Overview - the 2023 Pacific Northwest Tour

I have just returned from my most ambitious travel of 2023, a tour of the Pacific Northwest which took four weeks.  Never been there before, everyone said You Must Go, so I went and it was everything everyone promised.  In the coming days I will be describing the registry rules for visiting states I have never written about before, hoping to provide insights into how you can travel too and stay within those rules.

First I want to point out that yes, you can travel for extended trips across this great country and unless your local sheriff is a total creep there should be no problem provided you properly report this travel before you leave.  In fact this wasn’t even the longest travel I have ever done from my summer home in Iowa.  That record belongs - so far - to a six week trip to Florida last spring which I reported not as a seasonal move to my winter homes there with no return date, but as travel from my Iowa principal residence to Florida and back.  I provided my local sheriff’s department here with two destinations in the Sunshine State (two of my residences there) and a return date.  When I arrived in Florida I checked in as usual, traveled wherever I wanted and checked out when I left.

In fact, about one month from now I plan to report my entire five month seasonal travel to my winter homes in Florida as travel from Iowa to Florida and back.  I don’t anticipate any difficulty doing that – but I’ll definitely report how it goes here.

In the past I have found that even in the peak summer travel season it’s not necessary to make campground or motel reservations for weekdays, but it is important to have the weekends all squared away.  That still leaves my travel plans flexible most days.  You may say – Oh wait!  Won’t my local sheriff’s department want a complete itinerary that accounts for all my movements on every freaking day of my trip?  My answer is, again, that unless your local sheriff is a total creep the answer should be no.  I am unaware of any state law that requires such a detailed itinerary for domestic travel, so if you run into trouble you should not be afraid to tell the person behind the bulletproof glass that state law doesn’t authorize that much detail.  As far as I know that stuff only applies to international travel.

On the other hand, if you have made reservations for any night of your trip you have at least one destination you can report to make them happy.  In my case there were three weekends included and one of them was Labor Day.  I did not feel compelled to report every one of those reserved destinations; instead I told the lady who usually takes down my information, “Here’s what I’m doing, these are my departure and return dates.  Now I’d like to give you three destinations, one for each weekend, and I want to tell you the states I will be traveling through and ask you to list those states in ‘The Notes’ section at the bottom of my sheet.”  Which she was happy to do.

Now you may ask why would I want to provide any more information than the minimum required?  Because if you think about it you will realize that my registry sheet showing at least a few destinations and all the states I’m traveling through is my protection against police harassment and false arrest while traveling.  I keep it in my glove compartment at all times, and clearly, if I were ever pulled over by some moron I would have to hand them my registry sheets anyway (Iowa and Florida) and right there is all the proof I need that I properly reported my travel and that I am where I said I’d be when I said I’d be there.  Case closed.

So off I went on my big adventure.

Establishing a temporary regional base camp

I must admit that by the time I was about halfway through my four week trip I was already feeling a little road weary.  I began to think that if I do this again it would be nice to establish a temporary base somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, break my travel into a few shorter excursions and spend the time in between at a comfortable base camp.

Naturally I would want to do this in a way that won’t require me to register in the state where the base camp is located.  That means I’ll need a location that will allow me to come and go 3-4 times over, let’s say, a two month period, staying put for up to a week each time, all without triggering an obligation to register in that state.  Then when I report travel at my local sheriff’s department in either Iowa or Florida, I can give them just that one location as my “destination” for the entire trip, while listing in “The Notes” section at the bottom of my sheet all the states I’m planning to visit in my excursions from that destination.  With that in my glove compartment I’ll be all set.

In the Pacific Northwest only one state meets all these requirements and that is Oregon, where State law does not specifically address visitors (see my 50 State Visitors Guide). Per an Oregon SOR office letter responding to questions by the Florida Action Committee (2020), visitors are not required to register, unique among states.  Registration is required within 10 days for a move into the state, so in my Visitors Guide I recommend not staying any longer than that for any single visit.  However there is no limit on return visits, so Oregon law allows me to follow my plan as described above.

Later in my 2023 Pacific Northwest Tour I passed through the sleepy little town of Ontario OR on the Idaho border and decided, for reasons I will explain in more detail when I write about Oregon, that it would be a good base camp for me.  I found an RV Park there with low weekly rates and all the amenities I might need for my future base camp, and left with their business card and price list.

What about other regions of the U.S.?

By now you may be asking yourself, suppose you want to pursue this kind of extended travel using a base camp, but in a different region of the U.S.?  Are there states in other regions that could serve as a base for regional travel?  The answer is, sometimes yes, sometimes maybe.

Let’s start with the Southwest, just to show you how tricky this can be.  Most states in this region have pretty short registration deadlines, but two states present themselves as possibilities.  First is Nevada, and presumably Las Vegas if one of your excursions will be to the Grand Canyon or the great national parks of Utah.  

However, staying in Nevada means putting your trust in that state’s Visitor’s Registry which claims to let you stay up to 30 consecutive days per visit without landing on their permanent registry, and with no limit on number of return visits per year.  That’s the claim, and I have visited the Las Vegas Metro Police Dept. to confirm that this Visitors Registry really exists (see my Nevada blogs), but I haven’t actually tested this system out although I plan to in the future.  If you try it first I’d be very interested to know how that worked out.

The other possibility is Colorado, which allows 14 business days per visit but not more than 30 days total per calendar year.  That means you need to be mindful of the total number of days you will spend at your base camp (you might try Durango, see my Colorado Train Rides blog).

In the Upper Midwest allow me to suggest either Wisconsin (10 days per visit, no limit on return visits per year) or Minnesota (14 days per visit but not more than 30 days total per calendar year).  As a resident of Iowa I don’t need to worry about this but I definitely would not suggest my state (five business days) as a base camp location.

As for the South Central U.S. allow me to suggest, believe it or not, Texas.  There it’s not more than six days per locality (because the 7th day triggers your obligation to register) but with no limit on return visits per year.  Just don’t stay at your base camp more than six consecutive days before taking off on your next excursion, and when your return you can restart the clock at the same location you were before.

Turning to the Northeast U.S. I find myself surprised to recommend the state of my birth, New Jersey.  Their registry sucks but visitors can stay up to nine days (because the 10th day triggers) and there is no limit on return visits per year.  I have a place to stay any time I want at my sister-in-law’s house but you’re on your own.  

Another Northeast possibility is Pennsylvania where the law is silent about visitors but does say that your presence in the state for more than 30 days per calendar year establishes you as a resident.  That means you need to be mindful of the total number of days you will spend at your PA base camp.

Lastly there is the Southeast, where all the registries suck and you don’t want to land on any of them.  As I have said elsewhere, DO NOT COME TO FLORIDA.  However, Georgia or North Carolina suggest themselves as possible locations for a seasonal base camp.  Georgia is 14 consecutive days or 30 days total per calendar year.  Like Pennsylvania, just be mindful of the total number of days you will spend at your GA base camp.  

North Carolina’s law says that you establish residency if you are in their state for 15 days.  The law sets no limit per month or year, but I worry that if I were to make repeated visits to a base camp there some local sheriff might take exception to that.  At least with Georgia you know what you’re getting into and you can plan to stay within their limits.