How many states have you visited?

In the travel section of the Feb. 26 Washington Post, in an article titled ‘50 states of being,’ author Christine Dell’Amore set a goal to visit all 50 states and become a member of the All Fifty States Club, which has about 2,800 members who have accomplished the same feat.

The All Fifty States Club has two rules: You must put your foot on the ground in a state and breathe its air.

Dell’Amore writes, “If you have an open mind and an adventurer’s spirit, every place has something worth your time. Had I believed that nonsense about Nebraska being a ‘flyover state,’ for instance, I would never have herded cattle on horseback through rolling grasslands lush with purple wildflowers and tall pines.

”I might not have tasted banana pudding in Selma, Ala., or bought stamps from the cutest darn post office ... snuggled in the snow in tiny Plymouth, Vt.”

The author began to get serious about her goal around 10 years ago when she realized she had gone to 30 states already. Why not keep going? So she pinpointed her weak spots - the Great Lakes, the Dakotas, and parts of the South. She prioritized two states a year.

I immediately began checking off the boxes in the graphic at the bottom of the article to see what my number was. Thirty-five. Not too shabby.

I was about to leave the Oklahoma box unchecked when my husband reminded me that when we were in Memphis, Tenn., a few years ago, we drove across a bridge into Oklahoma just so we could say we’d been there.

The current members of the club include participants from all 50 states and 13 countries. Most people finish with Alaska and Hawaii, as they are farthest away and usually the most expensive.

Members have their own spin on the rules of the game. Some people sky dive, golf or eat a slice of pie in every state. One man, Boomer Mentzer, drank a beer in each state.

Dell’Amore writes, “Anne Corlett, a landscape artist from Saugatuck, Mich., was newly single in 2010 and ‘wanted a big project, the visual equivalent of the big American novel.’ The idea came to her: paint a landscape in each state. I realized later I was testing my courage,” Corlett says.

To celebrate his 50th birthday, David Miller of Orinda, Calif., mapped out a bike ride from October 2011 to November 2012. He took along his Weimaraner Max. He named the project Bike 50 at 50 and asked people to donate to four charities in his honor.

The common theme among the club members is that they all experienced the kindness of strangers. Miller says, “I don’t have enough fingers and toes and arms and legs to count all the times I had extraordinary, surprising, wonderful interactions.”

“There’s no typical 50-stater,” pens Dell’Amore. “Some people are motivated by patriotism, meeting new people or a desire for new experiences.”

My mother used to play a game with us when we were little. A native Washingtonian who rarely traveled, she could name all 50 states out loud. No matter how hard I tried, I never got through the entire list. Maybe I can join this club in her honor.

Ready to take your own inventory and see your next state? Advice from Dell’Amore - stay in state parks to keep the cost down. Plan a long trip to Yellowstone National Park and see how many states you can check off in one central location.