Pennsylvania

So-called "historic train ride" in Strasburg, PA

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

42 Pa.C.S.2019 §§9799.10 through 9799.9

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Within 3 business days of establishing residence, becoming employed, or attending school.  3 business days for updates.  If fails to establish residence but nevertheless resides in state, shall register as transient. §9799.19.

Visitors: “Residence” means place where domiciled for 30 days or more w/in a calendar year.  “Transient” means no residence but nevertheless resides in state in a temporary place or dwelling, including a homeless shelter or park. §9799.12. Per the Lancaster State Police office, PA has no specific time limit for visiting registrants but staying more than 30 days per calendar year or becoming employed or attending school establishes residency and would trigger a requirement to register. Updated June 2021.

List of registration sites: www.pameganslaw.state.pa.us/VerificationSites

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

None.  Registry website supposedly only shows:  Sexually violent offenders, Sexually violent predators, Sexually violent delinquent children.

Duration & updates:

15 years to life.  Updates: T1 – annual, T2 – 6 mo., T3 & SVP – quarterly, Transient – monthly

Most recent visit: April 2024

Independence Hall, Philadelphia

In theory, Pennsylvania should be a pretty easy state to get along with as a registered visitor.  Their SOR statute states that “Residence” means place where a registrant is domiciled for 30 days or more within a calendar year.  Also, there appear to be no statewide residency or presence requirements (although as with many other states you should be careful about local restrictions).

Unfortunately “Transient” means the registrant has no residence but nevertheless “resides in the state,” but while the word “residence” is defined, the word “resides” is not, so … if you’re traveling through Pennsylvania, how long do you have to be there before you “reside” without having a “residence” …?    To the average traveler this may seem like a ridiculous question, but as registered citizens you and I know it’s far from academic.  You can’t count on the state police officer who pulls you over for having a blown tail light to give you the interpretation you wanted.

Worse, calling Penn. SOR office is useless because they don’t answer the phone and the outgoing message only refers you to the FAQ at www.pameganslaw.state.pa.us , and of course the FAQ doesn’t answer this particular question.  Because of this the only way to answer this question is to visit one of Pennsylvania’s “registration sites” (see www.pameganslaw.state.pa.us/VerificationSites ) which turn out to be state police regional headquarters. 

I resolved to do this on a trip I made to the Northeast May 2021. After staying overnight at a PA state park campground I visited the Lancaster State Police office (which is also a Registration Verification Site) and was referred there to speak to an officer who admitted he was “not the sex offender expert” (then why was he assigned to answer this question? Was the “expert” out of the office?). 

After going back to his office and reading the statute he nevertheless opined that PA has no specific time limit for visiting registrants but staying more than 30 days per calendar year or becoming employed or attending school establishes residency and would trigger a requirement to register. That confirmed the same conclusion I reached after reading the statute.

In December 2023 I traveled from Florida with my now ex-wife but still Best Friend Forever to visit relatives and participate in a Wreaths Across America event on Long Island.  We had decided ahead of time to reserve a hotel room one night in Philadelphia so we could take in a few sights the next morning before continuing on to New Jersey.

You MUST have a Philly cheese steak sub!

As with our previous stops in Virginia, my ex-wife had never been to Philadelphia’s historic sites before and she was very impressed.  I was too even though I’d seen them before.  At lunchtime we asked one of the sales ladies at the Liberty Bell gift shop where to get a good Philly Cheesesteak and she suggested the Reading Terminal Marketplace.  Wow!  It’s like other downtown markets such as Faneuil Hall or Charleston Market, but even bigger with all kinds of stuff – including several Philly Cheesesteak options.  I also bought baked goods at one of the semi-authentic looking Amish stalls.

We spent a couple of hours just at the Reading Market but after that it was time to get moving – we had a hotel reservation that night in far norther New Jersey.

In April 2024 my BFF & I were again traveling from New Jersey and decided to stop in Philadelphia again to see a few sites we had missed on the previous trip, specifically Betsey Ross’s house and Benjamin Franklin’s Museum.  Then we visited Valley Forge on our way to the same hotel in “downtown” Intercourse where she had stayed two years before (see below).  Although she enjoyed all the stops we made, she was disappointed that left no time for touring Pennsylvania Dutch country, neither that afternoon nor the next morning on the way out of state.

