How to See All 50 US states in 60 days!
Route - strategy - budget - vehicle + more
The best summer of our lives.
Let’s go:
50 states. 60 days. 4 kids. Why?
Because it’s awesome!
Also, to celebrate my daughter’s successful double lung transplant.
Below I’ll discuss:
Strategy
Route
Vehicle
Budget
Takeaways
Stats
More
STRATEGY
Our 2 goals:
1. See all 50 states efficiently
2. Be together
Anything else we experience will just be a bonus.
If we have breakdowns and experience stress, who cares? We did it together.
This set us up for success no matter what happened.
We also wanted to be sure to do something in each state, even if only a simple hike.
We discussed doing the lower 48 in 48 days, as it costs about as much to do 48 as it does to do just AK and HI, but we figured “Let’s go for broke.”
All or nothing, baby!
The only way to do AK and HI efficiently is to park in Seattle, fly 1 way to Anchorage and then 1 way to Hawaii, then back to SeaTac.
We stayed 1 week in both AK and HI. More on that later.
Flights from Seattle to Anchorage are as cheap as you’ll find, and the other flights weren’t bad either.
More strategy:
- We used a 32’ Class C RV (ours is below). 4 beds, plenty of space. ~$40k. Everything you need to live comfortably is on that rig.
- Stay in RV parks and Walmart + church parking lots
- Mostly home-cooked meals
- Hug the state borders
- Don’t go way out of our way to see something popular (Yellowstone or Grand Canyon didn’t make the cut)
- Don’t stress about missing these popular destinations. You can’t even see all the National Parks in California in a few weeks, much less a few days, so why stress? NorCal and Tahoe were incredible. Maybe next time, Yosemite!
- Do 1 thing in every state. Maybe that means stay 1 week and maybe that means see a windmill farm (freaking Kansas).
- Take 2-3 day breathers every 10 days or so.
- Lots of hiking
- Limited screen time
- Lots of reading
- Lots of 2003-era emo music (thx dad)
- Church every Sunday (Fairview, TX > Whittier, NC > Saco, ME > Chicago > Glendive, MT > Anchorage > Honolulu > Seattle > Hurricane, UT
- Leave dad some time and space to get some work done. For WiFi we used T-Mobile’s rural internet plan and router. $50/month and was very solid and portable. Worked almost everywhere at 10-50 mpbs.
Pics of our home, Big Al:
THE ROUTE
Below is a rough sketch of our route.
For a granular breakdown of every city we had a gas stop in (every 200-300 miles) here it is
Planning this route didn’t take as long as you might think. Efficiency was the goal, so we never went too far out of our way. Alberta was an exception, as my uncle has a cabin near Banff and it was breathtaking and worth the detour.
Some stops took an hour and some took 7 days.
We didn’t spend too long in the southern states, since we’ve lived here for a while and seen them all quite a bit. Despite having been to the Destin area a dozen times, it was still just as good.
It was more efficient to cut down through Ontario when we got to Maine, so we did that and spent a day in Montreal. We spent 1 night on Lake Ontario and 1 night on Lake Erie and then cut down through Detroit, across to Kalamazoo and then around Lake Michigan to Chicago.
We spent 3 days in Chicago while my wife and daughter flew to Houston for a day for hospital appointments. That was a blast.
We had a run in with a tree on a sharp turn in Wisconsin that tore up our awning, but the show must go on, so it did.
We met up with the family of the boy that donated his lungs to my daughter in Lincoln, NE. That was a special experience.
Aside from the surprisingly cool Pony Express Museum in Missouri, the midwest was unsurprisingly forgettable.
Once we hit Devil’s Tower in WY things started getting awesome again.
Teddy Roosevelt NP in ND was freaking awesome. Very underrated, like a mini Yellowstone. Highly recommended.
Montana was amazing, we spent 2 nights in Glacier and then went a few hours north back to Canada to Waterton, AB, which looks like Switzerland. 1 day wasn’t enough, so we’re going back for 2 weeks next week.
After Alberta we cut across the finger of Idaho and stayed with friends in Spokane for a couple nights and went fishing at midnight for salmon.
Next up was Seattle to stay overnight at an RV park and then Uber to the airport to catch our flight to Alaska.
We stayed in Anchorage for a week and had the time of our lives. The highlight was a 10 hour float down the Little Su River with friends and seeing countless eagles, moose and salmon up close and personal.
Then we spent a week in Oahu and saw all the things. Very beautiful but very crowded as always. The food was amazing.
Then we went back to Seattle via Southwest to head down the 101.
Once we hit Portland we went west and followed the 101 to Eureka. That was a highlight of the trip for sure. Towering redwoods on our left and breaching whales on our right. Nothing else like it in the world.
