Only 78% of the states...

64% that I can recall at the moment, but a heck of a lot more red! :-)

But what counts? Does flying into airport, scrambling onto a shuttle to hotel, crashing, getting up after broken sleep, consuming a blast of caffeine, running to the meeting or conference, speaking or whatever, running to shuttle, going back through airport security, climbing on plane and taking off really count?

What do you have to do to have really been there? Its likely not time spent but how its spent.

Hmm, it seems I have been to more states than you, even though I am not American ... But I wonder what is the definition of having "been to" a state? I have driven through DC for example, even been stuck in rush hour traffic on the freeways there. But I can't remember if I ever got out of the car while there. Have I then "been there"? My brother-in-law insists that you need to have put your feet on the ground inside the state (or district, in this case) before you can claim to have been there. By that token, I have never been to Austria either, though I have spent some hours in the airport at Vienna.

Well, George Thoroughgood has (1981 "50/50" tour - 50 states in 50 days.)

Personally, I've only visited (on the ground, no airports) 13 states, but I'm not USian.

Every one but Alaska.

We've each been to 39 states, and have 7 of 11 unvisited states in common.

My "wait a sec" state was Tennessee. I thought for a while and concluded I'd never been there, then remembered I'd driven from North Carolina into Tennessee in the Smoky Mountains for a 5K road race in Pigeon Forge, home of Dollywood. This was in August on streets with no shade -- ugh.

48 of 50 (defined as at least getting feet on the ground). Missing Alaska and North Dakota.

My plan is to one day go to the local small airport that services private planes and "hitchhike" my way to ND. (and hey, won't I be close to alaska if I make it?)

60% only, sadly. I was within miles of Delaware, but turned on the wrong direction in Philadelphia and couldn't figure out how to find it before my flight out. And while I've flowed in and out of the Atlanta airport more times that I could count, I've never step foot out of it, and so, I can't in good conscious state that I have visited it.

But you're missing some of the best states of them all... The Western states have the most scenic views and beauty than the rest of the US combined (biased, I know, but believe me it lives up to my boasting).

Only 74%. You've missed several of the ones that can be safely missed - either Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Idaho, all of Wyoming that isn't in Yellowstone.

Miss Montana!?

Clearly you haven't been there.

In fact, I'm going again soon. Got to get to the Grinnell glacier before it's gone.

I suppose this is the sort of thing we can define as we like. My preference is along the lines of Harald Hanche-Olsen's and JMG3Y's reasoning: not counting a state unless you have actually touched the earth there. Bustling in and out of airports and conference rooms doesn't count. Hell, I've bopped through the Frankfurt airport a couple of times, had a couple of marginal beers and verbally grappled with a gate guard (don't get me started, but imagine being forced to spend an entire evening in the Cairo airport. FUCK LUFTANSA!). Anyway, have I been to Germany? No way.

So by that standard I've got 30, Orac's map with all the coastal states filled in, but thin out the midwest and subtract the NE New England group.

My suspicion is that those of us who travel a lot are going to be more amenable to a stricter standard, whereas those who have barely left their home state (a common malady here in Texas) are liable to be OK with the "violated air space" standard.

I'm a stuck up Californian. Why go anywhere else? My total state list: California, Nevada (Las Vegas, Tahoe), Hawaii, and New York.

Hah! I've hitchhiked every state except Hawaii...Granted, I have spent far less time in some states than others, merely hitching through, but I think it counts as having been there, when you're intimately acquainted with their roads and/or jails.

I don't know about 50, but the IBA has documented 13 people for it's "48 States - 3 Countries Mexico to Alaska via 48 States in under 10 days," 56 for the "48 States - 3 Countries Mexico to Alaska via 48 States in under 10 days" and 35 for "48 States in under 10 days" motorcycle riding records.. You have to figure at least a FEW of these people have been to Hawaii as well...

http://www.ironbutt.com/rides/ssbbfin1.cfm?CFID=23401362&CFTOKEN=349653…

I've been to 32 states, which isn't spectacular, but the site said this is 62% of the states. Has the congress successfully changed DC's status?

48/50. Never been to AK or HI. For a former job I used to travel all over the US training customers how to use my company's equipment for money orders and wire transfers. The only states I never trained in were Wyoming and Nebraska, but I've camped in both so there you go!

I once tried to write out a list of all the airports I've been to or through and stopped when I ran out of spac eon a legal pad sheet.

You've missed several of the ones that can be safely missed - either Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, Idaho, all of Wyoming that isn't in Yellowstone.

Well, those being among the states I have visited... Grand Tetons? The Badlands? The Black Hills? (I'll send $$ to AIM if they promise to blow up Mt Rushmore) The Greasy Grass? The Great Plains in general?