Counting Counties
Allen Zondlak's Road Map across the USA
Ben's County Map across the USA
In a time before Google Maps... before MapQuest, Garmin, or handheld GPS... there were my Grandpa's neatly organized packets filled with roads and counties. My grandpa visited, and documented visiting, all 3,142 counties, parishes, boroughs, and independent cities in the United States. Every. Single. One. My mom recalls a dozen maps spread across the back seat on family vacations. It was common knowledge that at any time, the family station wagon could veer off the highway and onto a dirt road, through a corn field, into a swamp, in search of a new county - as long as my Grandma reached the hotel by 6pm. And there were no shortage of obstacles - the wrong turns in a Kansas blizzard, the tiny bush planes that waited for volatile storms to pass in northern Alaska's Boroughs, the rock slides of Mt. Whitney. The stories piled up for all those along for the ride.
It’s no wonder I am who I am. It’s in my DNA and in my upbringing. I was raised on stories about our National Parks or that friendly little town in middle America. I’ve spent most of my life road tripping, trekking, kayaking, climbing, biking, swimming, skiing, snowmobiling, snow shoeing, skating, running, studying, photographing, or otherwise exploring the United States of America. I plan to visit all 3,142 counties someday. To have 10,000 new conversations. To share my photographs and stories along the way. It is a lifetime project, but if my grandpa can do it, so can I!
Share YOUR OWN STORY & PHOTO
the USA by COUNTY
A mosaic of my journeys cross-country; a living, growing collection; 1 photo per county
1,553 Counties Visited (49.41%)
as of October 2021
A Photo Mosaic of My Grandpa Counting Counties: 1934 - 1991 (& Beyond)
Allen Zondlak finished his county counting on October 17, 1991 in Nantucket County, Massachusetts. He was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records for visiting every county. If you mention your hometown to my grandpa, he will likely know what county you are from and be able to share a unique experience that you can both relate to. I've compiled a collection of his favorite photos, 1 photo per county, cross-sections of place and time.