A travel epiphany

Dawn Summers has inspired me, I must say. On Dawn's site is a map of States she has visited. She's pretty high up on the list and only has a few states to go. More importantly to this epiphany, she takes the opportunity to cross off states as often as possible. This is inspiring to me because I feel I have been neglecting my travel in the United States.

All of my life, I've only been to a few states in the U.S. Those places are:
1. New York - Duh
2. New Jersey - I even lived in Randolph for 18 months
3. Connecticut - Multiple times to visit friends or go to Foxwoods
4. Massachussets - I was in Boston over a single weekend
5. North Carolina - One weekend to visit friends
6. Ohio - I visited Case Western Reserve University over a long weekend (It's in Cleveland)
7. Florida - Multiple times to visit family
8. Louisiana - Two vacation trips to New Orleans
9. California - Once for business for a long weekend and once to visit Friends
10. The Eastern Corridor from New York to Florida - I drove to Florida when I was 19 (never again!). I even stayed overnight in Georgia.

This is a pathetic list. I haven't stayed any appreciable length of time anywhere! I've stayed in Europe, for god's sake, longer than any specific spot in the U.S. (save for family trips to Florida).

Here is my European travel list, for comparison:
1. England - One week for business and one week for a vacation
2. Italy - 3 full weeks for my honeymoon
3. The Netherlands - 8 full days for vacation
4. The Czech Republic - 10 full days for vacation
5. Spain - Two separate trips totaling 18 full days

You see what I mean? So the question is, what is going to make me see my own country? The answer, naturally, is poker!

So my epiphany consists of this; From this day forward, I shall make it my goal to visit EVERY legal card room in the country (all 50 states).

A 'visit' shall constitute the following:
1. A low denomination chip, preferably a Dollar, shall be obtained for posterity.
2. At least one round (a full swing of the button) shall be played in a live, raked game at the establishment.
3. A picture shall be taken of the establishment, if at all possible.

As I visit the various casino rooms around the country, I'll mark it on a custom Google map so everyone can track my progress.

This is going to be a looong journey, though, because there are at least 280 cardrooms in the country, with about 80 in California alone! But I think this might give me the fire under my ass I need to finally start flying to places I would normally never visit (Wyoming, anyone?).