Major announcement: I will be crossing the border into ND and my 50th state shortly

I'm in Fargo . wish I had seen the post earlier from the guy here. Could have given u a free LRC shirt.

I couldn't live stream the crossing as my internet wasn't fast enough,

38845857 wrote:

I'm tired of everyone talking shit about North Dakota! Most of you have never been there, and if you did visit, you would realize it's a beautiful place in the summer with mostly great people.

Of course, North Dakota, together with Nebraska and Utah, have the best economies and lowest unemployment rates in the country. They have yet to be overrun by hordes of the species Homo entitlementus - the liberal.

WTF. This is weird. I have also been to 49 states, with ND being the last one I need. Wish I could have made the trip with you!

Big deal. Good travel is possible because we rely on our cars.

Are you staying in Fargo for any length of time?

wejo wrote:

I took a 3 hour detour yesterday to cross Nebraska off the list. I realized I had never been there after confirming i didn't drive through on a road trip from Boulder to Terre Haute for NCAA xc.

Only state that may be a bit iffy is Michigan. I've been to the Detroit airport multiple times. I thought i drove from Detroit to Canada once but it didn't happen.

I lived in Chicago as a kid for 3 years and need to see if we ever went to Michigan. I was trying not to count airports.

The rule with countries is to count you need to spend a night, and not in an airport/airport hotel. I'd be at least that strict with states.

Driving on the highway for a couple hours doesn't count. Stopovers definitely don't count. If you don't remember it probably doesn't count.

Thanks for the post. I was wondering what the 'rules' are to count as a state you visited. Obviously, everyone makes up their own, but at a minimum I would have to say you need to spend the night outside an airport. Driving through and airport stopovers really shouldn't count. But to each their own.I've only spent the night in 20 states.

20-something countries wrote:

wejo wrote:

I took a 3 hour detour yesterday to cross Nebraska off the list. I realized I had never been there after confirming i didn't drive through on a road trip from Boulder to Terre Haute for NCAA xc.

Only state that may be a bit iffy is Michigan. I've been to the Detroit airport multiple times. I thought i drove from Detroit to Canada once but it didn't happen.

I lived in Chicago as a kid for 3 years and need to see if we ever went to Michigan. I was trying not to count airports.

The rule with countries is to count you need to spend a night, and not in an airport/airport hotel. I'd be at least that strict with states.

Driving on the highway for a couple hours doesn't count. Stopovers definitely don't count. If you don't remember it probably doesn't count.

Well, considering he drove from Hague to Fargo (at least), he spent pretty much all day in ND. He actually saw parts of the state I've never been to, and I've lived here for 42 years. COUNT IT!

Is Texas still a state? I understand the Obama Administration is planning an invasion.

The Zephito Rule:

1. Your feet need to be on the ground. Feet can be either bare or with shoes. Ground can be soil/grass/sidewalk/pavement, but not any floor or basement of any building.

2. Thus, airports / driving through don't count unless:

a. You exit the plane on the tarmac (or you run outside and go back through security).

b. You stop to get out of your car in the state.

ask your bro wrote:

Wejo, whenever you get into North Dakota, could you please call Rojo and ask him when he plans to publish the Mike Rossi article?

First off, this is the best post of July so far.

Second, I was just reading this article before I came to LetsRun this afternoon:

20-something countries wrote:

wejo wrote:

I took a 3 hour detour yesterday to cross Nebraska off the list. I realized I had never been there after confirming i didn't drive through on a road trip from Boulder to Terre Haute for NCAA xc.

Only state that may be a bit iffy is Michigan. I've been to the Detroit airport multiple times. I thought i drove from Detroit to Canada once but it didn't happen.

I lived in Chicago as a kid for 3 years and need to see if we ever went to Michigan. I was trying not to count airports.

The rule with countries is to count you need to spend a night, and not in an airport/airport hotel. I'd be at least that strict with states.

Driving on the highway for a couple hours doesn't count. Stopovers definitely don't count. If you don't remember it probably doesn't count.

i'm not sure i agree. for some of the New England states, staying a night over sees over kill. i've been in Rhode Island a hundred times. Eaten there countless times. Concerts. Dinners. Events but never stayed the night. i'm not sure i've ever stayed the night in maine either but been their countless times.

I think these are pretty good rules. Not that I talk to many people about this, but everyone that I've talked to would count driving through a state (possibly requiring to get out of the car), but would not count an airport. I've never heard of anyone requiring to stay a night. If you stayed in DC but went o Maryland of Virginia for the day that wouldn't count?

zephito wrote:

The Zephito Rule:

1. Your feet need to be on the ground. Feet can be either bare or with shoes. Ground can be soil/grass/sidewalk/pavement, but not any floor or basement of any building.

2. Thus, airports / driving through don't count unless:

a. You exit the plane on the tarmac (or you run outside and go back through security).

b. You stop to get out of your car in the state.

The traditional rule among runners is that it should not count unless you full a full marathon in the state. Some people has gone soft and adopted a rule that it must be at least a half marathon, and other lazy people have adopted a rule that it must be at least a training run.

I'll accept that requiring an overnight to count a state/county may be overkill. Zephito rules seem good.

Not budging on a true overnight to count a country. Although of course it's arbitrary and to each their own!

You haven't been skiing until you've skied Turtle Mountain Ski Resort near Grand Forks. Over 43' of sheer vertical drop!

They say the first Winter Olympics were held there, but the records from that era are sketchy.

Kind of anti-climactic to end in North Dakota. ;-)

Personally, I use two measurements (age 35):

1. States that I have "been" in. The minimum requirement is at least one hour AND feet touching the ground at some point, so airports do not count. By this measure I have 47 states. Missing both Dakotas and Idaho, so I'll knock that off in one trip sometime. (And funnily, Michigan is also a close call for me - I've flown through Detroit dozens of times, but only have the state from crossing into the Upper Peninsula from Wisconsin!)

2. States that I have spent the night in. Minimum requirement is 6 hours AND nighttime. Here I have 39 states.

I seem to recall a thread somewhere years ago (maybe on LetsRun?) about running at least one mile in each state. By this count I only have 28 states. I didn't run for a few years due to plantar fascitis and traveled quite a bit during this time.

For what it's worth, I've also been to 17 countries, and slept in all of them. Ran at least a mile (actually 10+ miles) in 13 of them. Treadmills in hotels don't count.

Hey come on by Valley City/track town of North Dakota and have a beer or two with once a runner/coach. Cheers!