{"id":19005,"date":"2023-03-28T16:44:56","date_gmt":"2023-03-28T20:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=19005"},"modified":"2023-12-12T13:23:48","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T18:23:48","slug":"every-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/every-county\/","title":{"rendered":"I Visited Every County in the U.S.\u2014and Yes, There&#8217;s a Club for That"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\">My decades-long, map-hopping quest is a reminder that \u2018the shortest distance between two points is no fun\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By <strong>Brian O\u2019Connor \u201970<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Some people keep track of how many states they have been to; I keep track of <em>counties<\/em>. There are 3,143 counties (or equivalents) in the United States\u2014and, as of 2021, I have visited all of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My quest took over 50 years to complete. When I graduated from Cornell, I got in my new VW Beetle (which I still have in 2023) and drove down to New Haven, CT, to pick up my best friend from high school, who had just graduated from Yale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Together, we drove 11,000 miles around the country in a month.<\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/BMOC-web-page-picture-A-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Brian O'Connor\" class=\"wp-image-19015 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/BMOC-web-page-picture-A-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/BMOC-web-page-picture-A-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/BMOC-web-page-picture-A-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/BMOC-web-page-picture-A-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/BMOC-web-page-picture-A-632x790.jpg 632w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/BMOC-web-page-picture-A-316x395.jpg 316w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/BMOC-web-page-picture-A-280x350.jpg 280w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/BMOC-web-page-picture-A-140x175.jpg 140w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/BMOC-web-page-picture-A-70x87.jpg 70w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/BMOC-web-page-picture-A-400x500.jpg 400w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/BMOC-web-page-picture-A-200x250.jpg 200w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/BMOC-web-page-picture-A-100x125.jpg 100w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/BMOC-web-page-picture-A.jpg 1260w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>A few years later, I bought a <em>Rand McNally Road Atlas<\/em> and discovered that the index listed not only cities and towns, but counties as well. I remembered the route we\u2019d taken, so I started checking off the counties we\u2019d traveled through. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I subsequently added counties I knew I\u2019d been through on family trips when I was growing up, and ones I\u2019d traversed on a train trip from Chicago to the West Coast and back on a Glee Club tour as 1968 turned into 1969.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I would check off the counties in the index, with notations for what vehicle I was in; after a while, things got so cluttered that I put everything on a spreadsheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I have always enjoyed looking at maps, especially of the U.S. There are lots of interesting places to see, both beautiful and historic, and they won\u2019t come to you; you have to go there, even venturing off the interstate to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Brian O'Connor standing in from of the post office in Dillingham, AK.\" class=\"wp-image-19017\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-608x342.jpg 608w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-304x171.jpg 304w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-152x85.jpg 152w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-1184x666.jpg 1184w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-592x333.jpg 592w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-296x166.jpg 296w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-1264x711.jpg 1264w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-632x356.jpg 632w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-316x178.jpg 316w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-400x225.jpg 400w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-200x113.jpg 200w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_8977-A-100x56.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Continuing the quest, in the state nicknamed \u201cthe last frontier.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>I viewed the process of visiting all the counties much like completing a collection. The goal is clear, and the \u201chunt\u201d can be interesting and challenging. The math professor in me liked finding the most efficient way to plan a route in order to hit as many counties as possible with minimal driving\u2014\u00e0 la the famous \u201ctraveling salesman problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2014, I discovered the <a href=\"https:\/\/extramilerclub.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Extra Miler Club<\/a>, whose members have that same crazy goal. Their motto is, \u201cThe shortest distance between two points is no fun.\u201d No special documentation is required; we are basically on the honor system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While flying over a county does not count, it is perfectly acceptable to drive across a county line, and then turn around\u2014because, as the club\u2019s president says, \u201cIf you weren\u2019t there, where were you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I viewed the process of visiting all the counties much like completing a collection.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>I had never paid attention to Alaska, as that state does not have counties, but boroughs and census districts instead. However, those\u2014like the parishes in Louisiana and the 38 independent cities in Virginia\u2014are viewed by the club as \u201ccounty equivalents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result, in 2015, I set out to grab the cities in Virginia I had not already visited, but was only partly successful due to nasty Memorial Day traffic. Later that year, I bagged the rest in my recently purchased Toyota Prius. One especially nice moment was having dinner with Larry Lewkow \u201970, my fellow resident on the third floor of U-Hall 3, whom I hadn\u2019t seen in 45 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As time went on, the endeavor morphed from \u201chow many counties I have\u201d to \u201cI wonder how many I can get\u201d to \u201cmaybe I can get them all.\u201d In New Mexico in 2005, I hit the 2,000 mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Brian O'Connor holding a sign that says &quot;County #3143&quot; next to a sign marking the Continental Divide at Loveland Pass, elevation 11,990 feet.\" class=\"wp-image-19016\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-608x342.jpg 608w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-304x171.jpg 304w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-152x85.jpg 152w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-1184x666.jpg 1184w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-592x333.jpg 592w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-296x166.jpg 296w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-1264x711.jpg 1264w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-632x356.jpg 632w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-316x178.jpg 316w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-400x225.jpg 400w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-200x113.jpg 200w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9187-A-100x56.