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The Atlas Obscura Podcast · Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Parents traveled to all US states except Hawaii on motorcycles, including pre-paved Alaska highway.

Tara from California shares that her parents have visited all US states except Hawaii, often by motorcycle. Notably, they rode to Alaska in 1980 before the Alcan Highway was paved and have encountered various challenges like grizzly bears, snowstorms, and sandstorms.

The tape

3 quotes
While I haven't been to all 50 states yet, my parents have.
Tara
In fact, with the exception of Hawaii, they've been to all of them on motorcycle, including Alaska, which they rode to in 1980 before the Alcan Highway was even paved.
Tara
They've had many adventures and some misadventures along the way, including trying to ride off before Mama Grizzly showed up when her cub wandered their way, as well as ending up riding over mountains and snowstorms on fire roads and through sandstorms.
Tara
Heard on The Atlas Obscura Podcast — “Your '50 States' Quests, published Tuesday, July 28, 2026. Heardvine summarizes and quotes with attribution and timestamps, and links to the original everywhere.
Transcribed via Gemini audio transcription · $0.01
Parents traveled to all US states except Hawaii on motorcycles, including pre-paved Alaska highway. — Heardvine