Previous visits: 2022-23

In July 2022 I traveled thru Pennsylvania while tagging along with my family on their trip to the Northeast.  My ex-wife likes Pennsylvania Dutch Country very much.  I find it to be hopelessly commercialized.  What must it be like to be an actual Amish or Mennonite person trying to go about your life surrounded by billboards and tacky trinket shops and fake buggy rides? You have my sympathy, folks.

American Antique Car Assn. Museum, Hershey PA

Nevertheless she had reserved a hotel room right in “downtown” Intercourse.  I stayed at the very same state park I had the year before, about 40 miles away.  We spent way too much time at that tacky tourist village in Intercourse, but the upside to that place is that trapping all the tourists there keeps us away from the locals.

Later that day we were all rushing eastbound on I-78.  They spent the night at a hotel in Stroudsburg while I had reserved a campground in nearby Hickory Run State Park.  We were splitting up after that – they were on their way to Long Island to spend four days with my ex-inlaws, while I was headed for Maine to go whale watching.  

On the southbound leg of our Northeast trip we came back thru Pennsylvania, this time to visit Hershey’s Chocolate World and Hersheypark.  I was roped into this part of the trip because our granddaughter wanted more than anything to ride on some of the scariest rollercoasters in that theme park, and although Mom insisted that she be accompanied by an adult neither she nor Grandma were willing to do the accompanying.

Wow, some of those rides were truly terrifying!  I told my granddaughter that going on them was something I would consider to be an item on my bucket list, but don’t expect me to do that again!

In May 2023 I again passed through Pennsylvania on my way from West Virginia to New Jersey.  This time I could skip Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and would have skipped Hershey too until I saw a sign for the American Antique Car Association Museum.  Wow – way cool!

The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, in Leonard Harrison St. Pk.

From there it was on to Hickory Run State Park to stay the night before proceeding to New Jersey.  It also so happened that on the return leg of my journey, which took me through Upstate New York, I made a little side trip into Upstate PA to see the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.  Yes there is such a thing and it’s really spectacular!

  Virginia

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

Va. Code Ann. 2019 §§9.1-900 through  9.1-923 and §18.2-472.1.  Va. Code. Ann. §§18.2-370.2 through 18.2-370.5.

AWA Compliant

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Initial registration and updates for residents, in-state employees, and students within 3 days. Those employed in state for more than 14 days or more than 30 days in a calendar year must register within 3 days of arrival. §9.1-905.

Visitors on “an extended visit” of “30 days or more” must register within 3 days of arrival.  §9.1-905.  Per Virginia SOR response letter (2019), a procedure is available for removal from registry after departure.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence restriction:  Certain adult offenders with convictions involving minors sustained after July 2006 may not reside within 500 ft. of a school or parks adjacent to schools.  §18.2-370.3.

Presence restriction:  Certain adult offenders with convictions involving minors sustained after July 2006 may not loiter within 100 ft. of school, day care center, playground, athletic field or facility, or gym.  §18.2-370.2.  SVPs may not enter school grounds, with exceptions.  §18.2-370.5

Duration & updates:

Lifetime. Petition to remove –15 years §9.1-910.  SVPs update every 90 days; all others annually. §9.1-904.

Mount Vernon - George Washington's Virginia plantation

Most recent visit: December 2023

I don’t know if registered people talk much about Virginia where you live, but people travel back and forth quite a lot between Florida and Virginia.  They have family there, they find work there.  Virginia’s reputation as a decent place to visit that allows registrants to stay up to 30 days seems pretty well known here.  Thirty days is the longest statutory specified time period of any state.

However, be careful of residence, presence and loitering restrictions if they apply to you, because Virginia is a state where they will apply while you’re visiting.  And as with so many states, be careful of local sheriffs & police departments.

Having said all that, Virginia has a lot to offer visitors – history, national parks and forests, vacation resorts, theme parks, and beaches.  I have visited many of these places, but that was before - - before I wrecked my life.  Now that I’m traveling again I plan to go back and visit many of those places again.  In December 2023 I traveled from Florida with my now ex-wife but still Best Friend Forever to visit relatives and participate in a Wreaths Across America event on Long Island.  We had decided ahead of time to slow down and spend one night in Virginia so we could take in a few sights. 

On the day we arrived I convinced my BFF that Montpelier, James Madison’s plantation home, would make a good stop.  I had been there once before in the early 2010’s but since then they, like many other of the founding fathers’ plantations, have undertaken archaeological digs, added exhibits and updated the mansion tours to address the enslaved people who after all were the majority of those living there and whose labor supported our founding fathers’ lifestyles.