In Eureka we headed east again towards Redding and then Tahoe. Tahoe was….maybe my #1 of the trip. Not overrated in the least bit. Crystal clear water + mountains all in 1? I had an amazing trail run here and we stayed only 2 nights.
After Tahoe we headed across no man’s land in barron Nevada. We’d seen the Hoover Dam, Vegas and the Grand Canyon so we skipped all that and headed towards St. George.
Zion’s NP was incredible and we hiked the narrows. That was also a highlight.
Northern AZ was Horseshoe Bend and Vermillion Cliffs. Beautiful.
NM was 4 corners (Huge letdown. Don’t get me going on NM). Yes, I know there are great parts, but I’ve yet to see them.
Colorado was rafting the Animas River in Durango, and then we were home free back in Texas!
I get more detailed on route highlights in the last couple tweets.
Pictures:
THE VEHICLE
You don’t have to have an RV for this trip, and in fact, I may not even recommend it if you’re on a budget. This surprised us, but hear me out.
We got 6.95 MPGs, and I tracked every. single. mile. Wind direction was the biggest differentiator, not speed or elevation changes.
Last summer was the highest gas prices the world has ever seen. We spent $8,600 in gas alone (not including AK and HI). In our van it would have been around $2,500, with $6,000 left over to stay in hotels. Furthermore, we spent about $2k in RV parks as well.
Boondocking (not using hookups to save money) sounds great in theory, but is actually pretty terrible in practice.
At least it was for us. You have to run the generator, which is loud and costly, and you’re worried that someone will come knock on your door any time. So we opted for campgrounds 9/10 times.
Turns out Walmart parking lots don’t make for great sleep!
So if you’re anything like us, you won’t enjoy as much lodging savings with an RV as you might expect.
A campground is just nice. Water, sewer and electrical hookups are a real luxury, even if your RV is fully capable of doing without.
They’re also usually in beautiful places, which is an added perk. We were usually up against a river or lake.
Also, renting an RV is out of the question for this trip. You have to buy one, and you should really buy used.
We paid $40k for one and then sold it for about $40k after the trip, because we took our time buying it and found a great price.
This is the way to go. A rental would cost over $10k after mileage surcharges!
You can also pull a camper as well, which would be a fine option. It’d be nice to unhook and take the car once you arrive, but that would get tiring I imagine.
All in all, it’s about 4 hours of driving per day, on average. There are Californians that commute that much! You can do it in a van or SUV. If you’re really on a budget you can camp.
Having the RV was incredibly efficient, which was the goal, but we paid for that efficiency through the nose. There were only a couple places where it wouldn’t fit, and everywhere else parking wasn’t much of an issue, just something to plan ahead for.
Class C is just right for a big family.
Class B (converted vans) would be perfect for just a couple.
Class As are freaking massive, but nice.
Pictures:
THE BUDGET
We were in a very unique situation, because we hadn’t been living in our primary home for 6 months when we went on this trip.
We had to move to a rental in Houston so my daughter could get on the transplant list, so we put our home on Airbnb 6 months before this trip.
If you do it right, this strategy alone can pay for the whole trip.
In the 60 days we were gone our home generated about $11k in net income (after mortgage, fees, etc).
That paid for about half of the trip. If you take out the mortgage (because it did pay down some of our equity), it paid for almost the whole trip.
And the DFW suburbs are not exactly an AirBnb hotbed. You’d be surprised how eligible your home would be for AirBnb, if local regulations allow for it.
You can also list your home on HomeExchange and earn points to stay in homes around the world at a later date.
All told, this is roughly what we spent:
Gas - $8,800 (incl. AK + HI)
RV Repairs - $1,350
RV Depreciation after fees - $1,300
Flights (I had points) - $2,700
Food - $3,600
RV Park Lodging - $2,250
AK + HI Rental Cars - $1,120 (Turo)
AK + HI Lodging - $2,550 (AirBnB)
Other - $1,100
$24,770
Subtract out food (because we would have spent the same at home) and what we made on Airbnb, and it was about a $10k trip.
Some families pay that just to see Disney!
By doing only the lower 48 or all 50 with airline points, using a vehicle instead of RV and using Airbnb wisely, I think it’s possible for this trip to net out at $0.
A lot of that depends on the Airbnb portion though, which could be all over the map.
Had we not been living for 6 months in Houston already, I don’t think we’d have gone the Airbnb route since having strangers in our house isn’t ideal. But in this case it made sense to leave the dates open for an extra 2 months.
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Pictures:
MORE ROUTE HIGHLIGHTS
Looking for crawfish and digging for gems in Hot Springs, AR.
Eating at a very mediocre catfish buffet that doubles as a church in Mississippi.
Seeing the falls in downtown Greenville, SC.
The perfect weather and beauty of Asheville, NC.
Hiking a mile of the Appalachian Trail.
