Track season is ending, looking ahead to the summer

Emailed to newsletter list on 6/3/26

WORDS WITH A WISEGUY #26 ...

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TRACK SEASON IS ENDING

Being a Division I track and field coach can be a grind. Especially if you’re also doing a YouTube channel :) We have one more meet to go and it’s a big one – the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon, June 11-14. We will have athletes competing on June 11, 13, and 14 and you can watch it on one of the main ESPN channels if you’re interested – Go Shockers! The end of the season can sometime be sad, because it marks the end of careers for some. But for me it also means looking ahead to an exciting summer of travel and road trips!

GRINDING THROUGH THE SPRING, LOOKING AHEAD

The videos I’ve been releasing the past two months have mostly been around the middle of the country. A lot from Oklahoma (especially Route 66), many from Kansas as well as some in Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas. I’m at the mercy of where the track team travels so that’s why most everything has been from those areas since January. One of my favorite recent videos was about Medicine Park, Oklahoma. I’m glad that video seemed to connect with a lot of people, because it was a very beautiful and unique place to visit! The most successful video in the past two months was following a mostly abandoned railroad line from Clinton to Enid, Oklahoma. Also in that video I got a flat tire and saw an incredible lightning show while driving home on a donut. Everyone can be relieved to know I now have 4 brand new tires and a full size spare for my next trip :)

NEXT BIG TRIP – COLORADO

After I get back from the NCAA meet in Oregon, I’ll be in Wichita for a few days before heading west to Colorado towards the end of June. I have much of it already mapped out. I plan to film 9 videos in the Centennial State including the 10 Smallest Towns, the Million Dollar Highway, the Capitol building in Denver, and much, much more! I have a few places that are definitely off the beaten path. All those videos should be coming out in July. The second half of the year will bring a lot of variety in terms of the places I make videos about. Expect films from Colorado, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Ohio in the late summer and early fall. I’m excited!

WISEGUY TOO! UPDATE

You might be aware I started a second channel a little over a month ago and I can finally say we’ve hit the monetization standards – sort of. You need a minimum of 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours to qualify. We are there, but YouTube takes about a week to catch up so by mid-June it should be good to go. This was a bit of an experiment, and my main channel took a little hit last month while this was being established. But now it looks like it was all worth it – thanks to everyone who has subscribed to Wiseguy TOO! and supported this idea.

DEAD MALL VIDEOS ARE KILLING IT

The video that got the 2^nd channel over the top was about the Vista Ridge Mall in Lewisville, Texas. I continue to be amazed how much interest these dead mall videos get. This was the largest mall I have ever documented, and it seemed to hit home with a lot of people in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Originally, I only planned to film the mall in my current hometown of Wichita, and when that was very successful people wanted me to go to Hutchinson, Kansas. And then when I went to Muskogee, Oklahoma (1.2 million views) all heck broke loose haha. Now I have 12 dead mall videos online and #13 will be out later this month from Wichita Falls, TX.

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 235 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 peak clips. The support goes a long way in helping the channel continue to grow! 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