Itineraries for Travel Name Art

Do you remember my blog post about where I've been in the United States? When I shared it on Facebook and commented that I had a lot more of the US to visit, this happened:

I thought it would be really fun to design the most efficient itinerary based on Betsy's ridiculous, excellent idea. I played around with spelling my name using as much of the US that I've already visited and came up with this: 

Then I headed over to Google Maps to make my routes, starting with the C. I'm only missing a 73 mile chunk northeast and southwest of Carson City. 

The entire I is missing, so I could be relatively flexible in where I put it. I tried to find the straightest north-south route I could that would center nicely between the C and the N in my name. I settled on a 370 mile stretch between Sego Canyon Petroglyphs in Utah and Saint Johns, Arizona. 

I need two pieces to complete the N. First I needed to link Denver, Colorado and Santa Fe, New Mexico. That's 365 miles. 

To make the diagonal and right arm of the N, I mapped a route that goes southeast from Cheyenne, Wyoming and crosses into Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, before heading east into Elk City, Oklahoma. Then it's due north through Kansas to Broken Bow, Nebraska for a total of 1093 miles. 

For the letter D, I need to complete a stretch from Fort Worth to Austin, Texas, then from Austin to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. That's another 622 miles. 

I can complete the rest of the D by driving from Jackson, Mississippi to Little Rock, Arkansas. That's another 300 miles. 

All I need to finish the Y is the stretch between Atlanta, Georgia and Jacksonville, Florida. That's 313 miles. 

That's a total of 3136 miles (ignoring the fact that I can't magically materialize in each place and would somehow need to get to each starting location). Seems doable. Steve, pack your bags!