Happy New Year, Indiana.

On a special New Year's Eve episode of the Get IN. Podcast, Nate Spangle sat down with two key members of the Get Indiana team, Will Hudson and Robert Porter, to reflect on the wildest year yet and reveal an ambitious plan for 2026 that's unlike anything we've ever attempted.

If you've been following along, you know we love a good quest. From learning every county seat mascot to crowning the best small town in Indiana, these challenges have defined who we are. Now, we're taking it to another level.

In 2026, we're visiting 1,000 towns across the state of Indiana.

Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Meet the Team Behind the Scenes

Before we dive into the big announcement, let's introduce the guys who help bring Get Indiana to life every single day.

Will Hudson edits all of our short-form video content and shoots a huge chunk of our on-location footage. He started as a sophomore at Purdue and was our first official hire. After graduating this May, he's joining the team full-time.

Robert Porter has been editing our long-form podcast episodes almost since the beginning. If you're an avid listener, you're a fan of Robert's work—whether you knew it or not.

Together, these two have helped shape the look, sound, and feel of everything we put out. And on this episode, they got real about their favorite moments, hardest challenges, and boldest predictions for the year ahead.

Looking Back: Favorite Moments from 2025

The Trips That Made Us

This year, the team hit the road hard. We explored Dubois County, Crawford County, and the caves of southern Indiana. We stayed in French Lick, hit the casino (Will turned 21 and walked out a winner), and created some of our most-watched content to date.

"I'd never taken trips like that before," Will said. "French Lick, the history, the casino—it was wild."

Robert echoed the sentiment: "The Vincennes small town breakdown was one of my favorites. Learning about Indiana's first capital and Fort Sackville—it's stuff I never knew."

Favorite Videos and Podcasts

When asked about favorite videos, Will pointed to an unexpected one: the HC Tavern shrimp cocktail challenge. It was a fantasy football punishment where Nate had to sit in the restaurant for 12 hours—unless he ate enough shrimp cocktails to shave time off. Spoiler: it worked, but his taste buds didn't recover for days.

Robert's pick? The Grinds Coffee Pouches episode. "They talked about going on Shark Tank and sitting there for five minutes while the sharks just stared at them. You don't see that on TV. The whole origin story was crazy."

Other standout episodes included Scotty's Brewhouse (our biggest podcast ever, which went viral on Reddit), Sweetwater with Chuck Surack, and the conversation with Angelo Pizzo—the writer behind Rudy and Hoosiers.

The Surreal Moments

Every job has those "pinch me" moments. For the Get Indiana crew, 2025 had plenty.

Will's list included filming with Miles Teller in Bloomington and standing courtside at a Fever game while Nate crushed a mushroom cocktail eating challenge. (Also: Will forgot to turn on the audio, so the whole thing had to be dubbed. Behind-the-scenes magic, folks.)

Robert's moment came before he even started full-time. A week before the Indy 500, he showed up to his first official day, and walked straight into a massive tailgate with hundreds of people. "I couldn't even get a word in with my boss because people kept coming up to him. And then we gave away two grand on a spin wheel. I was like, 'Okay, this is what this is.'"

The Big Announcement: 1,000 Towns in 2026

Here's the deal.

Indiana has 569 incorporated cities and towns, 117 cities and 452 towns. On top of that, there are roughly 1,200 unincorporated communities scattered across the state.

In 2026, we're visiting 1,000 of them.

We're going to every corner of Indiana. All 92 counties. Nine regions. Cities, towns, and tiny unincorporated spots that don't even have their own governments. We're documenting it all—photos, videos, stories, and 100 reasons why Indiana is chronically underrated.

"If you're listening to this and you're in the state of Indiana, we will be in your backyard at some point," Nate said.

To hit our goal, we'll need to average about 2.7 towns per day. It's ambitious. It's a little crazy. But that's kind of our thing.

Where We're Most Excited to Explore

Nate: "I haven't spent much time in the Region. They let me know in the comments. I'm excited to go up to Whiting, East Chicago, maybe even check out the future site of the Bears stadium. Also, north of Fort Wayne—Angola, Steuben County—I don't know that area well. Same with the stretch from South Bend to the Southshore of Lake Michigan."

Robert: "Fort Wayne and Evansville. Never been to either."

Will: "Southeast Indiana. Lawrenceburg. I want to check out where Mason Paris came from."

We're literally covering all four corners of the state, and everything in between.

Predictions for 2026

The team made some bold calls for the year ahead.

Robert: "This is the year we get Caitlin Clark on the podcast."

Will: "This might be our biggest year of growth ever. This is when the scales tip."

Nate: "I think in 2026, we'll have multiple videos about Indiana that get over a million views. We're going to take Indiana content and make it nationally, maybe even globally, relevant."

Robert also predicted that Nate would land a feature in a legacy publication like the New York Times or Washington Post. We'll see.

Thank You, Indiana

None of this happens without the people who watch, listen, share, and support what we do.

We've been lucky enough to stand on top of the Pagoda at IMS, sit in the crew chief box at the Brickyard, go courtside at Fever games, and break bread with some of the most inspiring people in the state. We've built a team of editors, writers, and creators, all based right here in Indiana, who pour everything into making this content.

So whether you've been with us since day one or you're just tuning in, thank you. We're just getting started.

Got a town we should visit first? A story we need to tell? Drop us a DM, leave a comment, or email us at nate@getindiana.com.

We'll see you on the road.