Eastern VA has 65 similar to Eastern Texas with its 75 mph and Western Texas and its 80.
This is getting off-topic, but your description is not really accurate. The statute allows 70-mph limits on all Interstates and certain other roads (essentially Interstate look-alikes, although that's an oversimplification). VDOT hasn't posted 70-mph limits on all eligible roads, however. In general, and again this is a bit of an oversimplification, rural Interstates are mostly posted at 70, urban and suburban Interstates are generally posted at 55, some heavily-trafficked rural segments are posted at 65, and areas between 55 and 65 zones are posted at 60. (Then there are some that just seem kind of random, like I-64 passing Charlottesville being 65.) The only non-Interstate posted at 70 is a segment of US-29 bypassing Lynchburg and Madison Heights, roughly from Amherst down to US-460. The 70-mph limits aren't really restricted by geography so much as they are by population and traffic volume. I-95 has 70-mph limits, for example, but only south of Petersburg and between a point shortly north of I-295 and just south of the Massaponax exit.
No non-freeway in Virginia is posted above 60 mph. For example, US-29 from Charlottesville south to Danville is generally posted at 60, goes up to 65 on the brief freeway-grade bypasses of a few towns (plus that 70-mph segment noted earlier), and then drops back to 60 between those.
For about ten years, the only time I had gone to the UP of Michigan was to cross the Mackinac Bridge, exit at US 2, and find a park near the bridge to snap some pictures. I have since spent a substantial time in the UP.
That's the closest I've got, not counting cutting a bunch of corners with counties because of where roads go (I-80 in Kendall County, IL, etc.).
Quote from: bugo on June 07, 2015, 11:52:21 AM
Can anybody beat my pathetic clinching of the Mountaineer State?
Certainly. I've only made one trip through the panhandle, you made three. :P
But that's not even my most pathetic clinch. The only time I've been to New Hampshire was on a trip to Vermont, and we drove over a bridge, made a U-turn and drove back. (Interestingly, I've been to Maine, but entered via Canada.)
Interesting thing you brought up. Maine has more Canadian Provinces as neighbors then US States. New Hampshire is Maine's only neighbor. You must pass through NH by road to reach Maine, or like you did enter from Canada, or fly into one of its airports.
Quote from: 1995hoo on June 07, 2015, 04:13:12 PM
Quote from: noelbotevera on June 07, 2015, 01:01:32 PM
I-81 into West Virginia. One county clinched, and it's 26 miles. Seriously, with a 70 MPH speed limit that does not even last into Virginia, only 15 minutes invested, without exiting.
The 70-mph limit now does carry over into Virginia since sometime after the speed limit statute was amended in 2010.
The 70 section actually continues all the way to just north of I-66 now. It goes down to 65 for a few miles until south of Strasburg when it goes right back to 70. I will add clinching I-81 in MD as it is only 12 miles (should I add in I-97 while I am at it? ;-)) .
I-24 in GA.
Though I have gone to Six Flags over in Atlanta before, but that's about it other than I-24.
My exposure to Georgia consists solely of I-95.
Thanks to the wonders of I-95, I have "visited" (but not stepped out of my car) the following states at least once:
-Virginia (visited Northern Virginia before though)
-North Carolina
-South Carolina
-Georgia
-Northern/Eastern Florida
My exposure to New York is piss-poor, as it only includes 4 of New York City's boroughs. I have never been to upstate New York once. I hope to add many more places to my visited list starting this year, but that may have to wait until next.
Mine is MO during 2 layovers at St Louis airport going to and from Hawaii. My first clinch of WV was heading west on US 340 and turning around in Harpers Ferry battlefield (I've since seen more on WV 9, US 11, and even clinched I-81 in WV. Other potential pathetic clinches: going from Hoosic Falls, NY to Williamstown, MA via Route 346 and catching US 7 in the SW corner of VT. Also the people who get off I-84 Exit 1 in NY and drive the couple hundred yards south into NJ to get gas. Last one: MD 896. Not even signed as you think you're crossing directly from PA into DE.
I've hit MN and MO only through airport layovers (twice at STL, multiple times at MSP), but never thought to walk outside...didn't want to deal with going through security again.
For those not involving airports, my lamest are probably Maine, Nebraska and Delaware. My wife lived in Massachusetts for two years before we got married, and on my visits there, I managed to get into all the New England states at least once. Maine was a day trip up I-95 where we crossed the border and went to the outlet mall in Kittery, which I recall is one of the first exits in the state. I've slept in every New England state except Maine.
Then I got Nebraska on a business trip for work. Needing to go to Sidney, NE, I flew from DTW into Denver, then drove up I-76 to Sterling, then used US-138 and a state highway to get to Sidney. At least I got to spend the night there, but went right back to Denver and flew home the next morning.
Delaware came on a summer family trip to the East Coast when I was 6 or 7 years old. I'm told we were there, but I have no memory of it. That trip was two weeks in the car because my dad was trying to hit as many Civil War sites as he could. I think that trip was Michigan to OH-PA-DE-MD-DC-VA-WV-PA-OH-MI, I think we may have clipped the corner of DE on our way from Philly down to the Baltimore-DC area. Not sure how we missed NJ, but I got that on my own later.
Quote from: vdeane on June 07, 2015, 03:26:15 PM
If anyone ever managed to have their only time in DC be driving on the portion of I-95 that enters the district on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, that would be the ultimate example of this. Can't personally claim it though - not only have I spent a decent amount of time in DC through a combination of a school field trip and family vacation, I've never been on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
Added bonus - since the WWB was reconstructed, you can now clinch D.C. by walking or biking across the bridge!
I have not one, not two, but three pathetic clinches:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmob-rule.com%2Fimg%3Fs%3DCO%26amp%3Bru%3D%26amp%3Bgu%3Dscott5114%26amp%3Bbu%3D%26amp%3Biu%3D&hash=ad4668974cc1cf0607ec225470dbcdc0d60d2076)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmob-rule.com%2Fimg%3Fs%3DKY%26amp%3Bru%3D%26amp%3Bgu%3Dscott5114%26amp%3Bbu%3D%26amp%3Biu%3D&hash=88ca08b3921673c80a5e39c7f8bc9e2bdcb4f7c5)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmob-rule.com%2Fimg%3Fs%3DWV%26amp%3Bru%3D%26amp%3Bgu%3Dscott5114%26amp%3Bbu%3D%26amp%3Biu%3D&hash=81a08cab2971be6fe0b7b20cbb394a7befceceef)
CO: Entered on US-287/US-385 and then turned around.
KY: Drove across the Ohio River bridge and then turned around.
WV: I-70 straight through.
Then there's Md. 896 (New London Road) in Cecil County, which links Pennsylvania 896 and Delaware 896. Not quite as short as clinching D.C. by crossing the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, but it's pretty short in Maryland at 0.2 miles.
Smallest/shortest state visits:
- Sole exposure to Montana is a hotel in West Yellowstone
- Sole exposure to Vermont is going up to the first exit and back in the dark of night
- Sole exposure to Maine is going up to the Kittery exit, eating, and returning (the day after Vermont)
First highway clinch in WV was I-70 and I wasn't back for five years.
There have been times where the family/I detoured into a state to get it on the trip but did more extensive travel later. First "visit" to Michigan was US 131 at the state line.
I have two pathetic Spanish province clinches. While I have travelled across Biscay, I have never set foot there. On the other hand, I barely entered Albacete province, but at least I managed to get off the car in it.
Quote from: Zeffy on June 07, 2015, 11:51:55 PM
Thanks to the wonders of I-95, I have "visited" (but not stepped out of my car) the following states at least once:
-Virginia (visited Northern Virginia before though)
-North Carolina
-South Carolina
-Georgia
-Northern/Eastern Florida
My exposure to New York is piss-poor, as it only includes 4 of New York City's boroughs. I have never been to upstate New York once. I hope to add many more places to my visited list starting this year, but that may have to wait until next.
That's a long way to hold it in!!!
I visited the four-corners monument once, and my only visit to Utah consisted on putting my hand or foot on that side of the monument. I think my car was parked in the Arizona quadrant.
Four Corners was closed when I went there in 2013 so I drove a couple of miles on route 162 just to tick Utah off my list :)
Other stupid clinches are Michigan (M-49 north to US 12 west to I-69 south) and North Carolina (US 441 south to US 19 north to US 74 east to I-40 east to I-26 east).
Indiana. Took I-70 westbound to the US-40 exit just inside the state line at Richmond, and turned around.
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.
It's easily Massachusetts for me. Someone was giving us directions for an exit in Providence that was only on 95 south and not 95 north. We crossed the MA line and made a u-turn at Rte. 123, which is the 2nd or 3rd exit in MA on 95. That's still the only time I have been to Massachusetts.
Quote from: cabiness42 on June 08, 2015, 09:01:59 AM
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.
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...
Quote from: froggie on June 08, 2015, 09:31:44 AM
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.