The impromptu LDS Temple open house visit in DC
Staying in Newport, RI and walking the cliffs.
Our sailing lesson in RI.
Going on a historical walking tour in Boston. I still can't believe I found street parking for the RV.
Exploring the White Mountains of NH by train and foot.
Touring the Gillette Castle in Connecticut.
Exploring the Strawberry Banke Historical Museum in NH.
Church in Saco, Maine followed by looking at lighthouses and exploring tide pools. We later ate the mussels we found for dinner.
Visiting Joseph Smith's birthplace followed by a Ben and Jerry's factory visit.
Visiting the Montreal Botanical Gardens.
Sleeping on the shores of Lake Erie and Ontario on back to back nights in Canada.
Eating poutine in Toronto.
Visiting the Southernmost tip of Canada.
Exploring the Indiana Dunes on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Eating deep dish pizza and Portillo's in Chicago.
Mystery Caves tour in Minnesota.
Visiting Mount Rushmore at night with grumpy, cold and rained-on kids.
Riding my mountain bike right next to 2 bears in the rockies of British Columbia.
Redwoods National Forest.
Watching 3 bears next to our RV and nibbling on our hubcap on the side of the road for 20 mins on the way to a hike on a deserted road.
We had our fair share of down moments, including:
Backing into a low hanging wire in Asheville and bending the RV ladder.
Generator breakdowns, causing it to get a bit toasty at times.
Plenty of privileges taken away, grumpy kids and parents, lack of sleep, kids fighting and crying, time outs, groundings, no screen time, stressful work calls, etc.
Puking kids for 3 nights in a row!
But there was far, far more good than bad.
Pictures:
TAKEAWAYS
Some general learnings from the trip:
We're proud to be American
We spent the 4th of July in Seward, Alaska with our friends. It was on this day that we introduced our kids to the song "I'm Proud to be an American." We played it on repeat on the drive south from Anchorage. At one point we saw a bald eagle and a glacier out the window at the same time while the song played, and we remarked how it was the most American scene we'd ever witnessed! America is a great, beautiful place, with so many wonderful people. We were constantly in awe of the beauty around us, even in states where we didn't expect to see much beauty (looking at you, North Dakota). We learned that there are many states in which we could see ourselves living. But alas, we're Texans at heart.
Humans need routine
We were away from home for 8 months. Despite how much we loved Houston and this trip, we were very ready for our routine and "normal lives" to be back. Humans weren't built for all vacation or no vacation. We're built to work and to serve, and we really need a break every now and then. But a life with either no routine or only routine isn't sustainable.
There's always time
We're always guilty of saying there's no time for X, Y or Z, but there really is, if we find it important enough. We can't not have time and also have 3 hours of iPhone screen time per day. There's always room left in the day to stretch a little more and fit in the important things. I wish my business were at a point where I could walk away, but I had to keep working on this trip. Thanks to a great team and being forced to make time, seemingly all the time, this is a lesson that kept coming to mind.
People everywhere are inherently good
We got the unique experience of going to 8 different branches of our church in 8 states across 8 weeks. It was so interesting noticing patterns and differences between the people and congregations in each state. But everywhere we went, the love and warmth was the same.
Texas is so dang hot
We were spoiled with near perfect weather for about 90% of this trip. Having lived in the South for most of my life I've forgotten that much of the US doesn't live in a sauna for 4 months in a row every year.
Fellow tourists are really so bad at taking pictures
My pride wouldn't allow me to buy a selfie stick, so either my arm was the selfie stick or a random, well-meaning tourist. Time and time again I'd pre-zoom out my camera to make it easy for them, so we can actually see the cool thing behind us in the picture. And time and time again the fellow tourist would say "Ehh I'm just gonna zoom in on the dad's nose hair."
Next time I'll bring a selfie stick.
Pictures:
STATS & CONCLUSION
Miles driven: 12,452. 1,040 of those were in Alaska and 346 in Hawaii.
Average MPG: 6.95. Ouch.
Most expensive gas: Bainsville, Ontario: $6.27
Cheapest gas: Amarillo, TX: $3.49
50/50 States
3/5 Great Lakes
3/10 Canadian Provinces
4.16 hours driven on average per day, leaving 8 hours to sleep and 12 hours for activities.
We aren't sure our kids yet fully grasp the concept and enormity of this trip, but we hope that one day they'll look back on the pictures and memories with fondness and gratitude.
I can’t think of many things I would have done differently. It was an absolutely incredible time that I will think of fondly for the rest of my life.
We only have 1 family, and our kids are only in the home for so long.
Our next adventure may just be doing the Great Loop…(Google it)
Thanks for reading! Feel free to share and follow if you’re into small biz, real estate and family.
50 in 60. Go do it next summer!
Who am I? I start and buy businesses and MH/RV parks and live in DFW on a few acres.
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