Has anybody never left their home state?

bugo · February 18, 2015, 08:26:19 AM

I assume that everybody on this board has been to at least two states, but there are some children on here who might not have. I can see if you lived in, say, LA, you might not have ever left California or if you lived in central Texas or Montana, or Alaska or Hawaii you might not have been to more than one state. Do you know anybody who has only been to one state? Foreign countries don't count.

kphoger · February 18, 2015, 08:55:56 AM

Not a chance in our family. Our eldest son had been to or through nine US states and three Mexican states by the time he turned three. We moved from Illinois to Kansas when he was three weeks old. He'll be getting his second passport soon, and he's only seven years old.

We did wait a little longer with the youngest, I guess. He just left Kansas for the first time with us on Saturday, at five months old (downtown KCMO, not all that exotic).

slorydn1 · February 18, 2015, 09:53:10 AM

I don't personally know anybody that has never traveled to another state, everyone here seems to have that 1 family member that lives multiple states away that can never seem to make it here so they go there to visit. Couple that with the large military presence here and there are many trips to the different recruit training centers for the different branches of service for Basic training/Boot Camp graduations as our kids all seem to want to join up.

It seems that the split is about 50/50 among my co-workers as to who is from here, and who moved here from somewhere else.

SD Mapman · February 18, 2015, 10:04:16 AM

Around here, almost everyone has been to at least two states, with Wyoming being so close. People just have to travel more in this part of the world.

bzakharin · February 18, 2015, 10:15:00 AM

I never left New Jersey as far as living and working is concerned (since coming here from Russia that is), though I went to school and college in Philadelphia. I've lived and/or worked in Cherry Hill (Camden County), Clark (Union County), Woodbridge and Edison (Middlesex County), Morristown (Morris County), Evesham (Burlington County), and Egg Harbor Township (Atlantic County), but never in any other state.

Pete from Boston · February 18, 2015, 10:42:47 AM

Quote from: bzakharin on February 18, 2015, 10:15:00 AM
I never left New Jersey as far as living and working is concerned (since coming here from Russia that is), though I went to school and college in Philadelphia.

pianocello · February 18, 2015, 11:38:50 AM

I can't say I know anybody who has never left their home state. Both places that I have called home are relatively close to state borders (Davenport is right on the Mississippi, Valpo is within an hour from both Illinois and Michigan).

roadman65 · February 18, 2015, 11:52:28 AM

Since I lived in Florida I can actually count all the times I have left the state. Living in New Jersey, I have visited New York and Pennsylvania so many times I could never count them.

In 2014 I never left Florida at all, because things were tight for me. Then in 2015, so far I have not left the state. My last time out of Florida was in 2013 when I visited my friend who used to live in Houma, LA.

In 2012, I left Florida twice. Went to Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas in a road trip landing at Hobby and stopping at ATL to switch flights (I guess you can add GA to the list as well), and traveled home to New Jersey another time visiting both PA and NY, flying into to PHL.

Previous years up until 2004, I only left the state once per year except in 2010 where I drove to NOLA (as my latest flickr updates have the photos) passing through AL and MS on the way, and and going for an overnight trip to Dothan, AL in March of 2010 only going into AL from Florida.

The thing also to note is that in Orlando, you are a day's drive from many places in Florida that you do not have to leave the state to take a short trip or vacation. Just to get to NOLA from Orlando, most of your drive there is in Florida alone. Then Key West which is seven to eight hours away from where I live, is all in one state. When I lived in NJ to go from Clark where I lived to Richmond, VA was the same as from Orlando to Key West, but 3 states lied in between the 4th one that Richmond is in. Five if I went through DC, as for sake of leaving the state the District of Columbia counts as a state, as many times I would use I-295 or use the NY Avenue and I-395 route to avoid circling around the infamous Capital Beltway

leroys73 · February 18, 2015, 12:05:15 PM

I bet I can find one of my Hillbilly relatives that has not but I'd have to ask. Since most live near Cincinnati I bet they have all been at least to KY or IN. In our big family most are road warriors.

When I taught school I was very surprised at how many had never left the state some not even the county. Even at the high school level.

OCGuy81 · February 18, 2015, 12:26:03 PM

My wife has a cousin in Texas who has NOT left Texas, save attending our wedding, and is now in his late 20s. Our wedding was the first time he left Texas. But as far as people who have never left a state, period? I can't think of anyone I know.

