I think “bucket lists” are silly concepts. Mostly, it seems like doing cliche tourist things.

But I concede I did think of the “bucket” thing when I was mulling the concept of visiting all 50 U.S. states.

I’m not that far off.

Ten states to go.

I could knock off most of them in two semi-local road trips. And then one big trip. I’m close. But close is not enough, if you’re want to be 50 for 50.

Those missing from the list:

1. New Hampshire.

2. Vermont.

3. Rhode Island.

4. Delaware.

5. West Virginia.

6. Idaho.

7. Montana

8. North Dakota.

9. South Dakota.

10. Alaska.

See that? The first five are not far from each other.

But all five are places you have to be headed for, because you don’t just happen across Vermont and New Hampshire. Once you are on the ground in, say, Boston, you could do those two and bitsy Rhode Island, too, in a day.

If we made it a long day, we probably could cross the border into Delaware and West Virginia on the same day. But it would be easier to make it Day 2 of the “nail down the northeast” trip.

Nos. 6-9 are contiguous, but they cover a lot of ground and would require some serious planning.

That would be … Idaho, Montana and the Dakotas. I’m thinking “fly to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, cross into Montana, get a plane at Missoula to get to, say, Fargo, North Dakota, and then drive the Interstate 29 to Sioux Falls.”

That would take a lot of road miles off of it … but it would be a hassle. Two car rentals, and a fairly long drive from Fargo to Sioux Falls, and then more plane trips to get back to the big city, somewhere.

And Alaska, of course, is a big plane ride, or maybe even a cruise.

Ten to go. Five might not be too hard. The last five would be more effort.

But that’s why I haven’t been to those 10. They are not really on the way to anything. You have to make a point of going, and I haven’t done that yet.