Check off one bucket list item - all 50 states

As of last May, Jim Vollegraaf of Staples has visited all of the 50 United States of America.

It wasn’t something he had intentionally set out to do - at least at first; but when he realized there was just one state he’d never set foot in, Jim decided to do something about it.

“That was Rhode Island,” he said, in reference to the east coast state that had eluded him for decades. “I always seemed to miss that one. I’d eaten lobster and camped in Maine, but never made it to Rhode Island.”

Last spring, he decided to be very intentional about checking this off from his bucket list. He flew into Hartford, Conn., spending some time touring Mystic Seaport before embarking on the trek to ‘Little Rhody,’ as the state is affectionately called.

“I got to go to Watch Hill, in Rhode Island...at the tip of the peninsula,” Jim said, going on to describe the village with its upscale shops and gorgeous views of the ocean.  A number of celebrities have homes along the beach, including Barbra Streisand, Dustin Hoffman and Taylor Swift.

He also stayed a few nights in Newport. “You see yachts from all over the world,” Jim said. 

“There is so much history in the east coast,” Jim went on, mentioning the cemeteries with gravestones dating back a few centuries. “I stopped at a tavern in Newport that had been built in 1639.” He also toured the church where President John F. Kennedy and Jackie were married.

Jim credits his years in the air force, as well as one of his former jobs, with providing him the opportunity to see so much of the United States.

“The first state I ever saw was Minnesota, of course,” Jim said, adding that he was born in St. Paul. “Then, Wisconsin, I guess.”

He recalled the trip he took with his family to see the Badlands and Yellowstone National Park when he was 10 years old. “I also traveled to California by train with my parents when I was a kid.” These experiences would serve to  whet his appetite for travel.

After high school, Jim went on to attend the University of Minnesota. During those years, he checked off a few more states while taking road trips with his buddies. “I remember driving out to the Rose Bowl when the Gophers were playing.” They were in a beat-up old car which broke down somewhere in Nevada. “Here we are in the middle of nowhere...in the desert...with a flat tire and no jack. By chance, a guy that drove that way once a month to check power lines happened to stop and helped us out.”

He’s collected a lot of interesting stories and met some fascinating people while traveling across the United States. Not to mention the diverse landscape  beauty he’s photographed over the years.

“There’s so much to see in the U.S.,” Jim says.

When he got back from Vietnam, Jim was stationed in Virginia, which allowed him to visit several east coast states, including Maryland and New Jersey. 

Around this time Jim also did a lot of backpacking in places like Montana, Idaho and New Mexico. “That’s when I decided to start counting up all of the states I had been to,” Jim said. 

After he got out of the service, Jim had a job as a management consultant, which meant he was driving all over the country...working in states such as Kentucky, New York, Vermont and New Hampshire.

“By this time, I was up to about 40 states,” Jim said. “I just had a few more to go.”

For years, he was at 48 states...with Alaska and Rhode Island yet to see.

Then in 2011 or 2012, Jim  traveled to Alaska with a friend, putting a check-mark by the 49th state he had been to.

“I spent about a month there...it was beautiful,” Jim said. Years earlier, he had landed at an airport in Alaska but never got out of the airplane, so he didn’t count that.

“Now I was down to one state...Rhode Island,” Jim recalled, going on to share about the trip to The Ocean State he finally made last May.

As he thinks back over his travels, Jim said he’s not sure which of the 50 United States is his favorite. “Every state has something unique,” he added.

There’s only two states that he doesn’t have a real desire to go back to. “Oklahoma and Kansas. I’m sure there’s something nice about them, but nothing really exciting comes to mind.”

Favorite memories that do come to mind for Jim are the white sands of New Mexico, which he describes as “unbelievable” and the Black Canyon of the Gunneson River, near the main tributaries of the Colorado River. “It’s incredible...steeper than the Grand Canyon.”

He also finds Southern Utah to be “absolutely beautiful.” He’s camped near a waterfall, surrounded by cliffs. “Just gorgeous,” he said.

And, being a history buff, destinations that are at the top of his list include several towns in Virginia:  Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown and Richmond, where he saw the largest collection of Faberge eggs.

There are some people who attempt to visit the ‘high point’ of every state, Jim said. “The guy I went to Alaska with is a ‘high-pointer.’ He’s traveled to the high point of about 49 of the states.”

Although it hasn’t been one of his goals, Jim has 17 ‘high points’ to his credit, including a hike to Gannett Peak in Wyoming, located at 13,804 ft.

“I even made the high point of Rhode Island...climbing 812 ft.,” he laughed. “It’s called Jerimoth Hill and is located on private property. I parked the car at 809 ft. and walked a nice graveled path up three ft. to reach the high point.”

Some of his favorite cities include San Francisco, Calif.; Savannah, Ga.; Charleston, S.C.; Sandpoint, Idaho; and Big Fork, Mont.

What’s next on Jim’s travel bucket list?

“I’d love to see Nova Scotia, Ireland, St. Petersburg, Australia and New Zealand, for starters,” he says. “I’d also like to take the Siberian Express to Beijing; and sometime go back to Vietnam and see it without barbed wire and sandbags. I remember they had some beautiful beaches.”

In the meantime, he’s content to reminisce about his experiences over coffee at the Stomping Grounds in Staples, sharing stories with other travel enthusiasts. “That’s another great thing about traveling...I’ve met some fantastic people along the way.”