Americana fun (2023 edition)

The big trip I just got home from brought me tantalizingly close to achieving my goal of paddling a boat in all 50 states.

On July 13 I picked up the states of Delaware and New Jersey by paddling my surfski on the Delaware River at Delaware City, making sure I paddled on both sides of the state line.

Then, about a week later, I was up in Maine.  First I paddled my whitewater boat on the Kennebec River from Harris Station Dam to The Forks.  The next day I drove back to the coast and paddled the surfski in Middle Bay near Brunswick.  And the following week, while mostly occupied with my woodworking class, I found time to paddle both the whitewater boat and the surfski on Boyd Pond near Bristol.

I paddled in New Jersey again as I headed back south, stopping at Spruce Run Reservoir near Clinton.  I paddled the surfski there.

So what's left?  Three states.  Minnesota, Arizona, and Alaska.  Minnesota shouldn't be too hard; I just have to make the time to go up there.  I actually was looking at doing that this summer before a spot opened up in that class and lured me northeastward instead.

I guess there are a number of ways I could paddle in Arizona, but it sure would be nice to get into the Grand Canyon.  I need to seek out people I know who know about the whole permit process and pump them for information.

Alaska will be tough.  If I want to have complete control over what boat I paddle, I'll have to drive there with my own boat, and driving to Alaska is an undertaking of a higher order of magnitude than anything I've ever done before.  The alternative is to find an outfitter from whom I can rent a boat and paddle as much on my own terms as possible.

Oh well... for now I'm just resting on my laurels.  Here's a list of the fifty states of the United States, and this time I'm marking with an asterisk (*) just those states in which I have not paddled:

Alabama
Alaska*
Arizona*
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota*
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

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