Skip to main content

Roadgeeking with Kids - County Collecting

A popular pastime within the roadgeeking hobby is county collecting.  In a nutshell, you keep track of all the counties in the US - and now Canada and Mexico - that you have been in.  It is one of those quirky little things that not only roadgeeks enjoy but also pretty much anyone that likes to travel.  Mob-Rule.com is the home for most county collectors and it is an interactive site that allows you to track your counties and label them however you wish.  You can label them by year visited, by if you have resided or spend the night there, how you visited them and even with whom.  Others even have rules for the counties to count, they or their spouse has to actually be driving, must visit the county seat, must do some sort of activity or transaction within the county.

I started keeping track of my overall counties about 15 years ago.  It was a lot easier to remember where and when you went there when you were 26 then now at 41.   County collecting can easily be a family affair.  I keep track of the counties both of my son's - Colton (5) and Nash (2) - have been to.  In Colton's case, he really enjoys it.  We started to tell him about his new counties when he was close to three, and he's been excited about getting new ones ever since.  In 2017, when we went to St. Louis on vacation, Colt told me his goal was to get 100 counties on the trip.  Though we didn't, he would ask how many we got each day and what part of the state they were in. On a recent trip from Charlottesville, Virginia to Charlotte, North Carolina, he picked up another six counties and was upset that he couldn't get ten!

Chris Allen updating the family county map after their recent cross-country roadtrip
I can't say that we are the first to keep track of our children's counties.  A good personal friend of mine - and also part of the hobby - Chris Allen - started to keep track of counties for his oldest daughter, Marla.  He would then also do the same for their youngest son, Bruce.  A number of other roadgeeks do this also.

However, the Allen's have done another great idea.  They have been keeping track of counties that their family of four have done together.  But this is where they take it to another level, the Allen's have blown up a photo of the US county map that is found on Mob-Rule, and after every trip that they collect, the family colors in the counties they have visited.  The map then goes back in the picture frame and is hung proudly in their living room. 

The finished product!
The Allen's were kind enough to share photos of the family updating their county map after their most recent cross-country adventure to New Mexico and Arizona!

This is a great way to get the whole family involved in a silly little hobby and can make those long road trips with kids a little more tolerable.

Comments

Jim T. said…
It's also a great side effect that the kids will grow up with a much better appreciation for where things are, the size of the country, etc.

Popular posts from this blog

The 1915-era Teilman Bridge (the only known Concrete Pony Truss Bridge in California)

The Teilman Bridge is a semi-abandoned structure over Fresno Slough west of Burrell siding near the intersection of Elkhorn Avenue and Elkhorn Grade.  This structure is the only known Concrete Pony Truss Bridge constructed in California and was designed by Ingvart Teilman.  Teilman's Bridge would open in late 1915 when the Elkhorn Grade was the primary road between Fresno and Coalinga.  The structure would be replaced in 1991 but was left standing as it carries pipelines over Fresno Slough.  Part 1; the history of the Teilman Bridge In the early Twentieth Century the most direct highway between Fresno and Coalinga followed the Elkhorn Grade.  The Elkhorn Grade began at Fresno Slough a short distance west of Burrell siding.  From Fresno Slough the Elkhorn Grade followed a generally southwestern course through San Joaquin Valley into the Kettleman Hills towards Coalinga.   The Elkhorn Grade can be seen on the  1914 C.F. Weber map of Fresno Coun...

The Dummy Lights of New York

  A relic of the early days of motoring, dummy lights were traffic lights  that  were  placed  in the middle of a street intersection. In those early days, traffic shuffled through busy intersections with the help of a police officer who stood on top of a pedestal. As technology improved and electric traffic signals became commonplace, they were also  originally  positioned on a platform at the center of the intersection. Those traffic signals became known as  " dummy lights "  and were common until  traffic lights were moved  onto wires and poles that crossed above the intersection.  In New York State, only a handful of these dummy lights exist. The dummy lights  are found  in the Hudson Valley towns of Beacon and Croton-on-Hudson, plus there is an ongoing tug of war in Canajoharie in the Mohawk Valley, where their dummy light has been knocked down and replaced a few times. The dummy light in Canajoharie is currently...

Prunedale Road (Monterey County)

Prunedale Road is a short 2.6-mile-long frontage corridor of US Route 101 in the namesake Monterey County community of Prunedale.  Prior to 1932 US Route 101 bypassed Prunedale in favor of the San Juan Grade to the east.  Prunedale Road along with nearby Moro Road served as an alternative connecting highway between Salinas and San Juan Bautista.  Following the realignment of US Route 101 onto the Prunedale Cutoff the former through route along Prunedale Road would be rendered as a western frontage.   Part 1; the history of Prunedale Road Prunedale Road is located in and is named after the Monterey County community of Prunedale.  Said community was founded near the junction of San Migeul Canyon, Langley Canyon and Echo Valley.  Watsonville settler Charles Langley (namesake of Langley Canyon) was one of the prominent early community settlers.  The Prunedale Post Office would open for the first time in 1894 but would close by 1908.  Early agricu...