- July 15, 2025
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When traveling to all 50 states is on your bucket list, it can come with a couple of “qualifiers.”
It depends on the travelers, but in Rich and Diane Bartoszek’s case, the qualifiers are that you have to either buy something or eat a meal in the state to check it off the list. Layovers don’t count as an official state visit, so those meals and gifts must be purchased outside of an airport.
North Dakota is the only state Rich Bartoszek, 60, has yet to see, but Diane Bartoszek, 57, has three states to go: North Dakota, South Dakota and Michigan. Kansas is still on their list, too, because they’ve each been but not together.
Since the Bartoszeks want to visit all 50 states together, North Dakota will be No. 50. Coincidentally, the Fargo Moorhead Visitors Center created a Best for Last Club that rewards those travelers who have visited all 50 states and save North Dakota for last.
The travelers receive t-shirts and entry into an exclusive club.
“We’ve done some international travel,” Diane Bartoszek said. “But our country has so many vast differences, from the mountains of Utah to the deserts of New Mexico to the beaches in Hawaii.”
The Bartoszeks started their journey to the Best for Last Club chasing the thrill of rollercoasters. They’ve been married for 30 years and have been amusement park junkies for far longer.
In the early 1990s, they took a five-week road trip with Rich Bartoszek’s parents to the Northeast. To name just a few of the parks, they rode rollercoasters at Cedar Point in Ohio, Kings Dominion in Virginia, Hersheypark in Pennsylvania and Six Flags Darien Lake in New York.
Rich Bartoszek said he will ride rollercoasters until the day he can’t ride them anymore.
The plan to visit all 50 states evolved organically from a genuine love of travel and adventure. He’s a retired firefighter, and she’s a retired nurse.
When their sons, 24-year-old Matthew and 27-year-old Nick, were young, the couple used to save up their vacation time to travel over the summer.
Every year, the family visited someplace new. Nick Bartoszek has been to 33 states, and his little brother has been to 34 states. Matthew Bartoszek has six years to meet his personal travel goal to see all 50 states by 30 years old.
His parents’ plan to visit all 50 states was sped up two years ago when Rich Bartoszek was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
“The symptoms are still very manageable, but we just don’t know what tomorrow or the next month will bring,” Diane Bartoszek said. “Nobody does, but that was when we decided we were going to do more traveling.”
Rich Bartoszek retired in 2014 from the Sarasota County Fire Department after 25 years of service. Then, he picked up a job delivering fire trucks until 2022. Those deliveries account for the extra two states he’s visited without his wife.
Diane Bartoszek was the healthcare coordinator at the Foundation for Dreams. She still helps out as needed, but she retired after her husband received the Parkinson’s diagnosis two years ago.
For the past year, the couple has pretty much kept to an every other month travel schedule. They expect to be done with all 50 states by their anniversary in November.
They're headed to Michigan in July and to South and North Dakota in September. North Dakota will be saved for last, of course.
The Bartoszeks haven’t decided on their next travel quest just yet, but they’re considering international adventures or working their way through the national parks.
No matter where the couple goes, they fully immerse themselves in that location. They skip the chain restaurants and usually hotels, too.
Diane Bartoszek noted the creaky floors at their most recent stay at an Airbnb in Indianola, Iowa. It wasn't a criticism as the floors added charm. It was an old house within walking distance of the town square where the couple ate breakfast each morning.
Rich Bartoszek described his current health as a mix of good days and bad, but the bad days only encourage them to travel more.
“It seems like when we’re traveling, which is why we try to keep going, Rich is engaged and focused,” Diane Bartoszek said. “It keeps him going. Sometimes, he has some episodes when we’re traveling, but not that much.”
