SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – One man from the Midwest has turned his passion for travel and learning about the history of small towns into his full-time job.
We first told you about Seth Varner in 2022 when he set out to visit every incorporated town in South Dakota. Now after completing that quest, he shares stories about the towns he visited and the book he wrote about his adventures.
Seth Varner has visited every incorporated town in four states and is currently working on his fifth.
After completing his South Dakota journey, he shares what he enjoyed about visiting the towns outside of the hot spots for tourists.
“South Dakota was my 2022 project in which Jack and I went to all 310 incorporated towns and the whole goal of our project at that time, as we were juniors in college at that point, was to kind of see what made the state special other than like necessarily the Black Hills area,” Varner said.
Varner and his friend Jack McGonigal traveled together throughout the state a few weeks at a time over the span of about 5 months.
“We went to the southeast than the northeast, then we did like the north central, like Aberdeen down to Pierre area. Then I think is like the Winner area, like the south-central, and then we did like the entire western part,” Varner said.
“It was pretty fun. I got to see a lot of things I normally wouldn’t see if I was just going through South Dakota on I-90 or something,” McGonigal said.
Varner started his first Wandermore project in 2020 after he was sent home from college due to COVID-19 and was looking for something to do.
“So some towns truly it made it maybe it was like 10 to 15 minutes and just because small town you know we getting the pictures and if we didn’t meet anybody or like eat the restaurant or a museum or something, it may have been that short where some of the bigger cities it would have equated to about like an entire day,” Varner said.
He says his fascination for history stemmed from his parents and now wants to share that with others.
“I’ve visited 2,600 different communities and try to document as much history as possible and kind of share what makes them unique in their own ways,” Varner said.
One memorable town that stands out is their time in Madison.
“So we took a small plane ride over the town of Madison and saw the lake and things like that. That was pretty neat,” McGonigal said. “We got to hold a live alligator at this museum in Harrisburg. That was pretty cool.”
“We fed these prairie dogs in a little unincorporated town called Cactus Flat kind of by Kadoka. That was actually like, super cool. Like the fact you can walk there like a prairie dog town and you have like the little peanuts and you get to like, go feed like the animals,” Varner said.
Varner says projects like these take time.
“It’s about 80 hours of work a week when I’m not traveling. When I am traveling, it’s at 16-hour days, typically because at sunrise to sunset to like really maximize the time,” Varner said.
Although the trip to South Dakota is complete, he continues to post photos and facts about the towns he visited on Facebook.
“In my posts, you’ll see I might talk about state recreation areas or restaurants or different tourist attractions. A lot of that comes from like chambers and talking with locals and that kind of stuff,” Varner said.
Varner says people ask him if he’s planning to do this in all 50 states.
“I want to be able to say I visited every town in at least ten states. That’s my first goal. And so I’ll probably do some other states around the Midwest area like Minnesota would be a good one. Oklahoma, Missouri, Colorado, and Wyoming would probably be like the most realistic ones to round out the last ten,” Varner said.
By exploring the Midwest one small town at a time.
“Every town has got something to offer, and I think it’s worth going to see what that town has whether it be a hole-in-the-wall restaurant or a certain attraction,” McGonigal said.
“You’ll find there’s pride in every community and that there’s absolutely something to do. You just got to go out and find it and, you know, grab a book, grab a map and just kind of go out and explore,” Varner said.
Varner says he is set to finish the state of North Dakota by the end of August and have that book out by the fall.
