Chasing 50... Conquering the United States of America

I’m not one of those people who has all sorts of bucket list items. I’ve done a lot in the last 33 years and quite frankly my list only really had 2 items on it… Visit all 50 states along with all 7 continents. The former… I’ve been oh so close for years and yet put it off for oh so long.

After visiting Hawaii in 2018, I only had two states left. However those two states didn’t have anything specific to draw me in for a visit all the way from New York. Those just happen to be…. Oklahoma & North Dakota. Prior to Covid, I’d been saying “oh, i’ll just take a trip where I fly to one for a day or two followed by the other in a funky two stop round trip. 

The problem with this plan was always that I’d let life get in the way & it became a back burner idea.

When covid hit I became even more distracted by all the chaos & trying to just stay healthy. Then when my landlord sold my place… I just tried to get into the woods while being nomadic. After building the van, I debated taking a weird long route to Utah through Oklahoma… However the only spots with anything to do were nowhere close to the route. The main rule for visiting a state is that I must do an activity in said state. 

Quite frankily, It wasn’t until I was en route to Bentonville, Arkansas for work that I realized how close I would be to Oklahoma. I didn’t know when I would be in the neighborhood again and had to figure out a way to check it off the list. Conveniently All Trails came to the rescue & let me search for hikes close-is to Bentonville, but across the border. Natural Falls State Park fit the bill perfectly 

✅ Located 5-10 miles inside Oklahoma

✅ Three mile hike for an activity

✅ Food in the van for a snack to fully solidify it all

This left me with just the mystical #50, but plans throughout august in Wyoming and Utah made it hard to finish things off. However the first week of September opened up ahead of a flight to New York for a wedding. After a little research the perfect spot appeared…

Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP)

✅ Located in North Dakota

✅ ~850 miles/12.5 hours of driving from Salt Lake City

✅ Multiple sections of park allowing ample activities and exploring

✅ Wildlife galore to capture images of which I could sell prints of giving even more justification for the expense

✅ Plus it is the final one!!!!

Okay Okay… I guess it’s time to go & get this thing done!!

I try not to drive more than 10 hours in a day. Conveniently Devils Tower National Monument happened to be about 9 1/2 hours away. I mean… how could I not knock out 2 NPS sites in a single trip… Thus the real adventure began!

As I pulled into North Dakota, I decided to do a rare state line selfie… BECAUSE IT WAS NUMBER 50!! haha

Then I realized as exciting as it was I immediately began thinking “what’s next?”

Putting those thoughts to the back of mind for a bit I decided put my focus on maximizing my time in North Dakota. First thing I did was stop into the South Unit of TRNP for a quick drive through getting a little lay of the land (as they say).

I was quickly greeted by prairie dogs which required a solid hour of photographing and filming because they’re so stinking cute. Quickly followed by herds of bison & just like that… I fell in love with 50 and settled in for a few days of fun and near death experiences… A good reminder that sometimes you just have to go for it because there’s no better time than now… now we go onto the next one! ;)