Okay, RVers, listen up. Say you’ve been staying just outside Boston, Massachusetts, and you’re on your way up to stay a few days near Acadia National Park in Maine. To get there, you have to drive through New Hampshire (though only for a short bit, in this example). You drive through without stopping. (Next time, stop in Portsmouth—it’s a great little town!) Does New Hampshire count on your “been there” list? Or do you not count it because you just quickly drove through?
When you’re logging your travels, what makes a state “count”? Is it enough to roll across the border and fill up your gas tank? Do you need to camp overnight? Eat a meal? Visit an attraction? Everyone seems to have a slightly different rule for how they tally up where they’ve been, and those personal criteria can make for some fun debates.
For some RVers, crossing the state line is enough—the wheels touched down, the GPS confirmed it, and the state gets added to the list. Others set stricter guidelines: they have to spend at least one night, take a photo, or explore something local. There’s no official rulebook, which means your “visited states” map is really your own version of the story.
Some even keep two lists—one for states they’ve driven through, and one for places where they’ve truly explored. That way, there’s no guilt about coloring in a state on the map, but also a reason to go back later and spend more time. However you do it, the goal is the same: to get out there, see more, and enjoy the ride.
When you’re driving cross-country on I-90 and you pass directly through Chicago, Illinois, but keep going, do you say you’ve been to Illinois?
Tell us in today’s poll, please. And feel free to leave a comment and explain your answer. Thanks!
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RVT1208
It’s your map so it’s your rules.
My game, my rules!
I “count” it only if I stay at least 1 night.
If I stopped I visited. If I didn’t stop then I only state I had passed through. It’s like if I’m out and about and stop at a friend’s home and visited for a few minutes before venturing on.
We used to say if our dog Simba left his mark, we visited that state. 😉 And yes, we cleaned us after him.
I only count them if I have camped in them. I do count Rhode Island, though I only drove across it. My count is 48, only missing Delaware and Hawaii.
“Visiting” a state by driving through it would be like saying you “visited” relatives by driving by their house. Of course, in some families this may be the better alternative to actually stopping. 🙂
No. An overnight stay to rest and continue your journey doesn’t count as “seeing” the state. What did you see while your sleeping?
I say I have been in all 50 states but have not visited all 50 states. Being in a state does not mean visiting a state. Going to a state like Florida and spending a week in Orlando on vacation is not visiting the state but only visiting one city in the state. You can never say you visited a state if you only saw the freeway in that state or one town. There is a big difference between visiting and just driving by something,
My adventure…my rules! Your adventure…your rules! 😃
I like that statement!
A physical presence in that state is a VISIT however short it is!
We just did a flying trip to/from Norway. Our outbound flight was re-routed thru Manchester, UK, so we got a visit in England. Oh, and in Tromso, we did a bus tour that went into Finland (for N Lights).
I would say I’ve been there not visited.
Our self imposed rule to place a sticker on our map is we have to stay at least 2 nights and do something unique to that state or learn something about the state historically/culturally. Sometimes that could mean visiting a winery……….
While I might count just driving through, I’d prefer to actually visit (most of) the states. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out
If I stay overnight in a state, that is how we count it. Everyone has their own way to do it. Some will just drive through and count it. That’s fine if that’s their way. The main thing is to get out there and RV any way that you enjoy. Stay well, stay safe
Great question guys. Driving down the street and going past Disneyland doesn’t mean “we went to Disneyland.” Flying from LA to NY with a 1 hr stop in Atlanta doesn’t mean “we visited Atlanta.” Driving I-40 from Oklahoma to New Mexico and going through the Texas Panhandle doesn’t mean “we’ve been to Texas.” Come on folks. Visiting a state is when you actually spend time in that state, see the sites, not a drive through.
We stayed western North Carolina, while there we spent a lot of time in Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina. We didn’t camp in those other states but we definitely visited them.
We count if we stay overnight or if we visit some places in that state. For example, in 2021, we were driving from KY (visited the Ark) to visit some family in ND. In WI, we were gonna just pull over for lunch and watch a show. Instead we drove into The Dells, parked, had a quick bite and took a Dells Boat Tour. So we counted that. Then in 2023, on another trip, we did park/sleep overnight in WI, but that had no bearing on us counting it.
Every state has something to see and do. Every little town has a ma & pa restaurant, or museum or statues to visit. We’ve camped in every state we traveled to. We RVed to Alaska taking 80 days staying somewhere including Canada. One day we only traveled 50 miles.
We use the rule of “having slept overnight” to mark it on our map. We have stayed just over the border in a couple states and drove across to visit sites. I say we’ve visited but not camped there.
The only time that I have counted States is when asked in one of RVTs surveys. We travel by-ways and stop in little towns to eat at Mom & Pops, or visit an antique store – not necessarily antiques stores, there are all sorts of antique stores in themselves, or old hardware, or just walk the downtown for a stroll. The travel thru the countryside goes past cotton fields, tobacco, corn, wheat, pine tree forests and orange groves – cattle, horses, sheep, goats, fish and crabs, and my favorite Bison. We travel to see, feel, and taste our country and its people. What else is travel for?
Thank you for the question, RV Travel! Nope. I have to spend the night in the state to “count” it, not that I “count” states. Now if I am broken down and stuck somewhere overnight, that doesn’t “count” either. Have a great week and safe travels!
Our first RV trip in early 1981 was to Disney World in Florida with a used Bethany pop-up. We bought a “sticker” type map with stickers for each state. We had Indiana, Georgia, and Florida decals on the map after our first trip. “Driving through” didn’t count. We agreed that we had to stop and see an ‘attraction’ [rest rooms are not an attraction] and sleep overnight in that state. It took us 34 years to have all 34 states checked off.
I had to check. We’ve been in 49 states with our rig. Stayed in most, missed WI, NH, IA, GA, MD and RI (for overnight stays) but had lunch or visited and attraction in each). We have also stayed in 9 provinces (BC, AB, SK, MB,ON, PEI, NB,NS and NF) 1 territory (YT) and driven to 1 other territory (NWT). Missing Nunavut and QE. HI is on the list, but the toll is high so we will probably fly there.
Sounds like lots of fun, Mr disaster. Like I mentioned to Jerry X Shea this morning, you could rent an RV/camper van on Hawaii and check that off your list.🤔 Have a good night/great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Saying that I have been there and saying that I have visited are not the same thing. I have been to 38 states but have probably only visited about half of those.
To add a state in our Household, we must reside at least one night in that State and must do at least one “touristy” excursion.