Karen Van Gilder and Lee Nellis started their life together on a series of road trips that took them to out-of-the way places all across America. They have now started yLoopRoadTrips to offer you and your family the travel experience they like to create for themselves and their kids: fun, educational adventures that are fueled by healthy food and go beyond popular attractions to sights not so many see.

Karen and Lee come to this new venture from careers as professional planners who specialized in national park and public lands gateway communities. Together, they have worked for and consulted with the National Trust for Historic Preservation; the Sonoran Institute; the National Park Service; the Bureau of Land Management; many other local, state, and federal agencies; universities; and conservation organizations in the Big Horn Basin, Greater Yellowstone, and beyond. They also have experience as educators, interpreters, wilderness rangers, and guides. Lee is a Certified Interpretive Guide from the National Association for Interpretation and certified in Wilderness Advanced First Aid by Wilderness Medical Associates. Karen is a Health Coach and studied at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.  She has also spent some time working at the McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.