The following morning we visited Mount Vernon, George Washington’s plantation, where the same archaeology and tour updates have been made since my early 2010’s visit.  Both I and my BFF, who had never seen these great historic sites before, were incredibly impressed with both of these places.

The Space Shuttle Discovery at the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

When passing anywhere near Washington DC my ex always wants to stop at the Smithsonian, and especially the Air & Space Museum.  The problem always is that traffic is a nightmare in downtown DC and parking is hard to find.  On this trip, as she was searching her phone looking for options she came across the “National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center” which turns out to be an absolutely enormous, entirely separate air & space museum on a huge campus in suburban Fairfax, Virginia.

With the Space Shuttle Discovery, an entire Concorde Jetliner, the actual Enola Gay, a Lockheed Blackbird, every other kind of air and spacecraft imaginable, and an IMAX theater with a James Webb Space Telescope movie among the features available, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center satisfies.  We may never need to fight downtown DC traffic again.

But by now it was late afternoon and we had to get going – we had a hotel reservation in Philadelphia that night.

Previous visit: October 2020

Luray Caverns, Virginia

In October 2020 I was “just passing through” Virginia on my way back to Florida from my brother’s house in New Jersey.

However, I wasn’t in a huge hurry so I decided to visit two places I’d never been.  I drove the length of the Skyline Drive, which was beautiful with many scenic overlooks and lots of fall color.  From a registrant’s point of view it also offers another positive attribute – Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway are both under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Parks Service rather than the state police or local sheriff’s departments.  Neither you nor I have any intention of violating any law while traveling, but it was still nice to know I was under that much reduced threat of police harassment.

I also made a side trip to Luray Caverns.  If you have read my other state blogs you’ll know by now I am a cavern junkie.  Luray Caverns was my second cavern on just this trip (the other being Diamond Caverns in Kentucky).  It’s a great place to visit even during a pandemic.  Unlike most caverns they don’t have tour guides; instead they hand you a brochure to use during your self-guided tour (maintaining social distance of course). 

By late in the afternoon I was starting on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  There are national forest campgrounds along the way so I found one and bedded down for the night.  The next morning I was off to North Carolina.

 Colorado

 

Rocky Mountain National Park

From the 50 State Visitor Guide:

C.R.S. 2019  §§16-13-901 through 16-13-906

C.R.S. §§16-22-101 through 16-22-115

C.R.S. §§18-3-412.5 through 18-3-412.6; 8 C.R.R. 1507-24

AWA Compliant

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Initial registration and updates within 5 business days.  “Residence” means 14 consecutive days in any 30 day period. §16-22-105.

“Temporary Resident” includes present in Colorado more than 14 consecutive business days or 30 days per calendar year. §16-22-102(8)(c).

Transient registrants subject to annual registration must report every 3 mo. Transient registrants subject to quarterly registration must report monthly. §§16-22-105 through 16-22-108.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

No statewide restrictions.

Duration & updates:

Lifetime. Petition: 5 years. Quarterly registration for SVPs & out-of-state who register quarterly in state of convictions. Others register annually. §16-22-108

Colorado Update: October 2023

Petrified tree trunks at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument

Enjoy your Colorado vacation but don’t get the idea that it’s a state where you might want to live permanently.  Registration is lifetime no matter your tier or equivalent. The only good news is that for Tier 1 or equivalent you can petition for removal after five years.  But as with most other states, there’s never any guarantee of approval.

But for visitors, Colorado has some of the least punitive requirements of any state. Yes, it’s 14 consecutive business days (or 30 per year) to establish a temporary residence. With 2 weekends included that means at least 18 days total; more if there’s a holiday.

Colorado also has no statewide presence or residency restrictions, although you should still be careful because local restrictions are allowed under state law.

If you read my previous blog – Utah – you may have noticed that at the end I said the next and last state on the return leg of my trip to the 2023 ACSOL conference was Colorado.  And much like my time in Utah, I was only slowing down to see a couple things on my way through Colorado, after which I was hurrying home to Iowa.

This pass through Colorado took two partial days one full day, so my total for the year 2023 was 8 business days plus 2 weekend days, well within Colorado’s limit.  On Day 1 my primary destination was Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  I had stayed overnight there two years before (see below) but not seen much of it in the daytime and wanted a return visit.  This is a truly stunning canyon, really one of the hidden jewels of the national park system. Very impressive! 

