As nextstop.com, my favorite ever of all internet sites, revamps as it is acquired by Facebook I looked back and found an interview they asked me to do as one of their early contributors. The links to the articles it mentions do not work here. I really hope Facebook does them justice.

nextstop Q&A with wanderingpops

One of the best parts about working at nextstop is getting to know different members of the nextstop community through their recommendations and guides. We noticed a couple epic guides by one nextstopper, wanderingpops:

Geologic, geographic, cultural, historic sites or just doesn't fit any other category! | nextstop.com

Hikes | nextstop.com


Every now and then on the nextstop blog we like to take a moment to do a quick interview with a top nextstopper to get to know them a bit better. The following is a Q&A with wanderingpops:

nextstop: So tell us a bit about you, your background and how you got into traveling around the U.S.

wanderingpops: I grew up in a small town in TN and never really gained a desire to travel until I was married and had the opportunity to travel some for work. Then my wife and I began taking our kids on bigger and better vacations. But the travel bug really grabbed me after we moved to WA state. While living there my wife and I did a 6732 mile road trip loop from WA to TN and back for our 20th anniversary. We traveled through 20 states, camped, stayed in KOA kabins, stayed in a casino near Vegas because 2 storms were coming and Jodi wouldn't camp and a couple nights just stayed in hotels. While living in WA we also visited Canada a few times and just before moving back to TN became certified divers and spent a week at Scuba Club Cozumel in Mexico. The more we see and experience in the world the more we want to explore.

NS: You've got a website barefootroadtrip.com, what was the inspiration? How does it fit with nextstop?

WP: I started barefootroadtrip after Sara, that I work with and is our webmaster, took my suggestions for a couple of trips, had a wonderful time at each place and suggested I start a site. She has the expertise and I have the gift of gab and a lot of stories and photos. She wants me to turn it into a "trip suggestion" blog and I will be glad to if we can make it work. We link my nextstop guides on the front page and on each linked page. Nextstop was really my inspiration. I found the site through the scuba challenge popping up on Facebook and fell immediately in love. I have spent more time on nextstop since I found it than I have traveling.

NS: From looking at all your recommendations, it's clear that you've been all over the country. Do you have a favorite moment while traveling?

WP: That is the easiest of all questions to answer. I LOVE mountain biking and I have hiked all my life, but the single most memorable moment in my travels happened at about 1:30 in the a.m. in October 0f 2002 while on the anniversary road trip I mentioned before. We were camped, in the rain again, at the KOA in Williams, AZ just south of the Grand Canyon. We were sleeping comfortably in our tent when all of a sudden we both sat bolt up and realized that what startled us awake was a bull elk in rut bugling [ns: We didn't know what this was either. Here's a great example] less than 150 yards from the tent. I have never forgotten what that sounded like.

NS: So what's next on your list? Where are the places you can't wait to go?

WP: Mountain biking in Utah, backpacking in AK (the only of the US states I haven't yet visited) and diving off the northern coast of South America (Belize, Bonaire and Aruba for example). And I cannot wait to do all three and get to my laptop so I can post them on both sites. See you on the road.

NS: Well, you just might be able to find a few great places around here for just that sort of thing!

We wish all the best to wanderingpops on his roadtrips, and look forward to checking in to see all his travels in the future. For more on wanderingpops, you can find him on nextstop and at his website: barefootroadtrip.com.
Posted by Kevin S. at Tuesday, June 23, 2009
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