Most pathetic state clinches

[intelati49]

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.

[apeman33]

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.

[beau99]

My exposure to Nevada consists solely of Clark County. That's mine.

I'd count Utah at the Four Corners monument but...

[SD Mapman]

I passed through Indiana going from Chicago to Detroit once.

[formulanone]

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.

[Brandon]

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.

[mariethefoxy]

(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.

[tmthyvs]

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.

[busman_49]

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.

[rawmustard]

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.

[US 41]

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.

[Big John]

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.

[US 41]

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.

[US 41]

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. 

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2VPKZ_texas-northwest-corner?guid=6d2768e6-e257-4131-a32d-ff14a7d762c2

[getemngo]

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.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

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.

[davewiecking]

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...

[Duke87]

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.

[golden eagle]

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.

[Mr. Matté]

Literally everybody has been to West Virginia at some point just because of I-70.

Not me, I-81.

[golden eagle]

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.

[Rothman]

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.

[dfwmapper]

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 .

[mattpedersen]

Vacation in Las Vegas, drove out to California on I-15, went one exit into the state, and headed back to Vegas.

[tdindy88]

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.