Trails West has decided to take a fresh approach in 2025. We didn’t cover 2024 at all—no articles, no quips, no opinions. The year was a wash due to circumstances beyond our control. However, we’re excited to get back on track this year. Our goal for 2025 is to focus on delivering authentic, engaging content by stepping away from advertisers, and stupid stories. This shift allows us to concentrate on the facts as we experience them, offering unfiltered insights from our ongoing exploration of unique and interesting places to visit, dine, and stay throughout the western United States.

Oh, and one more thing: we’re officially done with western Nebraska. We should have never tried. Despite our best efforts to make it seem interesting, it simply wasn’t. Readers questioned our sanity—or worse, wondered if we’d sold out. Honestly, we tried to make it work, but it didn’t.

Thinking about visiting western Nebraska? STOP! There’s a reason why western Nebraska is home to the largest battery of nuclear missiles in the U.S., alongside North Dakota. There's nothing there! Seriously, make a detour. Save yourselves before it's too late.

We’ve always loved telling stories through video, and when we launched the 48-hour road trips, we had an absolute blast. It was a bold idea full of energy and promise, but despite the excitement, it just didn’t work out—even as it was starting to gain momentum. Looking ahead, our approach to video is changing. From now on, we’ll only produce videos when we find a subject compelling enough to warrant the time and effort it takes to tell the story right. These won’t be about travel anymore. Instead, they’ll focus on serious, meaningful topics—no hype, no fluff, and no chasing clicks with empty content. Just real stories that matter.