From Group Ride Roasts to Real Life: My YouTube Channel Update

Well, my lovelies (I realize that sounds weird but at this point I need to lean into it), it’s time for some real talk about where I’ve been and what’s been happening behind the scenes at Walt in PA.

The Group Ride That Started It All

Just the other weekend, I decided to join a group ride with some of the guys from the Walt in PA Discord server. Me, Goofy Bastard, Goofy’s Son, Trekkie Moto, and Scott’s Moto Adventures – five of us meeting up in Limerick, Pennsylvania for what was supposed to be a fun Sunday morning ride through Chester County down into Lancaster County, then up through Berks County before closing the loop back at the Flying Pig Tavern for lunch.

Now, four of the five of us are motovloggers, so there was some weird stuff happening at that gas station. From the outside, it probably looked pretty strange – Trekkie clapping to sync his cameras, Scott beeping his horn for the same reason, Goofy doing a flat-out vlog with a handheld camera. Just another day in the life of content creators, right?

When the Ball-Busting Hit Close to Home

Everyone did the usual heads up about recording, and I mentioned that I didn’t bring any camera gear – I’d just be a guest star if needed. That’s when Scott hit me with it:

“You know, you should change your channel name from Walt in PA to Walt Incognito. You said you were coming back, everyone got all excited, and you haven’t posted anything since.”

Man, that one cut deep. The funniest roasts are always the ones with a vein of truth to them, and Scott nailed it. That’s when I realized you all deserved an explanation for what’s been going on.

The Real Story Behind My YouTube Hiatus

The Content Creation Surge

Around Christmas time (maybe even Thanksgiving), I decided to give the channel and waltnpa.com a real jolt. I started creating a ton of content – mainly YouTube shorts and TikTok videos. I was publishing daily for about 2½ months, batch recording everything to make it efficient.

The plan was simple: use the shorts to breathe life into the channel, catch some new eyes, and work on long-form content in between. I even got a couple of longer videos published and recorded several more hours of raw footage.

When Life Gets in the Way

Here’s where things get complicated. A couple of years ago, the company I worked for hit hard financial times during the pandemic and got bought by a larger out-of-state company. After two years, they decided to close our Pennsylvania production facility, lay off the production floor workers, and keep a few office people for remote work.

That lasted about a year before massive layoffs hit across all their divisions. I lost my job, but my former boss (who had a good relationship with me) called to break the news personally. He explained that the project I was working on was critical, so he wanted to delay my layoff as long as possible to ensure a smooth transition.

The Unexpected Job Opportunity

I thought unemployment would be this glorious period of free time – developing a daytime TV habit, getting house projects done, having a much-needed vacation. I even started posting fun fabricated stories on Facebook about “day one of unemployment” (complete with staged photos of me passed out on the couch after taking up day drinking).

But by day three, I got a message from someone asking if I’d be interested in working for another company. Long story short, I went from being laid off to having a new job offer in about a week. There were about three weeks between that conversation and when they were ready to onboard me.

The Busy Reality of “Free Time”

Those three weeks were incredibly busy. Between keeping up with my business, tackling piled-up house projects, and preparing for a new job that would require in-office time before transitioning to remote work, I found myself swamped.

Walt in PA got put on the back burner, but not because I wasn’t creating content. I was still riding, still recording, still coming up with ideas (including a scavenger hunt-style “grand tour” that never got finalized). I’ve got hours of raw, unedited footage sitting on my hard drives – content that just never made it to YouTube.

The Editing Dilemma

Here’s the thing: I love talking on camera, but editing? Not so much. What I really need is someone who gets as excited about turning raw footage into polished videos as I do about creating the content in the first place.

YouTube at my level doesn’t pay well enough for a professional video editor, and I couldn’t even convince my daughter to help out. She edited about two minutes of one video before declaring “this is not my thing.”

Where We Are Now

I’m still pretty busy with the new job, but I’m still recording content. The activity is there – it’s just not bearing fruit in terms of published videos. At this point, some of that footage has been sitting so long that I don’t even remember what’s in it, and the thought of watching it all again to edit doesn’t exactly thrill me.

What’s Next for Walt in PA?

This channel update is my way of getting back in the saddle (pun intended). I want to be more consistent with content, but I need to figure out this editing situation. If you know someone who loves video editing as much as I love rambling into a camera, send them my way!

The Walt in PA Discord community is still going strong, group rides are still happening, and there’s plenty more content coming. I just needed to clear the air about where I’ve been and what’s been going on behind the scenes.

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Watch the Full Story

Want to hear this story in my own words, complete with all the rambling tangents and probably a few details I forgot to include here? Check out the full video below:

Don’t forget to like the video if you’ve ever been called out by your riding buddies (we’ve all been there), and subscribe for more motorcycle content, life updates, and whatever else comes to mind when I’m talking to a camera.

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Thanks for sticking with me through the ups and downs, my lovelies. There’s more content coming, and I promise to be more consistent going forward. Ride safe, and I’ll catch you in the next one!

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Ready to join our community? Check out the Walt in PA Discord server for group ride announcements, motorcycle discussions, and general shenanigans with fellow riders from Pennsylvania and beyond.