Thanks! It's about time this happened.

Teasel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipsacus

Female box turtle (gold eyes... males have red eyes).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_box_turtle

Thanks, Rich!

The first ones are the hardest. Kudos for getting out there!

Do understand the quest as we worked on it for 25 years with Montana being state #50. The hardest for most folks are Alaska and Hawaii. I used Hawaii as the bait to get my wife to ride so we checked that one off first. And … as we live in Alaska, that one is a daily ride for us. Arizona … just wait until January or February, fly to Tucson, and spend the next few days or weeks riding the city. There are almost endless miles without leaving Tucson and if you want to add spectacular to the ride schedule, rent a car, drive up the Grand Canyon and ride the rim. Beyond spectacular!

I ACTUALLY laughed out loud when I saw this picture.

I'm told that our cat investigated my new maps while I was out for a walk this evening. She was displeased by the new map smell, apparently.

I might use a portion of these paper maps for one section of this tour.

For the rest of it, I'll make a route more or less on the fly, day to day, using RideWithGps.

I bought these paper maps partly for the nostalgia factor.

Ha! I recently ordered some (non-ACA) maps for route planning which a) caused my husband to remark “Why are you getting mail from the Michigan DOT?” and b) made the cat ecstatic as hid beneath them and attacked me.

So you are not going to be able to blame electronic devices for navigation errors?

One of the states you haven't done is one of my favorites: Nebraska. I highly recommend bike touring there, especially if you can do some occasional dirt/gravel.

I have all but given up on my state hunt. The pandemic took two prime touring years away and last summer's Appalachian dog fest put me off riding in southern states.

Never the less, I have toured in 41 states, picking up three on the Natchez Trace tour this spring. The missing ones are Alaska, South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. (I did Hawaii on my honeymoon.)
Good luck. Make sure you have some quahogs and a cabinet in Rhode Island.

Thanks! But I believe I will do the opposite of what you advise :)

1. Way too hot for me to ride in Arizona in August.
2. Might be little cold in Rhode Island in October. Although that would be a minor issue.
3. Having ridden across the USA multiple times in both directions, I've found the "prevailing winds" thing to be mostly a myth.
4. I prefer riding east-to-west because I like having the sun at my back in the mornings and not in my eyes (and not in the eyes of drivers behind me.)

A pro tip here: I'd take Arizona next. Get the hardest one out of the way first while you're still fresh and then enjoy tailwinds most of the way back.