My United States Travel Map

Create your own personalized map of the USA.

I seem to be unable to resist these doodads. I usually find these little blog memes to be lamely self-referential, and… well, this one is too. But for some reason I don’t care. I find this an interesting summation of personal experience, a little map of one’s geographic history.

There are still a lot of places I haven’t been, but most of the states I’ve been to, I’ve been to pretty thoroughly. I wandered the country in my pickup without any itinerary for almost a year when I was in my mid-20s. I racked up enough mileage in that year to have driven all the way around the earth. I took back roads and state highways and stayed in people homes and campgrounds. I visited hundreds of small towns and cities you never heard of, as well as many of the great cities of our country. I had already visited Europe and North Africa by that point, and had the realization that in many ways, I knew some other countries better than my own. My endeavor was to rectify that ignorance.

I didn’t go to every region or state; my intent wasn’t to be systematic. But I did get around a bit, especially in the Southwest, the old South (especially New Orleans, Atlanta, and Memphis), the Mid- and Upper Mid-West, and the lower eastern seaboard.

It’s hard to be a tourist in one’s own country, A wanderer who is a foreigner is a tourist. A wanderer who is a native of the country is a bum, or a serial killer. I faced a lot more mistrust and indifference in my own country than I ever did in even the most foriegn cultures I’ve visited. People in foriegn countries are almost always interested and curious about an American; especially one who doesn’t travel with the cultural armor of a touring group. But just like in everyday life, other Americans tend to look right through you – especially if you haven’t had bath for a few days and you look a bit disreputable.

Despite this handicap, I met plenty of really interesting and kind people on my journeys in America. There is a lot more of importance going on at any one time in this country than the media can ever really portray, and much greater unity under the skin than the media would ever admit. America is the most diverse population I’ve ever seen: by ethicity, race, origin, religion and in every other way. Unfortunately, it is not the best I’ve seen at embracing and using that diversity in a positive manner.

Hopefully, one day I will have a chance to see the ‘Big Empty’ of the upper West, visit the Eastern Megalopolis and the quaint rural areas of New England, and bask in the gentle warmth and tropical lushness of the Hawaiian islands. I might have visited all of this great country then, but I still couldn’t claim to really know it.