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">In Colorado, logging the final county.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>I hit the 3,000 mark in California in 2016. Two years later, my whole family went on a land-and-sea excursion to Alaska. That got me about half of what I needed, so the next year I meticulously planned a trip to finish off the state. It had 28 takeoffs and landings, plus a trip on the Alaska State Ferry to visit the various boroughs in the Aleutian Islands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, I scheduled the ferry for the one week in 42 years that it went on strike\u2014so instead of four days on the <em>Tustumena<\/em>, I spent four days in the town of Homer. In addition, the regional airline Ravn Alaska canceled two of the flights I had booked, adding two more places for a subsequent trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And 2020 didn\u2019t work\u2014not because of the pandemic, but because Ravn Alaska ceased operations. The next year, though, they were back in business, and I was successful with the flights and the ferry in June 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That only left 33 counties in the southern half of Colorado standing between me and completion. I flew to Denver, rented a car, and ended my quest on 7\/14\/21 (a good \u201cmultiples of seven\u201d date) in Clear Creek County, CO (good alliteration).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I got back, my family threw me a surprise party\u2014complete with friends, a cake, and a collage depicting my endeavor. At the 2021 Extra Miler Club annual meeting, I received a plaque attesting that I was the 66th member to achieve county immortality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"A cake with a map of the U.S. that says &quot;Congrats on going the extra miles, Brian!&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-19018\" srcset=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-608x342.jpg 608w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-304x171.jpg 304w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-152x85.jpg 152w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-1184x666.jpg 1184w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-592x333.jpg 592w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-296x166.jpg 296w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-1264x711.jpg 1264w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-632x356.jpg 632w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-316x178.jpg 316w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-400x225.jpg 400w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-200x113.jpg 200w, https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/IMG_9199-A-100x56.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A celebratory confection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Completing my quest gave me a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, a culmination after many years of effort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It also is a good conversation topic. When I meet people, I like to ask where they\u2019re from, and I can usually relate that to my own experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Best of all, even if they\u2019re from a town I\u2019ve never heard of, I can always say excitedly, \u201cOh, I\u2019ve been in your county!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Brian O\u2019Connor \u201970<\/em><\/strong><em> holds a PhD in mathematics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is in his 46th year of teaching at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tntech.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tennessee Tech University<\/a>, where he has served on the faculty senate for four decades. Since 2007, he has moderated the local PBS station\u2019s High School Academic Bowl. He and his wife have two children and a grandson. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>(All images provided.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">Published March 28, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My decades-long, map-crossing quest is a reminder that \u2018the shortest distance between two points is no fun\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":30054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"alumni_hub_syml_posts":[14513,13518,8550],"footnotes":""},"categories":[639],"tags":[],"cornell_year_post":[457],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-19005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-perspectives","cornell_year_post-457"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I Visited Every County in the U.S.\u2014and Yes, There&#039;s a Club for That - Cornellians | Cornell University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My decades-long, map-crossing quest is a reminder that \u2018the shortest distance between two points is no fun\u2019\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/every-county\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Visited Every County in the U.S.\u2014and Yes, There&#039;s a Club for That - Cornellians | Cornell University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My decades-long, map-crossing quest is a reminder that \u2018the shortest distance between two points is no fun\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/every-county\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cornellians | Cornell University\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Cornellians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-28T20:44:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-12T18:23:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/Chime5_OConnor.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beth Saulnier\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@WeCornellians\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@WeCornellians\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Beth Saulnier\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/every-county\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/every-county\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Beth Saulnier\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/32fea64e8c64bb984ed5809675634100\"},\"headline\":\"I Visited Every County in the U.S.\u2014and Yes, There&#8217;s a Club for That\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-28T20:44:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-12T18:23:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/every-county\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":984,\"commentCount\":6,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/every-county\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/Chime5_OConnor.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Chime In\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/every-county\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/every-county\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alumni.cornell.edu\\\/cornellians\\\/every-county\\\/\",\"name\":\"I Visited Every County in the U.S.\u2014and Yes, There's a Club for That - 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