Much like my visit two years prior, that night turned out to be the coldest night of that entire trip.  I guess this mountainous western part of Colorado is just naturally cold!  Good thing I happened upon an RV park that also had cabin rentals with heat – and hot showers!

Day 2 I sort of slow-walked my way across the state without a primary destination, but happened upon Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.  Interesting!  The fossil beds consisted mainly of petrified tree stumps. 

That night I found a state park campground in eastern Colorado and the weather was much better.  The following morning I was out of the state early and on my way home.

 Colorado scenic train rides: July 2023

 

Durango & Silverton Scenic RR

Enjoy your Colorado vacation but don’t get the idea that it’s a state where you might want to live permanently.  Registration is lifetime no matter your tier or equivalent. The only good news is that for Tier 1 or equivalent you can petition for removal after five years.  But as with most other states, there’s never any guarantee of approval.

But for visitors, Colorado has some of the least punitive requirements of any state. Yes, it’s 14 consecutive business days (or 30 per year) to establish a temporary residence. With 2 weekends included that means at least 18 days total; more if there’s a holiday.

Colorado also has no statewide presence or residency restrictions, although you should still be careful because local restrictions are allowed under state law.

If you have been reading my blogs you may know I’m a sucker for a scenic train ride.  The problem is that each one takes most of a day, so if I encounter one while traveling I have to decide between the train ride and anything else I may have intended to do that day.  So the entire purpose of this trip was to go on five Colorado scenic train rides in seven days and get it all out of my system (at least for this year).  Naturally I had to do advance research and make train reservations ahead of time.

I should also say here that when I showed up to report travel at my local sheriff’s department with all my reservations in hand they let me get away with using those train dates and locations as my travel destinations instead of motels and campgrounds.  Of course, whether your local sheriff would be that accommodating is a separate question.

So here are a few comments on the scenic train rides:

Georgetown Loop Scenic Railroad

++ Lots of scenery packed into shortest least expensive ride. Get the mine tour (costs extra).

-- Too “family friendly” – themed playground, toy-heavy gift shop etc. made me paranoid.

Leadville Scenic Railroad

++ Lots of scenery packed into a “relatively inexpensive” ride.

-- Goes through a crappy part of Leadville going and returning; ride is “one-sided” i.e. all the scenery is on the left (downhill) side as your facing the front of the train.

Durango & Silverton Scenic Railroad

++ Most scenic, and the entire train turns around so anything you didn't see on the way up from your assigned seat you will see on the way back.

-- Expensive, box lunch was extra, tracks run alongside US 550 for about an hour each way, tracks poorly maintained so the train rocks a lot.

Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad

++ Very scenic and you are allowed to move around so you can see out of both sides of the train, price includes buffet lunch, tracks well-maintained.

-- Expensive, not as close to the scenery as others, goes through flat scrub for an hour after leaving town.

Pikes Peak Cog Railroad

++ Unique attraction and technology that takes you to the top of Pikes Peak.

-- Less scenery except from the top of Pikes Peak, assigned seating means you only get one view, buffet lunch at the top costs extra.

In between the train rides I also visited a few other places, including: Rocky Mountain National Park (spectacular and one day only just scratched the surface); Mesa Verde National Park (lots of ancient pueblos, cliff dwellings and petroglyphs – a real hidden gem of the National Park system); Great Sand Dunes National Park (a disappointment); Garden of the Gods (wow you’ve got to go!).

Cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park

Previous visit: October 2021

In October 2021 I entered Colorado from Utah on I-70 in mid-afternoon.  My first destination was Colorado National Monument. I had been there once before but it was a decades ago.  I remembered that it was beautiful, not far from the interstate, and has a scenic drive that only takes an hour or two depending on how much time you want to devote to it.  On all these counts, Colorado National Monument did not disappoint. On the minus side, it was pretty darned cold that day in late October.

My plan was to go south from the interstate and sort of slow-walk my way through Colorado mainly following U.S. 50.  On that route the next national park was Black Canyon of the Gunnison which, like most of you I’m sure, I’d never even heard of.  It was late enough in the season that I worried whether the campgrounds there would be closed. They weren’t, but wow, that was the coldest night of camping on my entire trip!

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park