South Dakota recap
This was emailed to the newsletter list on 8/2/26 ...
WORDS WITH A WISEGUY #28 ...
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SOUTH DAKOTA TRIP RECAP – UPCOMING VIDEOS
I took a 10-day road trip that was mostly spent in South Dakota with a few days also in Nebraska. This one was a little longer than Colorado as I drove 2,757 miles (CO was 2,439 miles). I filmed 11 videos about South Dakota and 2 about Nebraska. Here’s a summary of the videos and the VERY TENTATIVE planned released date (I already released the first two). W1 = main channel, W2 = Wiseguy TOO!:
South Dakota videos
--Jones County (least populated county) – 8/2 W1
--Sturgis walk-through – 8/4 W2
--10 Smallest Towns – 8/9 W1
--11 Small Town Downtowns – 8/13 W1
--Pierre State Capitol Building – 8/18 W2
--4 South Dakota ghost towns – 8/20 W1
--Buffalo Ridge Ghost Town Attraction – 8/25 W2
--Behind-the-scenes of the whole trip – 8/27 W1
--Deadwood walk-through – 9/1 W2
--Corn Palace – 9/29 W2
--Murdo Pioneer Museum – 10/13 W2
Nebraska videos
--Weird Nebraska (roadside attractions) – 8/6 W1
--NW Nebraska Highway 2 – 8/23 W1
I plan to release the Tiny Town & Railroad video from Colorado on 8/11 on W2. One other Colorado video I still have in the queue is the Silverton Museum. That will probably be released on 9/8, also on W2.
ALSO, I am planning to go to western Oklahoma this weekend to finish my Route 66 series and then explore some ghost towns in the Texas Panhandle. Those videos are planned to be released on 8/16 and 8/30, respectively, on the main channel.
THOUGHTS ON SOUTH DAKOTA
I had a lot of fun exploring South Dakota! I came up through eastern Nebraska into SE South Dakota, worked my way to the extreme NE corner (White Rock, population 6) before going across the top of the state, then down to the center (Pierre, capitol), heading west to the Black Hills and then out of the state down in the SW corner (Ardmore, ghost town). I finished through the western and central part of Nebraska before heading home to Kansas. South Dakota is a fascinating state. The eastern half is probably what most people would refer to as the “boring” half, but I enjoyed finding the small towns and touring the Corn Palace. I stayed a night in Watertown which I thought was a nice small city. If you’ve never been to the state, the western part of SD is absolutely spectacular. There was way more to see and do than I had time for, and luckily I’ll be going back again soon (see below). I did a drive through the Badlands (awesome) and explored around the Black Hills area for a couple days. I had one video rained out (Custer State Park), but I’ll show some of that in the behind-the-scenes video. Overall I had a blast – South Dakota was great!
NEXT BIG TRIP – WYOMING
In a couple weeks I’ll be traveling around the least populated state in the country. Wyoming has less than 600,000 people but is the 10th largest by size so you know there are a lot of wide open spaces – exactly what we like! Right now I have about 5 videos I’m planning to film there including the 10 Smallest Towns. Those range from 92 in 10th, down to 6 for the smallest. I have 8 videos from Wyoming on the channel, and it’ll be fun to add to the list! I’ll also stop in South Dakota and Nebraska on the way back to Kansas to film a few more areas to add onto my previous trip. Should be fun!
THE BUSINESS OF YOUTUBE
July was a great month on the channel. It was probably a top-3 ever month when you look at all the different metrics. The two channels had 643k views and added over 2,600 new subscribers. We also had 113k watch hours, which is the metric YouTube really cares about the most. I’ve been making longer videos lately and that seems to be paying off. Thank you to everyone who has continued to watch and give input. Many people ask for longer videos, so I hope you are liking them!
WANT EVEN MORE CONTENT? BECOME A MEMBER TODAY!
If you’re not aware, I also have a member section of the channel, where you can get extra behind-the-scenes content every week. We call it Member Mondays! We’re up to 237 members, and they’re the first to know about what’s going on with the channel, where I’ve been exploring, and where I’m going next. We have a lot of fun with these videos, and I like to show a lot of sneak peek clips. The support goes a long way in helping the channel continue to grow! I try to do ZOOM call once a month for $5 and up members. If you are interested you can learn more on my website: https://www.travelwithawiseguy.com/membership
WANT TO SEND ME SOMETHING?
Sometimes I get asked for my address so someone can send me something. I always show my gifts in the member videos. If you want to send something my address is: John Wise, PO Box 2793, Wichita, KS, 67201.
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, TikTok, and Twitter/X (Instagram is probably the best to follow). Oh yeah buy some merch! (but only if you want). Info for everything can be found on my website: https://www.travelwithawiseguy.com/
Thanks for all the support and we’ll see you down a backroad!
John Wise
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