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! :awesomeface:
QuoteAny "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).
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.
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.
Quote from: froggie on June 08, 2015, 10:13:04 AM
QuoteAny "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?
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.
Quote from: froggie on June 08, 2015, 10:13:04 AM
QuoteAny "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...
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 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.
Quote from: bugo on June 08, 2015, 09:39:29 AM
Quote from: froggie on June 08, 2015, 09:31:44 AM
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.)
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
This (https://www.google.com/maps/dir/37.0804779,-94.6154968/36.9933475,-94.7407649/@37.0398499,-94.6910847,13z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!3m4!1m2!1d-94.7407806!2d37.0561528!3s0x87c80d397640898d:0xe5cc5cbd4d132660!1m0!3e0) 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.
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.
Quote from: bugo on June 08, 2015, 11:55:03 AM
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.
Quote from: bugo on June 08, 2015, 11:55:03 AM
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.
Quote from: Truvelo on June 08, 2015, 11:49:13 AM
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.
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.
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.
Quote from: bugo on June 08, 2015, 09:39:29 AM
Quote from: froggie on June 08, 2015, 09:31:44 AM
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.
Quote from: wphiii on June 08, 2015, 02:23:46 PMOh, 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.
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.
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.
Quote from: Jim on June 07, 2015, 12:49:38 PM
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.
Awhile back I picked up Ohio as a short diversion on a Pittsburgh trip. I promised my wife it would be quick (she knows better), and we zipped down 22 through WV and across the bridge into Steubenville. Making it legit, we ate at a Mexican restaurant (why else would one go to Ohio?), stopped at an Ollie's and then turned back around. I made sure to drive this bridge: https://maps.google.com/maps/myplaces?ll=40.357353,-80.606105&spn=0.000002,0.001635&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=40.357353,-80.606361&panoid=7bJg6k4CmnV4x099ZnprkA&cbp=12,301.83,,0,-0.79 (https://maps.google.com/maps/myplaces?ll=40.357353,-80.606105&spn=0.000002,0.001635&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=40.357353,-80.606361&panoid=7bJg6k4CmnV4x099ZnprkA&cbp=12,301.83,,0,-0.79).
For short layovers on flights, I spent time in Illinois running from one gate to another at Chicago Midway, although I don't really count it.
Quote from: english si on June 08, 2015, 05:41:52 PM
Quote from: wphiii on June 08, 2015, 02:23:46 PMOh, 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.
By my way of thinking, you were in Michigan. If you had dropped dead at that time, your death certificate would have issued by Wayne County. That's my basis.
My first ever trip into Iowa was to visit the MN-IA-SD tripoint when I was a kid. This served as my only visit to Iowa for 3 years, despite the fact my mother had 3 siblings who lived in the strip of Minnesota between I-90 and Iowa (and one of those had two different residences). I also remember 3 different visits to Ellsworth, MN as a kid, but never went south on MN 91 the one mile to Iowa. Eventually, we made the trip to Rock Rapids, IA, which is at least more substantial. It's odd now, because I have since visited 91 of Iowa's 99 counties, but that's my start on Iowa.
My first trip to Missouri was over the Brownville Bridge (US 136) and then north on I-29. I did stop at the 66 station/truck stop.
My only trip to Tennessee was to visit a friend of mine who then lived in Clarksville, working at Fort Campbell. I may be the only person whose sole Tennessee experience is Clarksville.
As for other people I know, I know one guy at work whose sole experience with Michigan was to exit at the Notre Dame exit on I-80/90, turn north til he went into Michigan, then turn around.
For a while, the only place I had been to in Michigan was Port Huron (by way of the Sarnia/Port Huron road meet). Then I added Detroit. The year after was the first year that I crossed a city line in that state.
My girlfriend's initial clinch of New York (and also the United States) was entirely on the St. Lawrence River. We couldn't land even if we wanted to, as she didn't have a passport or EDL.
Amtrak from NYC to Vermont, clipping an insignificant portion of New Hampshire.
Kansas -- from the Alphabet Loop to Overland via I-35, then cut back to MO.
I wonder if there's someone whose clinch of Texas rests solely on US 71.
Quote from: english si on June 08, 2015, 05:41:52 PM
Quote from: wphiii on June 08, 2015, 02:23:46 PMOh, 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'?
You are, of course, welcome to use an entirely different set of standards, as is the beauty of our existence, but my feeling is that an airport is effectively a sensory vacuum. It is largely devoid of the sights, smells, sounds, and people that make a place a place. You're still far more able to actually experience a place even by crossing 100 feet over an arbitrary line at ground level than you are by by passing through a hermetically sealed bubble that happens to be located somewhere. I mean, do you consider flying over a country as having clinched it? For all intents and purposes, airports are effectively an extension of the airplane, to me.
The test I try to use is asking whether I would tell someone "I have been to [given place]." For instance, if someone asked me "have you ever been to Michigan?" and my only response could be "Yeah! I spent a great hour and a half at the Starbucks in Terminal C at DTW!" ....I don't know, maybe that sounds a lot better to you than it does to me.
I've known folks to travel places for business where they barely leave a hotel/conference center/office park, "largely devoid of the sights, smells, sounds, and people that make a place a place." The same can be said for many an "all-inclusive resort."
All this stuff is subjective, and ultimately so meaningless that there is no reason to dicker over what someone considers sufficient.
My standard, FWIW, is that if you've been there, you've been there. Anything beyond that seems silly.
When I lived in Germany, I drove on Autobahn 6 to Saarbrucken (right on the French border) and got off on a local road that went through a residential area. The road had a traffic circle that was half in France and half in Germany. So I drove all the way around the traffic circle so I could say I was "in France" before getting out of the circle the same way I drove into it. Then I went home.
Pathetic clinches?
Now?
Landed in Oregon at Portland, never left the Portland area, but I did leave the airport and cross over into Washington.
Maine is close with 2 counties in 2010, but i did make it to the Falmouth spur.
North Dakota - no further in than I-29 and didn't have anything more than Fargo to start with.
Past?
* New Mexico - the 4 corners only - subverted in 2013 by a county in the southwest corner and later a paint=stripe of I-40 through the state.
* Deleware - only circled Wilmington - expanded in 2014 to clinch the other two counties and remainng Interstate mileage.
* I don't consider I-90 only in ID pathetic.
* Nevada - Clark County only in 1997 - expanded in 2009 to include Washoe and County and Carson City and later added the Kingdom of NYE in 2013.
* Maryland - one county off of the Capitol Beltway. Later added the panhndle (2009) and those bordering DE (2014)
*Pathetic non-clinch?: Well had the chance to but didn't go Vermonting.
Quote from: tidecat on June 08, 2015, 08:46:29 PM
The most pathetic county clinch is the roughly 1/2 mile of I-71 in Trimble County, Kentucky.
My most pathetic county clinch was witnessed by (and participated in with) Jake Bear. We were attempting to hit as many western North Texas counties as possible, so he had a fairly efficient route plotted that would allow us to do that. The route took us down an FM just east of the Stonewall—Haskell county line, with the idea being that we could turn west along a county road or a driveway and thus cross the plane of the county line. Unfortunately, we could not find such a road before the FM curved away from the line. We stopped, and, reckoning from the map that the county line ran along the edge of the ROW, walked over to the fence and waved our hands beyond it, so at least our hands could be in Stonewall County.
I still have that marked as 'questionably clinched' on my map because I have no way of knowing for sure if that fence was actually the line or not, and even if it was, my head never entered the county. I think Jake has returned and definitively clinched it since then.
Quote from: Zzonkmiles on June 09, 2015, 10:52:36 PM
When I lived in Germany, I drove on Autobahn 6 to Saarbrucken (right on the French border) and got off on a local road that went through a residential area. The road had a traffic circle that was half in France and half in Germany. So I drove all the way around the traffic circle so I could say I was "in France" before getting out of the circle the same way I drove into it. Then I went home.
How did this work before Schengen ?
Stopped at the Mason Dixon marker at Delaware's Southwest corner. Got out of the car an walked around it.
My rule of thumb was: if you're counting countries, airport layovers won't count if you don't pass through customs. For states/counties, an airport layover in the U.S. most certainly would count.
Besides, I've done many out-and-back trips to clinch counties or states. In my 48-state trip around the country I entered Iowa via a dirt road for just a few hundred feet before turning around. I couldn't even guess at how many counties I initially clinched just by passing a few yards to a few miles past the sign/line and then turning back.
Since I've been to all 48 states now extensively, there isn't one state that I've been in 'only a little'. Even North Dakota, a state I've rarely been in, included a trip as a kid through I-29 to Grand Forks to US2 west and then north to International Peace Gardens, as well as several trips across I-94 and twice I took US12, once turning south at Bowman, ND and the other going east on 12 until reaching Mobridge, SD and continued further east.
Next year, I'm planning to finish clinching Montana as well as the northern counties of North Dakota that I've missed, as well as northern MN, WI, and the U.P. of Michigan.
