WISEGUY WANDERINGS 8!
I have a lot of exciting things to talk about this week but first … thanks to all of you who have recently signed up! If you want to read any of the previous posts, I usually put them on my website a couple weeks after I email them here. If you know anyone who might be interested in receiving this newsletter, please have them visit TravelwithaWiseguy.com and sign-up!
SINCE LAST TIME …
… 3 weeks ago, I’ve taken two trips. I wandered around northern Kansas/southern Nebraska for a couple days, and then I spent 3 days in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, at the extreme western end of the panhandle. You may have seen my video about the county seat of Boise City, and I’ll be releasing 3 more videos exploring the area. I’m really excited about this series about “No Man’s Land” Oklahoma! From the trip to northern Kansas I filmed 6 videos that I’ll be releasing sporadically over the next month or two. I actually released one already as I stopped by Hutchinson, KS, to film their almost abandoned mall on my way north. That’s the 2nd mall video I’ve published, and they seem to get quite a bit of attention! Do you know of other malls like this I should visit?
BIG THINGS ON THE HORIZON IN JULY!
You’re going to be the first people to hear this. On July 2nd I’ll be releasing a “channel update” video where I’ll announce several new things about Travel with a Wiseguy. The first of which is going to be a really cool membership option for the channel. Over the past year I’ve had many of you ask how you can support the channel. I added the “thanks” button at the bottom of the videos and have started to get donations that way. In March I put up a poll on the community tab asking if anyone would be interested in a Patreon/membership type option, and it yielded enough response to make me think seriously about it. But I didn’t want to add a membership option to just receive money from appreciative fans. I want it to be of significant value to those who sign up. I’ve been brainstorming for a couple months and think I have a plan that will be very valuable to those who become members, while not taking anything away from those who aren’t members.
WHAT IF WE DON’T BECOME A MEMBER?
That’s where this is going to be a surprise. For those of you who don’t become members, you’re going to get MORE VIDEOS THAN EVER BEFORE FOR FREE!!! I know this doesn’t make sense right? And I’m aware this sounds crazy for someone who also has a full-time job coaching track and field at Wichita State. But trust me it will all make sense once I release that video on July 2 (hint hint I’m going to have some help). I also plan to continue this newsletter as I’ve received a lot of great feedback. Needless to say I’m very excited for the next chapter of this YouTube channel, and I’m extremely thankful for those of you who have been so supportive!
ROUTE 66 TRAVELS PODCAST
I was recently a guest on the brand new Route 66 Travels YouTube channel. If you’re a fan of Route 66 you will probably love what Pamela is doing (she lives in Baxter Springs, KS). She interviewed me for about 20 minutes, and we had a great conversation! Check it out here and make sure to subscribe to her channel!
ALASKA
I leave for Alaska in 3 weeks (July 6). Since my last newsletter I’ve started to get some details figured out. Within this trip I have 3 smaller trips planned. One of them will be attempting to visit the smallest town in Alaska – Kupreanof (population 21). Needless to say it’s not the easiest place to get to, but it’s looking good for me to visit. Another trip will be taking the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay – which is at the very top of Alaska. It’s a 4-day trip there and back and I’ll be staying in some unique accommodations to say the least. The other side trip I’m planning is to drive over to the Yukon Territory of Canada. I don’t plan to make that a long stay, but I just want to go and check it out and see what interesting places are along the way. Alaska is so enormous that it’s impossible to visit everywhere in a 10 day period, so this will be the first of I hope many trips to The Last Frontier.
OLD WISEGUY STUFF
I’ve been slowly adding things to my website TravelwithaWiseguy.com … Did you know I used to do a podcast back in the day? And did you know I was part of a weekly sports show? Both happened before I started the YouTube channel, and even though I had no idea what I was doing the great folks at WSUtv helped me look way better than I was. The video podcast (9 episodes) had all kinds of interesting guests from stand up comedians, musicians, track coaches, and television personalities (who eventually became the mayor of Wichita). It was a lot of fun, but please know I was a total beginner, so my podcasting skills were very amateurish! The sports show was called “On Pace” and it showcased our Wichita State Track & Field program. I was only the host so most of the work fell onto Curt Rierson from WSUtv. This was a great thing for our program and helped get our team a lot of attention. You can watch all 13 episodes here if you’re interested in some college track and field!
Q&A
I didn’t get any questions this time, but if you have anything you want to know, send to jwise@goshockers.com and I’ll try to answer them next time!
FOR THE DIEHARDS
For those of you who read all the way to the end … the next 3 videos being released are me exploring Cimarron County, OK (No Man’s Land). I plan to follow that up with a “small town, USA” video about Wymore, NE. And then a Kansas ghost town video from the northern part of the state. That will take us through June where I’ll be releasing that July 2 video talking about the changes and updates to the channel.
THAT’S ALL FOLKS!
If you enjoy my channel and want to help it grow, feel free to share videos to your friends and/or family! I also have Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (Instagram is probably the best to follow). Oh yeah buy some merch! (but only if you want)
Thanks for all the support and we’ll see you down the road!
John Wise
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