50 States - Crossing that Fine Line

50 States - Crossing that Fine Line

Current mood:peaceful

Originally posted on MySpace on 2/4/2007. Reposting it here because I'm trying to get my life focused on what matters. Wish me luck!)

There's a fine line between hobby and mental illness. 

Talking about your hobby, even a weird one, evokes a polite nod and a smile from your friends.  If you start seeing reactions like wide eyes, long pauses before responses to your stories or eye-rolling, you should consider that you may have crossed the line.

Consider my "Life To-Do" list.  The list was inspired by a class I took at work about "Getting Things Done" by The David Allen Company (btw: highly recommended if your organizational skills need help, like mine did).  One of the things the class teaches is to create not only a daily to-do list, but also a weekly list of larger objectives, monthly/yearly lists of over all objectives and a '30,000 foot' list of life goals.  Overall, you should be working toward things you want to do in your life.  I posted a blog about this on New Years to update where I was as far as progress. 

One of my favorite goals was to eat a meal in all 50 states in the US.  "Eat a meal" was added since I didn't think the in-flight pack of peanuts flying over Iowa on the way to Chicago should count and you should spend at least SOME time in the state.  Airport layovers are cheap checkoffs, so I went back to states where that was the only meal.

I had a great head start on this list my senior year before college.  My parents, two brothers and one cousin drove through 23 states on a month long trip in the Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, passing through, in rough order staring in California: Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and on the way back, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado.  30 days, 6,000 miles, a few thousand bucks in car repair bills and a TON of fast food later, I was halfway through the 50 states.

I took care of Maine in a road trip in college, and Nebraska and Utah driving to California in a snowstorm after graduate school in Wisconsin (go Badgers!).  I checked off several states for business including Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Hawaii, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia. Yes, work picked up the bill for Florida and Hawaii!  BWAAHAAHAHA!  Susan and I purposely drove to Rhode Island for a lobster dinner during a trip to Boston in 2003, JUST TO CHECK IT OFF THE LIST. So I was down to just 8 states left.

Another item on the list was to complete a marathon.  After multiple knee surgeries, I knew this one would be tough, but I found out about Team in Training, a group that raises money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society that trains people to run OR WALK marathons in exchange for raising funds for cancer research.  TNT sponsored a race in Anchorage, Alaska, one of my missing states.  I decided that would be my last state AND my first marathon. Now, I just had to figure out what to do with the other 7.

This is where I started getting reactions that might indicate I crossed the line into 'mental illness'.  I planned a 5 day trip in 2005 to check of 5 states.  I flew into Tulsa Oklahoma, landing in the mid afternoon and drove east to West Siloam Springs, Arkansas for dinner.  I drove back to Tulsa, slept there and had breakfast before my noon flight to Louisville,Kentucky.  That weekend was "Thunder over Louisville", the fireworks and air show that marked official kickoff of two weeks of partying before the Kentucky Derby. Sunday morning I flew to New Orleans early and drove to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi for a crawdad lunch.

After that, I spent two days in New Orleans.  It was too early for Mardi Gras, but there was a Jazz Festival that Saturday with live bands just about everywhere.  I hung out with a guy I met at a blackjack table who was there for a conference. The last night started out with a dinner of catfish, hush puppies, a Hurricane, and continued with a Hand Grenade and 11 (count 'em ELEVEN)  kamikazes (this from someone who really DOESN'T drink much!).  What followed that is a story I will take to my grave.  Seriously.  I DID make it back to the hotel without incident (or piercings or tattoos, as far as I know…).

This left just two states – New Mexico and North Dakota.  I took a four day weekend, flew intoFargo on Thursday.  I walked my 18 mile training the next day in just over 4 hours along Roger Maris Park.  For those of you who train alone in warm weather, carry lots of water! There are NO water fountains available in the public park, maybe because they freeze?  I flew to Albuquerque, New Mexico the next day and spent time at the outdoor Rockfest.  Live bands again.  My timing was pretty good even though it was sheer luck.

June 16^th, 2005 was the day before our 10^th wedding anniversary.  We landed inAnchorage, Alaska and met with some friends down town for steak and king crab.  Here's a picture of the gory aftermath.

The next day, I walked the Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon, beating my goal time by nearly 8 minutes.  I'll be going back to Anchorage this June to do it again - hopefully it won't rain!

Some people think they need reasons for the weird stuff that they do. I just like to do weird stuff and rationalize it after it happens.

50 states - CHECK

First Marathon - CHECK

Thanks to Wayno for his Vacation Memories blog for goading me into finally getting this one out there.