Colorado... at the Four Corners Monument
For me so far it's been 5 states crossed in one day. Started in Texas, cross over in through Louisiana, passed through Mississippi then on through Alabama then ending up in Florida.
Oh and by the way the drive was terrible, just terrible and nasty, did it once and only once and will definitely not ever do that drive again, ever!
I just realized - a pathetic clinch i might have is Sonora, Mexico - entered on Mex 2D to San Luis Rio Colorado, then exit at the US-95 Border Crossing
I have a meeting in Minneapolis a week from Monday. I'm actually flying out there on Saturday, so that I can "play" on Sunday.
One of the possibilities for such "play": running over to visit White Rock, SD, and maybe venture just a smidgen north, to finally be able to say that I've set foot in the Dakotas.
The first time I was in Kansas was for a grand total of less than a minute during a family vacation to the Kansas City area in 1987. My dad turned around at the I-435/State Line Road interchange. My next trip to the Sunflower State was not until the Topeka roadgeek meet of 2003.
So far, my only times in Georgia and Michigan were airport layovers in ATL and DTW respectively. But I have purchased items in both airports.
My saddest clinch was taking a taxi from Eppley Airfield to downtown Omaha, clipping Iowa by passing through Carter Lake. (I've since made a few more treks through the state.)
Maryland - I crossed from WV to PA via one of the skinniest parts.
Alabama - Went to see my son's boot camp graduation in GA, and crossed the river to go out for dinner.
Quote from: Sykotyk on June 12, 2015, 06:30:01 PM
My rule of thumb was: if you're counting countries, airport layovers won't count if you don't pass through customs. For states/counties, an airport layover in the U.S. most certainly would count.
Would that mean you could theoretically clinch a state/county without clinching the country it's in?
Georgia: I've only ever passed through on I-95
Montana: I've only been to Big Horn County to visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield
Nevada: I've only been to Las Vegas (Clark County)
Louisiana: I've only been to New Orleans, but managed to pick up Orleans and Jefferson Parishes due to the airport being in Jefferson Parish
Alabama: took I-20 from Atlanta and turned around at the first exit (there was a big, but closed, fireworks store there)
Oklahoma: same thing - took US 75 from Dallas and turned around at the first exit
Michigan - DTW
Minnesota - MSP
Both for the same trip to China actually
I-94 in Indiana. :sombrero:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.sammdot.ca%2F23bab99c.png&hash=dc552d26e3754244a0144f3d8a9cdfba89e598d7)
Quote from: intelati49 on June 18, 2015, 09:13:42 AM
Michigan - DTW
Minnesota - MSP
Both for the same trip to China actually
You should do a write up on your trip to China...about the roads and China in general.
Arkansas may be my most pathetic clinch. Into the state on I-55 in West Memphis and then back across the Mississippi River into Tennessee on I-40.
SCH-I545
Quote from: Dougtone on June 18, 2015, 04:18:53 PM
Arkansas may be my most pathetic clinch. Into the state on I-55 in West Memphis and then back across the Mississippi River into Tennessee on I-40.
SCH-I545
I should also note that I am not judging all of Arkansas just on West Memphis. I am sure that it's more interesting than that.
SCH-I545
Quote from: Dougtone on June 18, 2015, 04:18:53 PM
Arkansas may be my most pathetic clinch. Into the state on I-55 in West Memphis and then back across the Mississippi River into Tennessee on I-40.
As an Arkansas native, I would like to apologize to you for your first visit to the Natural State to be to the shithole known as West Memphis. It is truly a horrible place and not indicative of the rest of the state. If somebody who knew nothing about Arkansas visited West Memphis as their first visit to the state they would think of Arkansas as a flat, ugly, crime ridden hellhole. The truth is, and I know Doug is well aware of this, is that Arkansas has some absolutely gorgeous areas and most of the state doesn't have the crushing poverty that the Delta area has (even though Arkansas is a mostly poor state). If you had visited, say Fayetteville, for the first time, I'm sure your opinion of the state would be a lot different. West Memphis is somewhat typical of the southeastern half of the state, but the northwest half (I-30/US 67 is a rough dividing line) is completely different. The Ouachitas and Ozarks are beautiful areas and I would put them up there with the scenery of anywhere in the world.
My only experience with West Memphis is the big commercial "highway business" area between the two interstate splits. I've never been to the town itself so I don't know what I'm missing.
My worst is New Jersey, went just a few hundred yards into it on NJ 23 just south of I-84's Port Jervis, NY exit
2nd worse would be North Dakota, went all of about 2 miles into it, though at least it was was while riding around and eating lunch in the state's largest city.
For the longest time, my only step into Michigan was a short drive from the Indiana Toll Road into Sturgis. We were returning to our New England home from Utah from vacation and my father just decided to take us over the border since we hadn't been to Michigan as a family yet.
Come to think of it, the next time I was in Michigan was during a snowstorm where my wife, kids and I had to stay overnight due to flights being grounded. Never got out of Wayne County, I don't think.
However, I've basically done significant stomping in all of the 49 states that I've visited now. Still waiting to get to Alaska.
Until just this past January my West Virginia clinch was even more pathetic than Bugo's; I had only been across the tip on I-70 and only eastbound way back in 1977 as a child passenger.
That was rectified by a trip up the WVa Tpke this year.
Quote from: Scott5114 on June 16, 2015, 06:31:17 PM
Quote from: Sykotyk on June 12, 2015, 06:30:01 PM
My rule of thumb was: if you're counting countries, airport layovers won't count if you don't pass through customs. For states/counties, an airport layover in the U.S. most certainly would count.
Would that mean you could theoretically clinch a state/county without clinching the country it's in?
Well, if you're an American, the point is moot. If you're an international simply changing planes at a U.S. airport, then technically yes I could say that. But, then you wouldn't really be able to count many counties as there's only so many international airports that you can get to without leaving customs to get another flight out.
My most recent visit to Michigan was to drop off a train crew less than a mile across the border from Ohio. I think I was in the Great Lakes State for less than ten minutes.
But of course, I've been into Michigan before, far enough to get a handful of non-border counties...
I should have worded this topic "Most pathetic state clinches where you enter at one point and exit at a different point" eliminating "turning around at the state line clinches" which are inherently pathetic.
Quote from: Truvelo on June 08, 2015, 07:24:04 AM
Four Corners was closed when I went there in 2013 so I drove a couple of miles on route 162 just to tick Utah off my list :)
You missed a beautiful state!!!
Quote from: bugo on June 23, 2015, 02:32:50 PM
I should have worded this topic "Most pathetic state clinches where you enter at one point and exit at a different point" eliminating "turning around at the state line clinches" which are inherently pathetic.
They count! I had two but now it's down to zero again.
Quote from: bugo on June 23, 2015, 02:32:50 PM
I should have worded this topic "Most pathetic state clinches where you enter at one point and exit at a different point" eliminating "turning around at the state line clinches" which are inherently pathetic.
I suppose that's fair, and would eliminate my "sort of but not quite a U-turn" clinch of New Hampshire. Though if we had actually stopped at the convenience store whose parking lot we turned around in (which I'm 99 but not 100% sure we did not), I would think doing business in the state would make the clinch count regardless of where you entered/exited.
Quote from: texaskdog on June 23, 2015, 02:43:08 PM
Quote from: bugo on June 23, 2015, 02:32:50 PM
I should have worded this topic "Most pathetic state clinches where you enter at one point and exit at a different point" eliminating "turning around at the state line clinches" which are inherently pathetic.
They count! I had two but now it's down to zero again.
Do they award a basket when a player shoots and misses the rim but hits the net?
Quote from: bugo on June 23, 2015, 02:32:50 PM
I should have worded this topic "Most pathetic state clinches where you enter at one point and exit at a different point" eliminating "turning around at the state line clinches" which are inherently pathetic.
Wait. What about a clinch where you spend the night yet exit the state by the point you entered at?
Because that's the only way I've ever been to Utah.
Quote from: sipes23 on June 23, 2015, 07:02:16 PMWait. What about a clinch where you spend the night yet exit the state by the point you entered at?
Germany, Malta, Spain, Italy (x2), Thailand, Florida (x2), Arizona, Michigan (airport-only), one of my three times in Nevada, one of my two trips to Scotland (the longer one), California (x4), half the times I've been to France, every time I've been to Wales (about 10), and perhaps most egregiously a month in Indonesia would be exit the state/country by the point you entered at, despite overnighting for most of those (some Wales, the Arizona and two French trips were day trips).
As will my upcoming trip to Ireland, where I might reach central Dublin from the ferry crossing, but am unlikely to get a couple of miles from the port in my 32 hours there.
Most pathetic where I haven't crossed at the same place was a day trip to Scotland from the hotel north of Carlisle (at M6 J44) we were staying in for a holiday in the Lakes. It probably was the day when there was the least driving - including the day we visited visited Carlisle Castle. Crossed the border on the A74(M), spent about 4 hours within half a mile of the border, never got further in, re-entered England on the B7078.
