Only 100 Counties To Go

This past week I took a road trip in which I completed visiting each of the 67 counties in the beautiful state of Pennsylvania.  I stopped to take this photo upon entering Wyoming County from Sullivan County, traveling east on PA-87. Wyoming County was my 66th Pennsylvania county and #3,042 in my overall quest to visit each of the 3,142 counties or county equivilents in the United States at least once in my lifetime. From here, there are only 100 counties to go.

The first time I remember visiting Pennsylvania was a trip to to preach revival services in a church in Erie in August, 1964.  I was a 19-year-old youth evangelist then.  Nine years later I moved to the Keystone State for a total of four years (1973-1977), living for one year in the Philadelphia area and three years in Harrisburg.  During that time, and on subsequent visits, I traveled over most of the state.  Still, a few spots waited to be filled in on my County Quest.   

I have seen much of Pennsylvania on foot - hiking literally hundreds of miles through the state during the time I lived there.  My hikes included the entire 232 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania, from the Maryland, on the Mason-Dixon line, to the Delaware Water Gap on the New Jersey state line.  Also, I hiked the entire 140 mile length of the Horse Shoe Trail, and parts or all of several other Pennsylvania trails.

Before ever visiting Pennsylvania, I always thought of it as a place of big cities and heavy industry - like steel mills.  Actually, most of the state is made up of beautiful wooded ridges interspersed with fertile green valleys, clear running streams, abundant wildlife, and some of the prettiest farms to be found anywhere.  "Penns Woods"  is a state of delightful discoveries.

The Extra Miler Club

Extra Miler Club Meeting in Erie, Pennsylvania

I had been counting counties for several years before I learned that there were other people who did the same thing. In fact there's a club of such like minded intrepid travelers with an obsession to visit each of the 3,142 counties or county equivalents in the United States at least once in their lifetime. It's called the Extra Miler Club and was founded in 1974. I became member #360 when I joined a few years ago.

The club is a very loose knit group of folks who meet once a year in some different spot around the country. I've been privileged to attend the last two meetings, Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2008 and Erie, Pennsylvania on June 27, 2009. Thanks to the magic of the Internet, county counters have found each other and probably most people in America who seriously collect counties are now members. Still, it's a rather small group.

The meetings, which last less than two hours, are lighthearted and fun. They consist mostly of each member being given an opportunity to report on recent travels and the progress of their county quest. The club also puts out a bi-monthly newsletter called the Extra Milepost, in which members can keep track of each other's progress.

Extra Miler's are famous for taking the long route, zig-zagging across the country on secondary roads to pick up another county - like going from Ohio to Colorado by way of the Dakotas, and returning through Texas, as I have done. I love the club's motto and fully agree:

"The shortest distance between two places is NO FUN."

You can learn more about the Extra Miler Club, including how to become a member, by going to their website. http://www.extramilerclub.org/.

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