Granted, Texas encompasses a pretty large area, but still!

jeffandnicole · February 18, 2015, 12:40:05 PM

I would think it would be nearly impossible for a life-long New Jersey resident to have never left New Jersey. No matter where you are in the state, you are no more than 1.5 hours from either New York City or Philadelphia. As a kid many of our school class trips went to Philly, and a few even went to Baltimore. I'm sure kids north of Trenton would've taken a class trip to New York City. So even if an adult never leaves the state, as a kid they probably did.

On the other hand, I could understand if someone in New York City has never left New York City. Everything one would need would be no further than a subway ride away.

Pete from Boston · February 18, 2015, 01:00:58 PM

If you're poor enough, you can very easily not leave your state. You hear stories–I don't know how true–of people in South Boston back in the day turning this into a point of pride and frowning upon leaving the neighborhood ever.

clong · February 18, 2015, 01:03:24 PM

I was out of the contest on the way home from the hospital. Born in Chattanooga, TN and lived in NE AL. Depending on my parent's route home, may also have picked up GA on the way.

DandyDan · February 18, 2015, 02:28:57 PM

I work with someone who, until he moved to Omaha, had never been outside Nebraska. He grew up in Grand Island and never had much reason to leave until his brother moved here. He liked it so much he stayed.

Brandon · February 18, 2015, 02:34:42 PM

I don't know of anyone, personally, but since Indiana and Wisconsin are so close here, it makes it easy to go to at least one other state for most.

texaskdog · February 18, 2015, 02:50:18 PM

I worked with a girl who hadn't but she was only 16. I think she's 30 now. Funny part was living in Saint Paul and never making it to Wisconsin.

Betting there could be some here in Austin being so large and so far to any border

Alex4897 · February 18, 2015, 03:24:24 PM

Quote from: clong on February 18, 2015, 01:03:24 PM
I was out of the contest on the way home from the hospital. Born in Chattanooga, TN and lived in NE AL. Depending on my parent's route home, may also have picked up GA on the way.

I'm in the same boat, born in DE but lived just across the line in MD.

Zeffy · February 18, 2015, 04:43:48 PM

Well, I was born in Orlando, so I've been to at least every state on the I-95 corridor from Florida to New Jersey - but past that, my only travels have mainly been to Pennsylvania (as of semi-recently) and New York City. The only exceptions I've had was my Holocaust Museum field trip in 11th grade where I got to experience more of Maryland and the District of Columbia.

KEK Inc. · February 18, 2015, 04:46:12 PM

I was born in the Bay Area of California, and my first out-of-state trip was when I was 5 to Reno, NV. When I turned 7, we made a trip to Victoria, B.C., so we hit up Oregon and Washington. When I was 8, we went to Yellowstone and ultimately the Badlands of South Dakota.

Pete from Boston · February 18, 2015, 04:49:00 PM

Has anybody never left their home state?

GCrites · February 18, 2015, 05:41:48 PM

In NYC you meet a lot of people who claim to have never left the city.

kphoger · February 18, 2015, 05:51:29 PM

Quote from: Pete from Boston on February 18, 2015, 04:49:00 PM
Has anybody never left their home state?

Grinning...

Ray_Stantz · February 18, 2015, 06:12:48 PM

Or even more unlikely, someone that has never been to a state.
Anybody growing up in DC that wants to take on that challenge?

Pete from Boston · February 18, 2015, 06:21:46 PM

Quote from: Ray_Stantz on February 18, 2015, 06:12:48 PM
Or even more unlikely, someone that has never been to a state.
Anybody growing up in DC that wants to take on that challenge?

I don't know if you read here before you posted, but there are a few overseas users here, and one of them will likely qualify.

Ray_Stantz · February 18, 2015, 07:07:53 PM

Quote from: Pete from Boston on February 18, 2015, 06:21:46 PM

Quote from: Ray_Stantz on February 18, 2015, 06:12:48 PM
Or even more unlikely, someone that has never been to a state.
Anybody growing up in DC that wants to take on that challenge?

I don't know if you read here before you posted, but there are a few overseas users here, and one of them will likely qualify.

I know that, but I was following the OP: "Foreign countries don't count."

News:

Has anybody never left their home state?