Quote from: bugo on June 23, 2015, 02:50:55 PM
Quote from: texaskdog on June 23, 2015, 02:43:08 PM
Quote from: bugo on June 23, 2015, 02:32:50 PM
I should have worded this topic "Most pathetic state clinches where you enter at one point and exit at a different point" eliminating "turning around at the state line clinches" which are inherently pathetic.
They count! I had two but now it's down to zero again.
Do they award a basket when a player shoots and misses the rim but hits the net?
If you're going to enter a state and realize you're just better off not?
From Utah, when I was in college I decided to drive into Wyoming and Idaho, spent a couple hours in Wyoming around Evanston and then back into Utah via WY-89. Idaho I drove up US-91 and promptly made a u-turn as soon as I hit Franklin, spending about three minutes in the state.
I had a friend who had never been to Wisconsin. On a Chicago trip, we drove up I-94, got off at the Wisconsin welcome center, went to McDonalds and went to Chicago.
As far as I know, he hasn't been back. This was all at night. That's a pretty bad clinch.
Quote from: The Nature Boy on June 24, 2015, 01:38:21 AM
I had a friend who had never been to Wisconsin. On a Chicago trip, we drove up I-94, got off at the Wisconsin welcome center, went to McDonalds and went to Chicago.
As far as I know, he hasn't been back. This was all at night. That's a pretty bad clinch.
Worst part of the state to go in at scenery-wise too.
Quote from: bugo on June 23, 2015, 02:32:50 PM
I should have worded this topic "Most pathetic state clinches where you enter at one point and exit at a different point" eliminating "turning around at the state line clinches" which are inherently pathetic.
Can we stop using the word "clinch" for this scenario? To clinch a highway, one must drive its entire length. By extrapolation, clinching a state should require reaching some goal X for all Y that are in the state, for example collecting (by simply visiting or by some more strict clinching) each county, or driving on (maybe clinching) every state route and in-state segment of US and Interstate route. Simply visiting a state should not be called a "clinch" just as simply driving one mile of I-10 in Texas is not called a "clinch" of that road.
Quote from: vtk on June 24, 2015, 03:12:10 PM
Quote from: bugo on June 23, 2015, 02:32:50 PM
I should have worded this topic "Most pathetic state clinches where you enter at one point and exit at a different point" eliminating "turning around at the state line clinches" which are inherently pathetic.
Can we stop using the word "clinch" for this scenario? To clinch a highway, one must drive its entire length. By extrapolation, clinching a state should require reaching some goal X for all Y that are in the state, for example collecting (by simply visiting or by some more strict clinching) each county, or driving on (maybe clinching) every state route and in-state segment of US and Interstate route. Simply visiting a state should not be called a "clinch" just as simply driving one mile of I-10 in Texas is not called a "clinch" of that road.
Since 'clinching' is vague and based on how each person determines what they consider a clinch, there is no standard definition. If you claim you can't clinch a state until you hit every county, nearly no one will every clinch every state, even though they've been in every state.
If I want to say I clinched driving I-10, and I drove I-10 for that 1 mile, then why should anyone else whine about it? It's not going to affect their life in any way. My picture isn't going to be posted on the I-10 Hall of Fame with an asterisk beside it. If I have a goal of driving on every interstate in the country, it shouldn't matter that I didn't drive the entire length of every highway.
Words mean things, that's why. (Or at least they used to. Apparently "state" now also means the federal government, according to six Supreme Court justices.)
"Clinch" typically means "to finish something." As in a team clinching a playoff berth, or a driver clinching the most laps led (and thus earning the bonus point) in a NASCAR race.
You "clinch" a state by visiting the most counties. You "clinch" a road by driving all of it.
So I changed the name of the topic to "Most pathetic state visits" which is a more accurate description.
Quote from: hbelkins on June 25, 2015, 02:44:52 PM
Apparently "state" now also means the federal government, according to six Supreme Court justices.
It always has (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State). In many parts of the world (such as Canada), that's the
only meaning of the word with respect to government.
Quote from: bugo on June 18, 2015, 10:11:41 AM
Quote from: intelati49 on June 18, 2015, 09:13:42 AM
Michigan - DTW
Minnesota - MSP
Both for the same trip to China actually
You should do a write up on your trip to China...about the roads and China in general.
Only just now saw this... Well, it was in 2005 and I was young, so my memory may be a little hazy. And on the flip side of that, once I get started on it, I may never stop...
Off topic subject for sure though.
My most pathetic:
Montana: Only the part which contains Yellowstone National Park. Stayed a night in West Yellowstone, so at least I was there for more than a couple of hours. When I made one of those "States I've Been To" maps a couple of months ago, I actually forgot to include Montana.
Indiana: I went there last year while the Fort Scott men's basketball team was playing in the NJCAA Division II national tourney in Danville, Illinois. The last on ramp on the east side of town ends right at the state line. So I hit the first rest stop on I-74, turned north on the first state route I saw (can't remember the route) and turned back to Danville when I hit U.S. 136. I was in the state less than 45 minutes, probably not even a half hour.
I've also hit the northeast corner of New Mexico a couple of times, both times via Clayton. The first time was while traveling with my high school basketball team to play a game there. The next time was while I was on a day trip with my mom and dad. She mentioned she'd never been to New Mexico, so we turned off U.S. 56 at Sublette, went through Clayton and came back up through Texas.
My exposure to Nevada consists solely of Clark County. That's mine.
I'd count Utah at the Four Corners monument but...
I passed through Indiana going from Chicago to Detroit once.
One night, I drove from Denver to the Welcome Station in Wyoming. I turned around because I had work the next day...20 minutes in the dark.
Utah was only by a one-hour layover at SLC. I still got to see much more of it compared to Wyoming, though...looks gorgeous from the sky, though.
Spent 6 hours at Lester Pearson Airport in Toronto, so Ontario really doesn't count, either.
Quote from: SD Mapman on August 14, 2015, 10:24:43 PM
I passed through Indiana going from Chicago to Detroit once.
Well, that might have been 45 minutes. Unless you were stuck in the Borman traffic. Then it's an everlasting hell.
(Oh wait misunderstood this)
I got Maine by basically going in from 95 North, and exiting just before the Maine Turnpike started.
I did the same thing initially for New Hampshire back in 2012, but on a later trip spent more time up there since I met new friends that lived there since that original trip.
When I lived in northern BC, we often took visitors to Hyder, Alaska. It wasn't a turn around clinch, though, since we usually took them in from Stewart and out to Premier and the Salmon Glacier, for a total distance of about 11 miles (of course, we had to double back in order to return. I have yet to make it any farther into Alaska, so that would be my visit to Alaska, probably completed at least half a dozen times.
Quote from: GaryV on June 07, 2015, 01:08:33 PM
US 522 in MD (~2 miles total, part of it concurrent with I-70)
Edit: This wasn't the only time I was ever in MD, but it was the only time in MD that trip.
Same here. When I was in high school, a group of us went from northeastern Ohio to Luray, VA to visit the Appalachian Mountains (earth science club) and entered Maryland on I-70 and left on US 522. On the return trip, we actually made a stop in Maryland.
Now that I'm typing this, I remember that fairly recently I had layovers on 2 separate occasions at BWI. So I've been to (through) the state four times and can say I've seen very very little of it.
My only visit to Arizona was because we parked on its side of Hoover Dam. (My visit to Nevada was only to Clark County, but we spent three nights in Vegas of which the Hoover Dam trip was part, so I wouldn't call that pathetic.) I would probably call my visit to Delaware pathetic, because I solely passed through well after any daylight on the way to a destination in Maryland. Consequently, I didn't attempt to "finish" Delaware simply because I want to get back to visit when I have daylight.
This has probably been mentioned already, but I-70 in the northern panhandle of West Virginia has to be #1 in the most pathetic category. Literally everybody has been to West Virginia at some point just because of I-70.
I-24 dipping into Georgia for 4 miles might be someones pathetic clinch of that state too. That might be more pathetic than West Virginia.
Quote from: US 41 on August 27, 2015, 03:17:55 PM
This has probably been mentioned already, but I-70 in the northern panhandle of West Virginia has to be #1 in the most pathetic category. Literally everybody has been to West Virginia at some point just because of I-70.
US 30 is even worse, as that is my most pathetic claim.
Quote from: Big John on August 27, 2015, 03:20:19 PM
Quote from: US 41 on August 27, 2015, 03:17:55 PM
This has probably been mentioned already, but I-70 in the northern panhandle of West Virginia has to be #1 in the most pathetic category. Literally everybody has been to West Virginia at some point just because of I-70.
US 30 is even worse, as that is my most pathetic claim.
Wow that is pathetic. I didn't even know US 30 west into WV. I learn something new everyday.
