As we prepare to celebrate our country’s 250th birthday, I want to share a piece that I wrote several years ago when I completed a goal I had set for myself at age 12: visiting each of the 50 states.

As you will read, my criterion for what constitutes “visiting” a state may be different from yours or from others who have accomplished this 50 state goal in more dramatic and complete fashion. But, I have definitely been in all 50 and love to tell the story.

VISITING ALL 50

It doesn’t seem like the time or the place for a milestone moment but here I am, at 5:55 a.m. sitting in a car with my son Avi on the shoulder of US 85 a few miles north of Ludlow, South Dakota. There is not another soul around, just the stark countryside and ahead of us a sign which we can barely make out in the early morning light: “Welcome to North Dakota”. Yet, here and now, my life is about to change.

We had awakened at 4 a.m., left my wife and my daughter asleep in a motel in the Black Hills and drove through the darkness to get here. I sit in the quiet stillness to contemplate what has brought me to this place, to the edge of an accomplishment that I have been planning since I was a child.

For 44 years, I have been chasing a dream: to be in every one of the 50 states. I had always though it was an intensely personal idiosyncracy and that no one else really cared. But, then I discovered that whenever I mentioned my quest publicly, someone would immediately ask: “Do you count airports?” There are many of us out there.

My journey to this moment was launched on Sunday, August 14, 1966 when I was 11.

It was on that early summer morning that I lay awake in a motel in Spring Valley, New York, one day into our family vacation to Williamsburg, Virginia and Washington, D.C. I couldn’t sleep from excitement. But what kept me awake wasn’t the thrill of seeing the Washington Monument; I was up half the night eagerly anticipating crossing the border into New Jersey.

Growing up in Boston and with cousins in Manhattan, I had spent my entire life in New England and New York. But in a matter of a few hours, a new world would be opened up to me when we entered the Garden State with the untamed wilderness of Pennsylvania to follow two hours later.

I have always loved geography. I knew all the states and had learned the capitals before I was 6, but had lived my whole life in only 7 states and that just didn’t seem fair. So that Sunday morning, as I anticipated the new horizons ahead, I decided to engage in the ultimate domestic quest for geographical completeness.

And, it has brought me to this place. And yes, I do count airports, as long as I get off the plane. My only rule is that I have to put my feet on the floor or on the ground and, as I sit in the car, prepared to step on the soil of state number 50, I think of where I have been and what it has taken to get here.

I think of the four hour round trip from Minneapolis to the Iowa border. I remember the harrowing drive over the Teton Pass to check Idaho off the list. I remember the carefully orchestrated plane changes in airports in Utah, Colorado, Washington and Nevada. And, I think of my children who, when promised a trip instead of a big party for their bar and bat Mitzvahs chose first Alaska, then Hawaii. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be so close.

However, I am ambivalent as I sit here. It’s been such a great trip and I feel caught between the excitement of fulfilling a dream and the reality of closing a chapter of my life. I know that once I cross this line, there will never again be the moment of exhiliration when I enter a new state. That excitement will be lost forever.

But I know I have come too far to remain in the car. It is time to get out and as I do my and step into state number 50, I feel a weight lifting from my shoulders. And, I feel the thrill of a journey completed with, God willing, many more journeys to come.

Still, I wonder if life will ever be the same.

Then, it hits me that there is a solution to my ambivalence.

Should I ever feel the least bit let down, I can just decide that airports shouldn’t count after all.

Back now to the present day and I should quickly add that I subsequently returned to my “airport” states and have now stood on the ground in each of the 50.

In many ways, wanting to be in all 50 states was a personal goal. But, it was also a reflection of my love for geography and my love for this country. Even as I have such deep concerns about the priorities and values, or lack thereof, of current political leadership, the promise of what this country can be and the beauty and diversity of its land and its people is a constant source of delight and inspiration.

After I wrote this piece and made proudly posted on Facebook about my accomplishment, many friends asked what my next geographic undertaking would be. Actually, there is one more goal that my wife Ellen and I have taken on and that is to visit as many of the National Parks as we can.

Our National Parks are a treasure and reflect the diverse geography of this great land. From the majestic forests of Olympic National Park to the beautiful coastline of Acadia and from the fascinating features of Yellowstone to the hauntingly beautiful “hoodoos” at Bryce Canyon (my favorite), our National Parks are stunning and to hike the trails and drive the roads through them is a celebration of our country and a spiritual experience as well.

We may not get to all of the National Parks but we’re at 19 right now and hoping for, God willing, the opportunity to visit quite a few more.

There is so much work we need to do as a nation to be all that we can be. But, it would be difficult to improve upon the beauty of this great land. May we always be worthy of living in such a wondrous place.