‘Extra miler’ Reid Williamson visits all 3,143 American counties

When he was 14, Reid Williamson received an atlas outlining each of the counties in the United States.

Now 64, Williamson is one of 32 "completers" in the Extra Miler Club, having visited all 3,143 U.S. counties.

The Washington Post's John Kelly profiles the Delaware man and his decades-long quest to see his country. To see each of Alaska's counties, Williamson had to take three separate trips, one of which involved a whopping 29 flights.

He has crossed 107 of the country's state-to-state borders and had almost completed his mission to visit all 370 colonial churches on the Eastern seaboard.

Williamson's bucket-list-like journey to the nooks and crannies of his country isn't just motivated by a checklist:

"I travel for the purpose of seeing the face of the Earth," he told Kelly in the Washington Post, admitting that some of the counties — specifically the vast open, wasteland-like stretches in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texes — he'd never have seen had it not been for his self-imposed challenge to see it all.

Since becoming a "completer" in 2007, Williamson hasn't stopped travelling. He frequently goes birding. He's writing a book on colonial churches, touring each one from Maine to Georgia. Of the 370 churches in that area, he's been to 369. The final one, a private estate, will be another challenge for Williamson: his request to visit has so far been politely declined.

As a member of the Extra Miler Club, Williamson will likely welcome the challenge. After all, the club celebrates taking the long way: "The shortest distance between two points is no fun!"