Does US 56 enter the very northwest corner of Texas for about 5 or 10 feet? If so that would have to be #1. Based on how the county roads match up I think it might.
https://goo.gl/maps/xWcpQ
EDIT: Nevermind I found my answer. It's a near miss unless you go geocaching. :bigass:
http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2VPKZ_texas-northwest-corner?guid=6d2768e6-e257-4131-a32d-ff14a7d762c2
Georgia: entered on I-24 from the west, left on I-59 to the south. 21 miles, no stopping.
North Carolina: on a county clinching trip with Brian Reynolds. Ashe County was all we got, entering on a county road off US 58 and leaving on (I think) NC 194. We took the wrong road in and got lost, but we did make it to the town of Lansing. I think we stopped, but I didn't leave the car.
West Virginia: my first visit was to Harpers Ferry, coming from the east on US 340. Although I spent most of an afternoon there, this was least distance into a state I'd ever ventured (less than 2 miles) and I went back the way I came. My second and last visit covered a ton of mileage, but it was at night and involved no stops.
I did not stop at all the first time I saw Maryland and Vermont, but this has since changed.
I have 3:
New Jersey: Crossed the DMB, then turned around and went back into Delaware.
Virginia: Drove I-66 west out of DC, then got on I-495 to head up to Baltimore.
Georgia: Brief overlay at ATL.
It was 20 years ago today,
Dave and Chris were driving cross-countray.
We had been driving for many a mile
And had visited the area McVeigh chose to defile.
So we were introduced to that view
Then followed the road many have known for years.
Southwest corner of Kansas near US-166.
OK-it was really 20 years ago a few days ago, but it took awhile to come up with those lame lyrics.
Helping a friend drive east from San Diego, I wanted to see Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon on the trip (and maybe throw in Meteor Crater). Arrived in Vegas as the strip was lighting up, stopped to grab a bit to eat; I lost $1.35 in a slot machine and figured I'd had the Vegas Experience, and we took off. Hoover Dam about midnight. Pulled over somewhere along I-40 to catch a few Z's. I woke up first just before dawn, convinced her to get out of the driver's seat, and drove up to the Canyon. Seeing that at sunrise is the most awesome thing I've ever seen. We did stop by Meteor Crater (which was interesting, but compared to the Grand Canyon-meh). Checked into a Motel 1 somewhere for the night, and the reason this jumped out of my brain this week: at breakfast the next morning, I remember reading USA Today about the Windows 95 release.
But to get back to the topic, after leaving Oklahoma City on the Will Rogers Tpk, we decided to switch drivers at about the Missouri border. I noticed on the map that we'd be within a mile of Kansas, so we exited, drove up US-166 about 100 feet past the border, pulled over at about 2AM, irrigated a farmer's fence posts, then went back to the WJT. I did later spend some time in the Overland part of Kansas City, but for several years, that was my Kansas clinch.
Swam in the Pacific Tues 8/22, SD-Hoover Dam 8/23, Grand Canyon, etc 8/24, drove alot 8/25 (I remember early breakfast at a diner somewhere in Illinois after seeing St. L Arch also at about 2AM), then home to DC area where my records indicate I ordered from Take Out Taxi on the evening of 8/26, drove to the DE coast and swam in the Atlantic on Sunday 8/27. Oh to be young again...
The total amount of time I have spent in the state of Louisiana is less than two hours. Drove in from Arkansas on US 65, drove out to Mississippi on I-20.
Despite this I did set foot on the ground in Louisiana twice:
Once because I stopped to take a picture of the "Welcome to Louisiana" sign and got out of the car while doing so. I walked past where the pavement changed so I've walked across the AR/LA line.
And twice because I stopped at the TA near Tallulah to pee and get gas.
Quote from: cabiness42 on June 08, 2015, 09:01:59 AM
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.
I did the same thing, except further up in the Augusta area. I went into South Carolina and turned at the first exit. I've done this two or three times, never getting out of the car and stepping onto SC soil.
Quote from: US 41 on August 27, 2015, 03:17:55 PM
Literally everybody has been to West Virginia at some point just because of I-70.
Not me, I-81.
Quote from: rawmustard on August 27, 2015, 10:47:10 AM
My only visit to Arizona was because we parked on its side of Hoover Dam. (My visit to Nevada was only to Clark County, but we spent three nights in Vegas of which the Hoover Dam trip was part, so I wouldn't call that pathetic.) I would probably call my visit to Delaware pathetic, because I solely passed through well after any daylight on the way to a destination in Maryland. Consequently, I didn't attempt to "finish" Delaware simply because I want to get back to visit when I have daylight.
I walked the bridge just so I can cross into Arizona and clinch Coconino County.
Quote from: Mr. Matté on August 29, 2015, 11:35:53 PM
Quote from: US 41 on August 27, 2015, 03:17:55 PM
Literally everybody has been to West Virginia at some point just because of I-70.
Not me, I-81.
Yeah, I-70 was pretty late in my exposure to WV. For years, it was US 48/I-68 across the MD Panhandle to I-79 to I-77 to I-64. It was only about ten years ago that I drove I-70 through Wheeling.
Quote from: golden eagle on August 30, 2015, 12:38:08 AM
Quote from: rawmustard on August 27, 2015, 10:47:10 AM
My only visit to Arizona was because we parked on its side of Hoover Dam. (My visit to Nevada was only to Clark County, but we spent three nights in Vegas of which the Hoover Dam trip was part, so I wouldn't call that pathetic.) I would probably call my visit to Delaware pathetic, because I solely passed through well after any daylight on the way to a destination in Maryland. Consequently, I didn't attempt to "finish" Delaware simply because I want to get back to visit when I have daylight.
I walked the bridge just so I can cross into Arizona and clinch Coconino County.
It's a bit of a hike to Coconino County from Hoover Dam and the new bridge, which are in Mohave County :pan:.
Vacation in Las Vegas, drove out to California on I-15, went one exit into the state, and headed back to Vegas.
I've done the same thing. Of course I've been to LA now and am going back there this week so that's not much these days. An even more pathetic clinch would be to stop at the Primm exit off of I-15 and walk to that lottery convenience store which is on the California side of the border.
The first time I visited Maine, I just crossed the Piscataqua in Portsmouth, went to Kittery and crossed back into NH. I live in Maine now so I've been to a lot more of this beautiful state.
My only visit to Missouri was in Sikeston at night with an ex to get dinner. I still have a hard time saying that I've been to Missouri.
My one foray into Quebec was via the Haskell Free Library, which straddles the U.S./Canada border at Derby Line, VT/Stanstead, QC. I entered and exited via the U.S. entrance, and therefore didn't have to report to customs. So, even though I stood (and sat) north of the border, I think it qualifies as "pathetic" to say I've "been to Quebec".
Quote from: DJDBVT on August 31, 2015, 11:48:16 PM
My one foray into Quebec was via the Haskell Free Library, which straddles the U.S./Canada border at Derby Line, VT/Stanstead, QC. I entered and exited via the U.S. entrance, and therefore didn't have to report to customs. So, even though I stood (and sat) north of the border, I think it qualifies as "pathetic" to say I've "been to Quebec".
That reminds me of my only trip to Quebec.
I actually drove across the line, drove around town for a bit and then went home (which was NH at the time). It was apart of my I-91 clinch. Customs was a bit confused.
Since last Saturday I can say I have driven in France... by way of having turned around just after crossing the border :sombrero:. I have been several other times, though.
The Confederation Bridge thread reminded me–not a state, but, unwilling to pay the $40 to cross to Prince Edward Island we discovered we could ride a shuttle van for $4. Not driving, we could both gaze out in awe at the foaming strait below us, set foot in the parking lot in P.E.I., and get back into the return van ten minutes later.
We did get to enjoy the particularly road-geeky monument of a concrete segment of the bridge erected as a monument to the workers who built it.
Probably my foray into South Carolina. Just a tiny trip over to get gas.
Memphis airport and crossing the border in kansas but later got to both. The only marginal ones I have left are New Hampshire on I-95 and crossing into Washington at Chain of Lakes Bridge and back.
My most pathetic state clinch is clipping Carter Lake, IA by flying into Eppley Airfield (Omaha's airport) and driving to downtown Omaha. To this day, my only visit to Iowa. (I did make the reverse trip to the airport for my flight back home as well)
Also, my only visits to Texas, Colorado, and Missouri have been changing planes in Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, and St. Louis, respectively. But whether those states count as a "clinch" is subject to interpretation.
-My layovers in Minneapolis & JFK (NY)
-Driving about a mile in to Nebraska on US 77 near Sioux City
Holy 5-year bump.
My winners used to be Arkansas, which consisted of spending about 30 seconds in the state at the OK-MO-AR tripoint, and Iowa, which involved driving in from South Dakota and turning around at the state line. However, I have now spent more time in both of those states, so the winner now is probably Indiana. Drove across the Ohio River from Louisville on I-65 (before it was tolled) and back on US 31.
