By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Seth Varner is making the most of the COVID pandemic. Now 23, Varner was a freshman at the University of Nebraska-Omaha when the pandemic hit. Instead of sitting around at home, he and a friend decided to visit every incorporated town in Nebraska. That became one book, and now Varner is working to finish his fourth book, "Wandermore in Kansas." He's been in Central Kansas the past two weeks gathering content.
"Everyone has something to showcase in their town that's really unique, whether you have a population of 30 people or 30,000 people," Varner said. "That's what I'm going out to prove here, that every town in Kansas has something to offer. You just have to go out and find it."
After dragging Main with friends and working at the Dairy Queen in Wahoo, Neb., population 4,900, Varner decided to do something with his free time. He visited all 531 incorporated towns in Nebraska over the next three months, collecting photos, facts, and points of interest.
"At some point along the way, my mom had said, 'Make a Facebook page. People might be interested in seeing this stuff online,'" said Varner. "We go to a hundred towns, doing our own thing. Finally, I make the Facebook page. I'm not thinking much of it. Lo and behold, in the first month we had around 10,000 followers, and all these news outlets started reaching out."
Eventually, those Facebook fans suggested turning the project into a coffee table book so they could relive the tour. An avid writer and photographer with four years of high school journalism experience, Varner got to work. His first book about Nebraska was finished in November 2020 and sold well.
That prompted more trips, this time to the 939 incorporated towns in Iowa. More than 300 towns in South Dakota followed that. By then, Varner had started Wandermore Publishing where he serves as the CEO and lone employee in charge of all production and distribution of the books.
As the project grows, so has Varner's travel budget. He's able to use proceeds from previous book sales to fund future projects, and his popularity on Facebook has led to a stream of revenue as a content producer for the social media giant. He also accepts donations from the public. For every $5 contributed to the Wandermore Fund, that donor is allowed to put the name of a loved one, pet, business, or even their own name in the back of the next book.
Now in his fourth state, the miles are also beginning to add up as Varner hits all 627 incorporated towns in Kansas. As of last Thursday, he had logged more than 13,000 miles in Kansas alone, and more than 24,000 miles since purchasing a new car in January.
"I had a 2003 Ford Taurus for Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota," he said. "That poor thing is long gone after you throw 60,000 miles on a car that old in two and a half years. I think there's a high schooler who drives it to and from school, about 10 blocks. That's as far as it will ever go again."
Varner hopes to have "Wandermore in Kansas" printed by November. It will be a travel guide highlighting historical points of interest, breweries, wineries, and unique places to spend the night, as well as a history book and a living photo album. The book will include some 1,000 colored photos with access to many, many more.
"Every single town will have its own QR code," he said. "If you scan that with your smartphone, you'll be able to basically tour each town vicariously from your phone. I'm going to have about 40,000 pictures of Kansas. Since I can't put those all in the book, people will still be able to see all of those just by the QR code."
And there's also a historical aspect of Varner's work. He loves the travel and social media work, but he's also documenting how Kansas looks in 2023.
"I get to have a lot of fun doing it, but I know down the road it's going to be really important," he said. "You look back at these 1910, 1940s postcards of these random buildings. Nowadays, I don't know if there's anyone else out there going around and snapping photos of every building in every town for documentation purposes."
Varner has paved his own road to success, and there's always the chance to go bigger. But Varner said that's not in the cards, at least for the time being.
"I think for the foreseeable future, I'm just going to keep doing my own thing," he said. "I want to visit every incorporated town in at least 10 states, pretty much all around the Midwest. Maybe if it's down the road and I'm looking at a family and kids and don't have time to travel anymore, I might consider that option. But until then, I'm planning on being the one-man show for at least the next 5-10 years."
Follow Varner's Wandermore627Kansas Facebook page for daily updates on his travels, or read more about his projects at wandermorepublishing.com.