Biography

I started traveling on business right after graduation from the University of Georgia. I visited many small paper mill towns and some large city distribution centers. I eventually realized that I was seeing many states and colored a map with states I’d visited. My goal in 1993 was to see all 50 states. Then, I changed jobs where I didn’t travel as much and often to the same locations, so my goal got delayed. When I turned 50, I wanted to see more of the USA again. My sister and I decided to take a trip for my birthday. She envisioned a beach trip, but I prefer to explore an area. I planned a trip to SD, ND, MT and WY. My sister thought that sounded dreadful, but she would do it for me. She was astounded by the beauty and the adventure. We have gone on several trips in the past 7 years and have seen many more states. I recently completed visiting my last two states: Connecticut and Vermont on October 5th, 2024. My sister was able to see 4 new states as we visited Maine and New Hampshire also. We often get up very early on our explorations and see all that we can see in an area. Because of our jobs, we often can’t be away more than 5-7 days, but we see a lot in those days. There are many states we would return to and explore more. My sister has 6 more states – Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and West Virginia. I visited all of those on my business trips, but when traveling on business, there often isn’t enough time to fully explore an area. I am more than happy to go with her on more trips to complete her final 6 states. Also, I haven’t seen all of the Great Lakes. I need to see Huron, Superior and Erie. We will plan trips so that we see all of these. I also want to see the Northern Lights in Fairbanks. We have tried seeing them near Denali and it rained, so we will possibly have to fly last minute to Fairbanks when there is a great chance of seeing them. I have not been to Key West or the other Florida Keys. I haven’t been to all the US Territories, so there is still much traveling to do.