EDIT: MN and MI actually win this. I've had two airport layovers in MSP and one in DTW, and have never been to either state otherwise.
Quote from: ozarkman417 on May 04, 2021, 11:00:19 PM
-My layovers in Minneapolis & JFK (NY)
-Driving about a mile in to Nebraska on US 77 near Sioux City
MSP is all I've ever been to in Minnesota.
I have 2:
1) Michigan: drove into it from Indiana on Old US 27 near I-69. We then immediately turned around, and ate lunch at a diner just south of the IN/MI border. This may also be the most pathetic interstate clench I have, as I have only been on 0.6 miles from the Indiana Toll Road at exit 356 to exit 357.
2) Possibly the most pathetic clinch here, the only time I have been to Wyoming is when my dad made a wrong turn on I-25. We didn't have GPS back then, so you needed a paper map, lol. He meant to go south, but somehow we went north. When he saw the state line, he realized his mistake, and turned right around. I don't particularly remember it, but my parents say it happened...
Bonus: For a long time, I clinched an ENTIRE CONTRY(!) in a pathetic manner:
We went to Niagara Falls in upstate New York because some family lived nearby in Corning. We had our passports for some reason, so we decided to walk to Canada, simply because we could! Upon leaving the customs building, we went back to the US. Funny thing, they don't charge you to go to Canada, but they do change you to leave... and they only accept Canadian coins. We had to ask a passerby to make change for us, which thankfully they did. We still joke that we were almost trapped in Canada!
My clinches of Georgia were quite pathetic: blowing through on I-95 as a 6 year old passenger, and a couple stops at Atlanta airport. Even more pathetic was Missouri: two stopovers at Lambert going to and from Hawaii. West Virginia moved up from pathetic to weak when I went to the racino in Charles Town (other than that, it was just passing through). South Carolina was pathetic as well (a rest stop just over the GA border, and a stop at Pedro's). North Carolina was weak as well, but it did involve an overnight stay.
Airport clinches of Minnesota and Texas via MSP and IAH.
Pass-through bus clinch of Connecticut at night.
Very short layover at ORD that I used to escape the airport, ride the Blue Line one stop, and turn around to clinch Illinois.
On a visit to Yellowstone crossing just over the Montana/Idaho border on US 20 to say I've been to Idaho.
Quote from: CNGL-Leudimin on June 08, 2015, 04:50:28 AM
I have two pathetic Spanish province clinches. While I have travelled across Biscay, I have never set foot there. On the other hand, I barely entered Albacete province, but at least I managed to get off the car in it.
I've since corrected the second one thanks to a high-speed train ride that went across it. However I've also defined "state" as any first level national subdivision provided the country is large enough, and in Spain that distinction goes to autonomous communities, not provinces. I don't have any clinches of enter and turn back, although there are a couple regions in Italy I just passed through without stopping (Emilia Romagna and Lombardy). In addition I've only stopped at service areas in Liguria (Italy) and Provence-Alps-Azure Coast (France). The same was true for Languedoc-Roussillon (France) prior to its merger with Midi-Pyrenees to form Occitania.
It's occurred to me that once I-49 is fully completed (hopefully), travelers on it will have an inherently pathetic clinch of Texas just by staying on the road (like I-684 and CT). But for me, DE has always been the most pathetic clinch, since I've never ventured south of I-95/295.
Quote from: formulanone on August 16, 2015, 11:32:05 AM
One night, I drove from Denver to the Welcome Station in Wyoming. I turned around because I had work the next day...20 minutes in the dark.
Utah was only by a one-hour layover at SLC. I still got to see much more of it compared to Wyoming, though...looks gorgeous from the sky, though.
Spent 6 hours at Lester Pearson Airport in Toronto, so Ontario really doesn't count, either.
Since then, I've visited Wyoming for a few more days, but I have only spent 15 minutes in Idaho; basically a 5-mile turnaround in Lewiston using ID 128 - US 95 - US 12.
I've also spent much more time in Toronto and Ontario, thanks to my company finding out I have an addiction to all-dressed potato chips and snacks.
Still haven't had any projects in Utah, but several more layovers.
Quote from: Rothman on June 18, 2015, 10:47:56 PM
For the longest time, my only step into Michigan was a short drive from the Indiana Toll Road into Sturgis. We were returning to our New England home from Utah from vacation and my father just decided to take us over the border since we hadn't been to Michigan as a family yet.
Come to think of it, the next time I was in Michigan was during a snowstorm where my wife, kids and I had to stay overnight due to flights being grounded. Never got out of Wayne County, I don't think.
However, I've basically done significant stomping in all of the 49 states that I've visited now. Still waiting to get to Alaska.
Yep. Situation still the same.
Quote from: cabiness42 on June 08, 2015, 09:01:59 AM
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.
Since this old thread got bumped, I thought I'd mention that I've since been back to SC for a few days. Now, my most pathetic state clinch would be Delaware, driving back and forth once between DC and NYC. Did stop for gas/food both directions but still wasn't in the state more more than an hour.
My most pathetic state clinch is Nevada via the LAS airport.
Quote from: cabiness42 on May 05, 2021, 07:06:13 AM
Quote from: cabiness42 on June 08, 2015, 09:01:59 AM
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.
Since this old thread got bumped, I thought I'd mention that I've since been back to SC for a few days. Now, my most pathetic state clinch would be Delaware, driving back and forth once between DC and NYC. Did stop for gas/food both directions but still wasn't in the state more more than an hour.
I think that everyone's clinch of Delaware is pathetic.
For me it's Kansas. I went to Downstream Casino one time which is in Oklahoma, but you enter the casino parking lot in Missouri and part of the parking lot is in Kansas so that was my only clinch of Kansas ever to this point.
Quote from: Flint1979 on May 05, 2021, 08:34:27 AM
For me it's Kansas. I went to Downstream Casino one time which is in Oklahoma, but you enter the casino parking lot in Missouri and part of the parking lot is in Kansas so that was my only clinch of Kansas ever to this point.
Was that a tripoint?
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 05, 2021, 08:37:42 AM
Quote from: Flint1979 on May 05, 2021, 08:34:27 AM
For me it's Kansas. I went to Downstream Casino one time which is in Oklahoma, but you enter the casino parking lot in Missouri and part of the parking lot is in Kansas so that was my only clinch of Kansas ever to this point.
Was that a tripoint?
It's near a tripoint. If you're there to visit the casino, it's easy to hit all three states even if you don't hit the tripoint itself.
Spellcheck does not recognize tripoint for some reason.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 05, 2021, 08:06:06 AM
I think that everyone's clinch of Delaware is pathetic.
Maybe if all you've done is pass through on I-95. But I have driven the entire length of the state and passed through all three counties. I wouldn't call that pathetic at all. I have a few clinches that are more pathetic:
-Colorado: Airport-only (DEN)
-Rhode Island: passed through on I-95, no stops
-New Hampshire: entered, took a picture of the welcome sign, and turned around. Beat that! :)
Quote from: webny99 on May 05, 2021, 09:28:05 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 05, 2021, 08:06:06 AM
I think that everyone's clinch of Delaware is pathetic.
Maybe if all you've done is pass through on I-95. But I have driven the entire length of the state and passed through all three counties. I wouldn't call that pathetic at all. I have a few clinches that are more pathetic:
-Colorado: Airport-only (DEN)
-Rhode Island: passed through on I-95, no stops
-New Hampshire: entered, took a picture of the welcome sign, and turned around. Beat that! :)
I should have said most people. Also, you drove through the majority of Rhode Island (I have been to Newport so my clinch isn't pathetic).
Come to think of it, my wife's first visit to Maine consisted of taking a photo at the border beyond the east end of the Kanc. She mutters about it to this day, despite having had real visits since.
If we're including airport layovers, it's Colorado and Texas for me, at DEN and DFW airports respectively.
Quote from: Rothman on May 05, 2021, 09:31:33 AM
Come to think of it, my wife's first visit to Maine consisted of taking a photo at the border beyond the east end of the Kanc. She mutters about it to this day, despite having had real visits since.
Sounds a lot like my clinch of NH... whatever the Kanc is. :D
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 05, 2021, 09:29:35 AM
Quote from: webny99 on May 05, 2021, 09:28:05 AM
-Rhode Island: passed through on I-95, no stops
...
I should have said most people. Also, you drove through the majority of Rhode Island (I have been to Newport so my clinch isn't pathetic).
I'm still calling it pathetic because there were no stops. At least with Delaware I had a few stops and drove on some non-interstates.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 05, 2021, 08:37:42 AM
Quote from: Flint1979 on May 05, 2021, 08:34:27 AM
For me it's Kansas. I went to Downstream Casino one time which is in Oklahoma, but you enter the casino parking lot in Missouri and part of the parking lot is in Kansas so that was my only clinch of Kansas ever to this point.
Was that a tripoint?
It's close to one. To get to the tripoint you'd make a left on a dead end road coming into the casino and the tripoint is near the cul-de-sac at the end of the dead end.
