{"id":52270,"date":"2023-08-23T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ottsworld.com\/?p=52270"},"modified":"2026-02-07T19:37:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T00:37:31","slug":"capitol-to-capitol-quest-walking-and-cycling-to-the-united-states-capitols","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ottsworld.com\/blogs\/capitol-to-capitol-quest-walking-and-cycling-to-the-united-states-capitols\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol to Capitol Quest \u2013 Walking and Cycling to the United States Capitols"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In 1984, my father began a quest, albeit unconventional. He was 47, and his mission was to visit the capitol of the lower 48 states on foot, starting in Illinois, where we lived, following a counter-clockwise roadmap of his own making. By age 72, he’d trekked to 23 capitols, walking approximately 4,085 miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, at 87, my father will not finish his quest. Therefore, I am assuming my father’s mantle to complete the last 26 capital routes\u2013 with a small tweak. I’m going forward by bike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was 14 when my father started his unusual pursuit, which made me an embarrassed and frustrated teenager. No teenager wants \u2018weird parents\u2019. And this was just one more thing in a long line of traits that made my parents \u2018weird’ in my teenage eyes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had no idea what motivated my head-down midwestern engineer father to embark on such an unorthodox journey. I couldn’t explain it to my friends, and I knew we couldn’t possibly share anything in common; I just wanted to fit in, and he wanted to always be doing something different.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n