While some visit the 50 states in less than a week, others take decades

All Fifty States Club documents American travel junkies

In 2022, twenty-something friends Peter McConville, Pavel Krechetov, and Abdullahi Salah took a cross-country journey to remember.

But they likely remembered it better after sleeping for a few days.

The trio set an informal record of five days, 13 hours, and ten minutes, for fastest time to visit all 50 states, according to the All Fifty States Club. Guinness World Records stopped listing such speed records to discourage reckless driving in 1996, but the famed outfit still accepts driving-record claims "in relation to fuel economy," said Guinness Editor-in-Chief Craig Glenday.

Growing club

The All Fifty States Club, which formed in 2006, has grown to more than 10,000 members across the U.S. and 40 countries. People can join the group as soon as they reach 35 states. Most spend "a lifetime" to complete the list, according to club officials.

This writer, who is not a club member, took a little more than 64 years to visit all 50, reaching the final one, Alaska, in August 2023.

The group relies on the honor system for members to document their visits. A general guideline is to set foot in the state, not remain in a plane on the runway. "We encourage travelers to be in a state long enough to create a memory there," they said.

Some reach all fifty through work or for a cause. Rodney Smith Jr. has promoted charities, including for autism awareness, veterans, and police, in visiting each state 11 times. The owner of a lawncare business in Madison, Ala., Smith encourages kids to reach out to the disabled and needy to perform service like mowing their lawns.

Al Whitney, an 84-year-old Ohio resident, donated platelets in all 50 states twice. Then there is NBC's Today weatherman Al Roker, who in 2015 delivered the forecast in every state in about a week. He raised money for Feeding America in the process.

Al Roker, who visited every state in about a week in 2015, greets visitors outside NBC Studios in New York City.Photo byKevin Shay

Not a race

Few people have touched every American state in under a week, according to the All Fifty States Club. The group warns visitors on its web page listing the journeys that "this is not a race, contest, or challenge..... All speed limits are assumed to be obeyed as not to endanger fellow travelers."

McConville, a YouTube content creator based in Austin, Tx., Krechetov of Austin, and Salah of Minneapolis admitted to driving above the speed limits. In the relatively secluded Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah, they reached 120 miles per hour in a rented Ford Escape, according to an account in TopSpeed.

The trio, who documented the trip on YouTube, took turns driving as one tried to sleep in the backseat. "Sleep deprivation and fatigue really did start to take a toll on them, and they had to alternate drivers every couple of hours," TopSpeed wrote.

They made a few landmarks, including New York's Times Square, Mount Rushmore, and the Grand Canyon, while criss-crossing the country. In Florida and Texas, they barely hit the panhandles. They ended the drive in the continental U.S. in Seattle, then flew to Alaska and Hawaii.

Even the airplane crew seemed impressed. “At the very end, we were on the plane, and everyone was so invested in what we were doing," McConville told Austin television station KXAN. "And regardless of how badly we probably smelled, it was awesome to see not only the people on the plane, but the crew [invested]."

Peter McConville of Austin, Abdullahi Salah of Minneapolis, and Pavel Krechetov of Austin set a record for fastest time in all 50 states.Photo byPeter McConville / Instagram