I think my clinch of Rhode Island isn't all that great. I have for the longest time only had one county to go in that state (Newport County) and have never been back to clinch it since I have only been through Rhode Island once and that was in 2004.
Quote from: webny99 on May 05, 2021, 09:35:38 AM
Quote from: Rothman on May 05, 2021, 09:31:33 AM
Come to think of it, my wife's first visit to Maine consisted of taking a photo at the border beyond the east end of the Kanc. She mutters about it to this day, despite having had real visits since.
Sounds a lot like my clinch of NH... whatever the Kanc is. :D
Kancamagus Highway. Border's at Fryeburg, ME.
My worst are driving I-10 through New Mexico without stopping and driving I-20 and US 78 (before it was I-22) through Alabama with stopping only once for gas. I've tried to keep a "do something in the state other than look at the backside of a welcome sign" mentality for clinches.
Quote from: Rothman on May 05, 2021, 10:08:56 AM
Quote from: webny99 on May 05, 2021, 09:35:38 AM
Quote from: Rothman on May 05, 2021, 09:31:33 AM
Come to think of it, my wife's first visit to Maine consisted of taking a photo at the border beyond the east end of the Kanc. She mutters about it to this day, despite having had real visits since.
Sounds a lot like my clinch of NH... whatever the Kanc is. :D
Kancamagus Highway. Border's at Fryeburg, ME.
Interestingly, Google seems to think it ends in Conway, NH. But close enough, I suppose.
Quote from: webny99 on May 05, 2021, 10:14:58 AM
Quote from: Rothman on May 05, 2021, 10:08:56 AM
Quote from: webny99 on May 05, 2021, 09:35:38 AM
Quote from: Rothman on May 05, 2021, 09:31:33 AM
Come to think of it, my wife's first visit to Maine consisted of taking a photo at the border beyond the east end of the Kanc. She mutters about it to this day, despite having had real visits since.
Sounds a lot like my clinch of NH... whatever the Kanc is. :D
Kancamagus Highway. Border's at Fryeburg, ME.
Interestingly, Google seems to think it ends in Conway, NH. But close enough, I suppose.
...which is why I used "beyond" in my original response...
Quote from: Rothman on May 05, 2021, 10:16:50 AM
Quote from: webny99 on May 05, 2021, 10:14:58 AM
Quote from: Rothman on May 05, 2021, 10:08:56 AM
Quote from: webny99 on May 05, 2021, 09:35:38 AM
Quote from: Rothman on May 05, 2021, 09:31:33 AM
Come to think of it, my wife's first visit to Maine consisted of taking a photo at the border beyond the east end of the Kanc. She mutters about it to this day, despite having had real visits since.
Sounds a lot like my clinch of NH... whatever the Kanc is. :D
Kancamagus Highway. Border's at Fryeburg, ME.
Interestingly, Google seems to think it ends in Conway, NH. But close enough, I suppose.
...which is why I used "beyond" in my original response...
My bad, I took beyond to mean "into Maine".
In my case, I've had pathetic state clinches in the distant past but pretty much all have been replaced with real ones. However, one that still hangs out there for me is British Columbia. I "clinched" BC via the Yellowhead Highway from Jasper National Park and went as far in as Mount Robson before turning back to return to Alberta. It's maybe 20 miles in which included some spectacular scenery but not much of BC really.
Federal pathetic clinch: Panama. Have changed planes at Panama City a dozen times but never had the chance to visit beyond the airport. Closest I got was within a few feet of immigration. But, I maintain it counts (despite my wife's protestations). The example I give is that, if I punched someone in the nose I would be subject to Panamanian law to be arrested by Panamanian police and charged under Panamanian law. Because I'm in Panama.
For those of you who watch "Locked Up Abroad" on NatGeo, think back to the episodes where some smuggler is nabbed in a different country than the O and D points, while merely connecting between flights. Yes, it counts.
I had some in the past:
Utah at Four Corners
My first visit to Georgia was just driving up from Jacksonville and turning around at the first exit (after getting gas)
My first visits to New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Michigan, and Illinois were all airport layovers
My current:
Rhode Island was just I-95 with no stopping
In Maine, we went up to Wells, had a Shipyard beer and a lobster roll and then headed back down to Boston
International visit of note:
Azerbaijan I have flown through Baku twice and additionally barely stepped foot across the border at the monasteries of Davit Gareja (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gareja_monastery_complex)
Chris
Contenders for me:
Arizona: Passed through on I-15, no stops, 29 miles. Scenery is notable though.
Delaware: I know some people hit only I-95, I beat that at least. I-295, US-13, DE-1, US-301. 28 miles.
Rhode Island: Just I-95, no stops. 43 miles.
But I think I will beat this coming up. I'm visiting Carowinds next month, which straddles the NC/SC border. My current plans don't involve anything else in SC, so the extent of my travels into SC may fit into this small picture:
(https://i.imgur.com/aSEcv63.png)
My most pathetic one is probably Nevada, as I had a layover for about 2 hours at LAS.
So the only states I haven't been to are AK, HI, UT and NM.
The states that I have clinched but haven't spent a night: ID, WY, NE, OK, KS, AR, MS, VT, NH, RI, DE (all of these were drive throughs)
I believe out of these, the one that is the most pathetic is VT. I drove through it once on VT-9 and I-91 and don't think I even stopped and got out of the car. NH is a close second because I drove through it twice - to get to Maine along I-95. I believe the rest included the purchase of a meal, gas, etc.
The only Canadian province I have been to is Ontario.
Geogia – Never set foot outside the Atlanta airport. But ran most of the way across it! (the airport, not Georgia)
Tamaulipas – I've been in the northwestern bit of it probably a dozen times (actually 13 if I'm counting correctly), but never for more than about an hour at a time. The only times I've actually set foot in Tamaulipas were (1) during a childhood vacation when we went across the border from Laredo for about an hour, (2) pulling over on the side of the highway and changing a diaper in 2009, and (3) to get lunch at this Church's Chicken (https://goo.gl/maps/CxzQB5uHDkNTvVzW8) (used to also be a Subway) in 2010. Technically, I've also stopped in Tamaulipas one other time, but that was being stopped by a police officer for speeding and subsequently bribing him out of it, and I never actually left the car.
I can claim two pathetic clinches in the Four Corners area - New Mexico and Colorado.
My only forays into Texas were two airports in Dallas/Ft. Worth for connecting flights. Had time for lunch in DFW, though.
I consider Nebraska to be my sole pathetic clinch, at about 13 miles driven. From I-29 in Iowa, I exited off onto US-77 south, then continued on US-22 BUS through South Sioux City and kept going when the BUS designation ended to Dakota City. To return back to Iowa, I then turned west to reach NE-35, then a couple more turns onto NE-110 and US-20 to reach I-129.
Howabout someone clinching Wisconsin by traveling through it on MN 23?
Anyways, my most pathetic state clinches are Maine (visited the I-95 welcome center from New Hampshire and then headed back southwest at the next interchange) and Texas (changed planes in both directions on a round trip through DFW, never leaving the secured side of the airport). Both were about 20 years ago.
Mike
CA 225 in Santa Barbra; it is only consists of about 0.09 miles off of US Route 101 on Castillo Street through a rail underpass.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on May 05, 2021, 08:06:06 AM
Quote from: cabiness42 on May 05, 2021, 07:06:13 AM
Quote from: cabiness42 on June 08, 2015, 09:01:59 AM
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.
Since this old thread got bumped, I thought I'd mention that I've since been back to SC for a few days. Now, my most pathetic state clinch would be Delaware, driving back and forth once between DC and NYC. Did stop for gas/food both directions but still wasn't in the state more more than an hour.
I think that everyone's clinch of Delaware is pathetic.
Mine's pretty solid. Drove all the way down DE 1 to Rehoboth Beach, plus I've done a lot of shopping up near Christiana, no sales tax and all (including restaurants).
I've got quite a few :-D
I think I've talked about this on here before, but the only two times I've ever set foot in North Dakota were both when I had a track meet in Moorhead and just decided to run across the Red River during my warm up for shits and giggles.
Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland are all states that I've driven through and gotten out of the car in but never really "entered" in the sense that I did something meaningful there. I count Pennsylvania because I have actually spent one night there, but the others I feel don't really count.
Georgia I've entered many times on I-24 but that's pretty brief. I definitely wouldn't count that as a clinch.
When I was younger my family had a layover in either Denver or SLC on a family trip out to California. My parents don't remember which. Obviously because neither of these can be verified I don't count either of these as clinches and even if they were they wouldn't meet my criteria for doing something meaningful there.
My most pathetic clinch would be British Columbia:
We were visiting Banff National Park and the hotel that we booked just so happened to be in a neighbouring Yoho National Park in BC. So I was only a few miles into BC for that one night and never went further than that into BC. I've also been to Vancouver Airport for a layover.
