Alternative Ways to Earn State Stickers

[Shutterbug57]

We have one of those maps of the United States that you put a sticker on when you feel that you’ve earned it. Our MO is to earn the sticker by staying overnight in the state in our RV. Currently we’re on our way to Florida and we do not have the Georgia sticker on our map - yet. However, Saturday, just north of Chattanooga our engine derated and we had to have it towed to the Freightliner dealer in North Georgia. We’ve been staying here for three nights, and hopefully we will be fixed and out of here today. I guess this is an alternative way to earn the sticker- boondocking at the Freightliner dealer. Gotta love those emission system sensors when they go out…

[Old-Biscuit]

That's the nice thing about those MAPS...their yours and you can fill them in anyway YOU decide.....LOL

Never considered 'broke down' as a category

Our method.....overnighters didn't count
Had to stay in the state camping long enough to go out experience/explore the local area
In 7 yrs FTng we had 42 of the lower 48 states covered.
Never stayed IN Nevada, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland
*drove thru/overnighted in them but didn't 'STAY' under our criteria

Broke down in WY and CA but had already stayed there

[Fiesta48]

On our motorcycle we considered a eligible state if we drove at least 50 miles in it. At 4 Corners hard to do, the panhandle in OK, upper ID, etc.

[Shutterbug57]

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

That's the nice thing about those MAPS...their yours and you can fill them in anyway YOU decide.....LOL

Never considered 'broke down' as a category

Our method.....overnighters didn't count
Had to stay in the state camping long enough to go out experience/explore the local area
In 7 yrs FTng we had 42 of the lower 48 states covered.
Never stayed IN Nevada, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland
*drove thru/overnighted in them but didn't 'STAY' under our criteria

Broke down in WY and CA but had already stayed there

Well, we have a toad, so we are seeing Chattanooga.

[jacwjames]

Originally Posted by Shutterbug57

Well, we have a toad, so we are seeing Chattanooga.

There's a park in Chattanooga, Look Out Mountain, worth the visit.

[astrnmrtom]

We just installed our map last week, and the criteria for adding a sticker was a conversation we had before populating it. We decided a state didn't qualify if we'd camped there in another rig before going full time. The map represents our full-timing-seeing-America adventure. We add a state even if we only spent the night, or drove through a corner on a way to somewhere else. After all, we DID experience the state, if only from the freeway or a rest stop where we stopped for lunch.

What was kinda fun seeing visually was how the map looks after a year and a half of travel. It's obvious we spent most of our travels in the West/Southwest, and the East/Southeast with a straight line of states across the center of the country where we "bee-lined" through the center of the country. Not dissing Heartland America, the map doesn't reveal the month we stayed in a small Midwestern town hanging out with my wife's family.

In the next couple moths we'll be checking off a few more as we cut through some corners.

[PeteandDeb]

our map is rig specific, so states that were "checked off" in previous RV's don't count.
We voted (well, actually DW decided) that we had to actually spend an overnight in a state (we used to do "fast" trips twice a year from here in AR to visit family in western Canada).
That means many states we've passed through many time (eg, WV and Maryland) on I81 still are unchecked. We prefer actually spending time in order to "qualify" ... maybe the next iteration will require longer or multple stays.
I would think a stay enforced by breakdown is still a stay.
Take a drive and visit the "Chatanooga Choo-Choo museum while you're stuck in the neighborhood