This year has been an eventful year for me. In June, our family grew again with the arrival of our baby boy. My daughter, now 3 years old, is interested in “daddy’s trips” and came on her first off-roading and camping trip in August and had a blast. Vader got his roof rack, awning, and roof top tent. So 2023 has been pretty good to me.
The last two years of growing the Darkside Off-Road on YouTube have been really rewarding, but now that the channel is in year 3 I’m gearing up for a big 2024.
Part of that process is launching this website and my own personal Patron style subscription site. Trips are expensive ($300+/ea in fuel, food, and supplies). Multiple trips in a year adds up to an investment. While you guys continue to amaze me with your viewing of these trip videos, even my most successful 10,000+ view videos only yield $100 or so each in “revenue” earned. This is a net negative passion project for me. This patron site will help offset the costs so I can break even.
I’m most excited to be able to finally answer the question “Do you have a GPX route you can share with me?” with “Yes I do! They’re all posted on my subscription site!” 😉
I’ve also been trying to find a merch provider that would allow me to start coming up with funny/fun Darkside / Vader / Star Wars themed apparel and swag. I found a good provider in Spreadshop that allows me to integrate my shop on this site as well as on my YouTube channel.
My goal for this site is to be a resource for us Northeastern / East Coast adventurers and bring us all together online to grow the community on this side of the country.
I hope you join me and come along for the ride!
Thank you all.
