Experiences

We packed up our 2019 midroof DO on Wednesday night and started out on our journey south. This would be our 3rd year in a row making the pilgrimage to the self proclaimed “Mountain Bike Capitol” of the world! Before this mountain bike mecca got its popularity, it was where Sam Walton created the very first Walmart. Since then the Walton family has graciously poured over $100 million dollars into the mountain bike scene all over NW Arkansas. 

Becoming A Yearly Tradition

Who would have thought parking your van in a field with 40-50 other van owners would be something we look forward to every year. VOX, Van Owners Experience, is just that.. An experience! No one expects anything except to reconnect with old friends, and connect with new ones. Everything else after that is just a cherry on top. Each year it seems to get better though. That’s in big part due to Vandoit adopting this VOX as their own.

VOX’s were created just like the popular clothing brand in the 90s/00s. FUBU. FOR US BY US. They started out as a way for fellow van owners to meet, swap stories, and poke our heads in each other’s vans to see ideas we hadn’t thought of yet. Since this one was so close to Blue Springs, MO. The birthplace of Vandoit. They decided to get in on the fun, and show their appreciation and love to us owners (as if they don’t do enough for us) by sponsoring the Bentonville VOX. 

So Many Activities!

Ice cream trucks. Catered meals. Outdoor camping cooking classes. Fitness classes. Bike company tours. Olympics. Van tours. “Garage sales”. Talent shows. Coffee and breakfast every morning. Snow Cone trucks. Scavenger hunts around the town. Campfires, singalongs & s’mores. Group bike rides. Clean drinking water, bathroom facilities and hot showers! These are some of the events VDI organizes for us owners over the 4 days we are there. Do they have to do it? Of course not! They don’t have to do it, in fact, they LOVE to do this every year. This is no easy gathering to prepare for. The planning for this mid April event all started 5 months prior in December! 

I could go on about each thing mentioned above. About how VDI catered a local ice cream truck to come and exclusively serve the van owners, and can we talk about how they made their own special flavor of ice cream for the event too!? Or how every night they provided an amazing dinner for 100+ people at no cost. The annual VDI Olympics and talent show have been a hit for the young and the old. If that’s quite your thing we do camp fires with singalongs and s’mores. There’s so much going on that you forget there are HUNDREDS of miles of perfectly manicured mountain bike trails right there where we park at Applegate Properties… Minutes from Coler Preserve, one of Bentonville’s premier mountain bike hot spots. Boasting more than 25 trails, and it even has a coffee shop right in the middle of it all. No cars allowed though, as it is only accessible by bike/walking. 

Vandoit Is A Family

Whether you just like to sit outside your van all day and enjoy the beautiful sunny skies, and green grass under your bare feet. You’re an adrenaline junky who loves to weave in and out of crazy bike trails. Or you’re somewhere in between, and both of these options sound great! These VOX events, and Vandoit offer something for everyone. And at the center of it all is love.

This company isn’t a ‘sell you a van, and wave goodbye when you drive away never to speak to you again’ type of business. No way! You’ll meet their incredible employees like Haley, Austin, and Jayla who organize the event 4-5 months in advance, get to the property before everyone else to make sure it is all set up and ready to go, get up early to make sure the coffee and breakfast is ready, run events throughout the day, play soccer with all the sweet van fam kids, and stay up later than everyone else to edit photos and videos of the days fun! You’ll meet other amazing VDI employees like Allison, Brian, Roger, Staci, Sam Jr., Kyle, Billy who are also there because VDI values the people who work hard day in and day out to make our dreams come true. 

So heres to the 3rd Annual Bentonville VOX. The 11th official VOX. Catch us out on the road in other VOX’s, possibly MOAB, UT this fall! Cheers everyone, blessed travels. Slow wide turns.

As I wrap up the year, I get a chance to go through the hard drives and reminisce on all the adventures we’ve had as a company. I have had the privilege of being Vandoit’s Content Creator since July of 2020. In that two and a half years, I have been to many places and met many people I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. Here is a ranking of the top five places I went with a Vandoit. For more photos and videos of our journey, check out our instagram! @Vandoitco

5. Victor, Arkansas

The trip to Arkansas was a simple, but unforgettable trip. A couple of members from our marketing department, myself, BLK ELK Media, and our Lead Engineer, spent three days in November shooting with our colleague Aaron Paris from Switchback Outdoor Safety. Our trip primarily consisted of filming overlanding and the testing of our exclusive Backwoods Adventure Mods Front Scout Bumper. We also filmed a video showing hundreds of ways to organize the contents of your van to make it work for you.

4. Buena Vista, Colorado

In August, we traveled to Colorado for Overland Expo Mountain West. A few days before, we made an early stop to see our good friend and Vandoit owner, Travis Brewer. This is where we got a majority of our content for Movement is Medicine, a short documentary about Travis and his journey from serious injury to prime athlete and performer. We got to spend five days with Travis in the small town of Buena Vista camping side by side with him and his van. The views in Colorado are wicked, but parking next to Twin Lakes was especially beautiful.

3. Flagstaff, Arizona

A little earlier in 2022, I went to Flagstaff, Arizona. Me and a fellow coworker helping with content met up with a couple of sales gurus who had been at Overland Expo West. By day we were riding motocross bikes and by night lounging in dispersed camping that overlooked Sedona. We also spent some time in Coconino National Forest and spotted a few free-range cows out our van windows. This trip was part of a nine-day excursion to several states including our next location, Jackson, Wyoming. 

2.  Jackson, Wyoming

Getting into Jackson Wyoming immediately washed us all over with the incredible views. We spent some time in Bridger Teton National Forest and got shots of the van in action. My personal favorite thing to shoot is drone footage. This allows me to get an aerial view of our roof rack, solar panels, roofnest tent and so much more atop the van. This trip was special too because of our Sales Guru’s attendance. Vandoit highly values letting their employees grow within the company and gain more hands-on experience through trips like this. Camping for three days in Wyoming–nine days total– brought us closer together and made coming to work feel even more like family. 

1. Moab, Utah

My favorite place I went to this year is somewhere I have been several times before: Moab Utah. The trip in particular I want to share with you is when I went with my dad in early October. We took time to ride our dirt bikes and relax in each other’s company; it was nice to have some one-on-one time with my dad in such a beautiful place. While we weren’t riding 4×4 trails, we attended VOX’s (Van Owner’s Experience) yearly meetup in Moab. The VOX events are always so much fun to be a part of as we get to spend time with our owners and hear all about their life with a Vandoit. The community between us and our owners is always a blast. We went on a group Mountain Biking Rides, visited Canyonland and Arches National Park, and spent hours around a campfire telling stories. 

As cheesy as it sounds, I love my job. I’m blessed to have the opportunities I have in traveling and capturing these moments with my camera. I cannot wait to see what 2023 has in store for Vandoit that I get to be a part of! Stay tuned for more.