From May 2017 to May 2022, my husband, Brandon, and I visited each of the United States. It’s the most significant personal accomplishment in my life thus far, and something I still love to talk about years later. I’d like to find a way to recap our travels on The Manuscript and pay homage to each state we visited.
Above: Our first state, California, and our last, Alaska.
But first, the backstory. In July 2016, at the age of 63, my dad died after a two-year battle with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. When my mom and I went to his office to collect his personal belongings I lifted his large desk calendar and underneath it discovered a smaller, hidden calendar. With a thin red pen he’d been carefully marking off work days—counting down to his retirement date. On a separate sheet of paper he had broken down his time spent working throughout his entire career—years, weeks, days, hours, and minutes—careful to exclude weekends and vacation time. It was heartbreaking.
He had many hopes and dreams for his retirement. He was excited to spend his time building things in his basement workshop, and he mentioned to me more than once the idea of taking a road trip along the Eastern coast of the United States. Maybe he and mom would retire to the North Carolina mountains.
But he never had the opportunity to realize those dreams because he was waiting for a time that was never guaranteed to him. A mistake we all make is assuming we have plenty of time to live the life we want… later. His hidden retirement calendar continued to haunt me.
Seven months later, Brandon and I were sitting on the couch reflecting on a weekend trip I’d just taken with my two best friends to Charleston, South Carolina. “There’s so much to see out there. I wish we could travel more often, even to places close by,” I said. We fell into silence and a few moments later, he said, “are we just living life all wrong?”
Surely there was more to life than working our desk jobs, paying bills, watching Netflix, getting a few hours of sleep at night, and living for the weekends when we try to keep up with our home, families, and any hobbies we happen to be able to squeeze in.
50 in 5
What would life look like if we were living it right now instead of waiting to do the things we most want to do? The answer is subjective, of course. For us, a life well-lived began to center around the idea of stepping outside of our comfort zone and into new places, traveling to meet new people and collect new experiences. “50 in 5” was born. We gave ourselves a five year timeline and a few simple rules to follow along the way:
- States we previously visited—together or separately—did not count. We started from scratch in May 2017 and had to visit each state together, including Washington, D.C.
- For a state to officially be counted for 50 in 5 we had to spend the night, visit a local attraction, or dine at a local restaurant.
- Souvenirs are fun to collect, but they’re just things. And 50 different things take up a lot of space! We collected photos and a few knick-knacks along the way. Plus, we purchased a journal in our first state and I kept a handwritten account of our travels.
Even though I maintained a private travel journal during 50 in 5, I’ll be recapping some of our travels here so they are preserved in a digital format. More to come!