You can see that on my TravelMapping if you're interested (andrepoiy_total).
The very first time I visited Arizona, it was heading from California to Utah via I-15, so I only got that tiny section of 15 that goes through Arizona (beautiful area, for the record).
About a year after that, entered Arizona on 10 eastbound from California bound for Phoenix.
Only time I've ever been to NH was on I-95 en route to ME without stopping, and only time I've ever been to CA was on an airport layover.
Quote from: andrepoiy on May 06, 2021, 10:30:48 AM
My most pathetic clinch would be British Columbia:
We were visiting Banff National Park and the hotel that we booked just so happened to be in a neighbouring Yoho National Park in BC. So I was only a few miles into BC for that one night and never went further than that into BC. I've also been to Vancouver Airport for a layover.
I don't really think anyone can call a clinch where you stayed overnight "pathetic". Sure, you didn't go too far into the province, but you were probably there for at least 8 hours, had at least one meal there, and probably took a shower. Definitely more substantial than the OP example of driving across the WV panhandle.
Some of mine were later supplanted by "real" clinches. Examples:
I drove a few times across the Oklahoma panhandle from Kansas to Texas and back, without ever stopping in Oklahoma any of those times. Since then, I've traveled to Tulsa for work, gone rafting near Tahlequah, and driven all the way across the bulk of the state many times.
I once drove across the corner of Arizona on I-15 on the way from Utah to Las Vegas. On that same trip, though, we visited the Grand Canyon on the return trip. And, since then, I've stayed in the Tucson area.
Quote from: kphoger on May 06, 2021, 02:49:53 PM
Some of mine were later supplanted by "real" clinches.
Same here. Delaware would be a prime example, having only passed through on I-95 and I-495 until taking a more substantial trip through the state on DE 1 and US 113 last summer.
There are also cases where a visit to a state counts as pathetic, but it just didn't happen to be your
first visit. In my case, passing through both West Virginia and Maryland on I-81 would be examples of this, having been to Maryland a few years earlier, and taken
a more substantial routing through West Virginia (https://www.google.com/maps/dir/39.7213107,-80.0616751/New+River+Gorge+Bridge,+U.S.+19,+Victor,+WV/38.1749205,-81.3043154/38.1945343,-81.4984725/38.38191,-82.5936047/@38.7688546,-81.9732788,8.21z/data=!4m12!4m11!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x884eb9511715f55d:0x9b1513d9c5fe9c46!2m2!1d-81.0826545!2d38.0690355!1m0!1m0!1m0!3e0!5m1!1e1?hl=en) earlier in the same trip.
Quote from: kphoger on May 06, 2021, 02:49:53 PM
Some of mine were later supplanted by "real" clinches. Examples:
I drove a few times across the Oklahoma panhandle from Kansas to Texas and back, without ever stopping in Oklahoma any of those times. Since then, I've traveled to Tulsa for work, gone rafting near Tahlequah, and driven all the way across the bulk of the state many times.
I once drove across the corner of Arizona on I-15 on the way from Utah to Las Vegas. On that same trip, though, we visited the Grand Canyon on the return trip. And, since then, I've stayed in the Tucson area.
The first time I clinched North Carolina, I walked about ten feet or so into the state on the Appalachian Trail in the Great Smokey Mountains.
I have since been on business trips to there multiple times - but it was a good ten years between trips!
I was able to clinch Michigan by driving 5 miles along US 12 from Michigan City, IN to New Buffalo, MI, then turning around on I-94 back to Indiana. At least it was a nice drive along the coast of Lake Michigan.
the first time I visited wyoming it was only through us 212. we never got out of the car. the only real exciting thing that happened was a severe thunderstorm was rolling through the area. I saw drifts of hailstones in montana on the rez we passed through.
other cheap clinches would be dc through i95/495 and maine. last year I only went up to the first open exit on 95 north, got gas and lunch and went right back out, the sole purpose was to set feet and wheels in maine.
My clinch of Kansas is a combination of 3 pathetic clinches- consider my first one to be the original and thus most pathetic. Then getting marginally less pathetic from there. :bigass:
1. 2012 trip to the Grand Canyon, using I-44. It was a year after the record-setting deadly tornado that hit Joplin, so I wanted to see what the town looked like. An eerie and grounding experience. Leaving Joplin, we went west on what would become KS-66, then south on KS-26 to return to I-44 via the US166/400 interchange. That was my sole clinch of Kansas at the time.
2. May 2014 marked my inaugural trip to start my national route collection (https://flic.kr/s/aHsmhQf3nW), a journey to get a photo of every major Interstate, every US highway, and 3 state highways from each state. I chose KS-7 (https://flic.kr/p/DEWm2a), KS-20 (https://flic.kr/p/EeqJJn), and KS-32 (https://flic.kr/p/DEWkuD) to make it easy for me. This trip led me to clip the southeast corner of NE and the northeast corner of Kansas, via US-159 west to US73 south to US36 east.
3. The next day, I clipped another corner of Kansas heading south on I-635 to I-70 east. That got me a photo of KS-32 (https://flic.kr/p/DEWkuD) and US56 (https://flic.kr/p/E6btra).
To this day, my only Kansas experiences have been these three short corner clippings of Kansas (http://mob-rule.com/view/USA/KS/paulthemapguy).
If we can count airport layovers, then I've clinched Pennsylvania by way of a layover at PHI.
If this was county clinching I'd have several pathetic clinches. There are a lot of times I've just drove into a county, turned around and went back just so I could say I clinched it. Harder to do that with a state but I believe my Kansas experience still stands. I also don't think very highly of my Maryland clinch but it's not as pathetic as my Kansas clinch.
For Maryland I only have the 2 miles between the Pennsylvania state line and the West Virginia state line in Hancock. Sliding through on US-522 it doesn't even seem like you went through Maryland.
Now that i have ridden across Nebraska on Amtrak, Maine is mine. Only one county (although I have been there twice.)
I've spent the night in MD before, but the last time I went through MD was via US-522, which is all of two miles
Another one: landed at Newark Airport, rode the bus to Newark Penn Station, then took PATH to Manhattan. Never got around to crossing the Hudson again for my trip, so 2 hours is all I have spent in New Jersey.
The only time I've ever been to Indiana was a weather-related layover in South Bend in which I never got off the plane.
The only time I've ever been to Colorado was also a layover in Denver where we actually did get off the plane (it started having power issues after landing, and we ended up on another plane).
Quote from: froggie on June 07, 2015, 12:23:55 PM
I imagine there's somebody out there who's clinch of New Mexico consists of the 0.9 mile of US 160 near Four Corners. Even if one drove up to the monument on the way, it's a total of about a mile-and-a-half.
Hello there! My entire time in NM is clinching US 160, and NM 597, for a stop at Four Corners.
Nevada. The only time I have ever set foot in the state was to visit the Cal Neva resort on Lake Tahoe on SR-28. The casino side of the resort is (naturally) on the Washoe County, Nevada side of the property (the California side is in Placer County) and at the time I was there, had the old-fashioned one-armed bandit-style electro-mechanical slot machines.
So an hour or two to eat lunch and waste some quarters in the slot machines.
Indiana: Drove onto I-74 off the ramp on the east side of Danville, Ill., which ends almost right at the state line. Stopped at the first rest area. Drove north on IN-63 to U.S. 136 and right back into Danville. A 20-mile loop.
Besides airport layovers in Missouri and Ohio (formerly Pennsylvania and NC as well), my most pathetic state clinch has been also been West Virginia, via I-81.
Current:
Arizona: only driven through the corner on I-15 (though this will change in a few weeks). Also had a long layover at PHX.
Former:
Mississippi: drove through on a one-way drive to New Orleans back in 2015. Don't think we even stopped in the state. Drove through again in 2020 on US 72 - still have not stopped in the state.
Kansas: entered from OK on US 69 Alt, exited into MO on US 166. Later drove across on I-70 in 2019, and returned in 2021 including spending the night in Wichita.
Wisconsin: entered from IL on I-94 and turned around again after a couple miles. Later vacationed in Door County in 2019, and drove across on I-90 in 2020.
Louisiana: driving from the airport to a hotel near Bourbon Street for a railroad conference. Not even sure that this should count.
Quote from: Dirt Roads on June 15, 2021, 12:06:31 AM
Louisiana: driving from the airport to a hotel near Bourbon Street for a railroad conference. Not even sure that this should count.
If you weren't in Louisiana, then where were you?
About 5 years ago, I went across the border into Nevada while vacationing at Lake Tahoe just to say that I have been to Nevada. I spent about ten minutes in the Silver State before going back across the border into California.
Yeah I got a couple.
Alaska was a 1 hour layover in Anchorage.
California was a 12 hour delayed layover at LAX.
Up until 2 years ago, Mississippi was only using I-55 south from Memphis to the first exit before going back to Tennessee. I have now driven the Natchez Trace to Tupelo and I-22 into Alabama.