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.