STURGEON BAY – In the well-established chronicles of Wisconsinites' fanatic love for Kwik Trip, one woman set a new (hot) bar Wednesday morning when she parked her Harley-Davidson at the pump at the Egg Harbor Road location in Sturgeon Bay.
With a 13-cent fill-up complete and receipt secured, Whit Meza completed an epic "Kwest" to visit all 503 Kwik Trip stores in Wisconsin, plus as many others as she could in neighboring states — a 4,500-mile journey completed in just 11 days.
"It's you!" a customer enthused as he spotted Meza. He recognized her from coverage of her ride and asked for a selfie with her. The Sturgeon Bay store staff welcomed her inside with a round of applause.
A self-professed Kwik Trip super fan, Meza said her 2022 summary of Kwik Trip activity got her thinking about how she could level up in 2023. She found an answer in her other passion in life: endurance motorcycling, long-distance rides generally involving riding at least 1,000 miles in 24 hours.
"With me being a long-distance motorcycle rider, I kind of united the two," Meza said. "This was the perfect, perfect opportunity to do something like this because no one has ever done that before."
Meza set out from her hometown of Ripon, about 90 miles northwest of Milwaukee, on May 7. She spent an average of 15.5 hours each day on her Harley-Davidson Pan America Special. It rained most of one day and was particularly cold in Superior, but Meza said those moments were offset by days spent driving through the Wisconsin countryside as spring bloomed.
Let's ride through some highlights of Meza's journey.
Meza's Kwik Trip Kwest by the numbers
Meza originally planned to visit all 852 Kwik Trip and Kwik Star stores, but adapted her plan as it became clear 77 stores per day would not be feasible. She instead focused on every Wisconsin store but did venture into the three other states where Kwik Trip operates.
She set rules for her Kwest in line with those required to get an endurance ride certified by the Iron Butt Association, an 82,000 member group dedicated to safe, endurance motorcycle riding. She tracked her progress on an app, collected receipts to track her fuel and food purchases, took video and photos to document her progress and, since this is a Kwik Trip challenge, she bought all her meals and snacks at stores along the way.
Here's various stats and data Meza tracked during her journey to put the feat into perspective:
- 4,557 miles traveled
- 546 Kwik Trips/Kwik Stars visited
- More than $500 of gasoline
- 154 hours riding, an average of 15.5 hours per day
- Estimated 2.75 hours spent each day in or at Kwik Trip stores
- Four states visited: Wisconsin (503 stores), Iowa (40 stores), Michigan (2 stores) and Illinois (1 store)
She ate her favorite hot bar item every day, had a "guilty pleasure" purchase, but saved the Glazers for the finish line
Meza ate 33 straight meals at Kwik Trip and as a brand fanatic and bona fide Kwik Trip Ambassador since 2019, you know she has a favorite item.
"The breakfast sandwich, the egg, cheese and sausage croissant is my go-to," she said, noting she ate one for breakfast every morning of the 11-day trek.
Beyond that, she focused on high-protein, high-energy foods: Eggs, protein shakes and snacks that would give her a boost of energy for the 15-plus hours of riding each day. When she would arrive at a store but didn't need gasoline or food, she'd pick up her "guilty pleasure" item: M&Ms.
She said endurance riding doesn't leave much room for popular bakery treats like Glazers.
"The donuts will be for celebrating today," Meza said. "I saved that for the last celebration, to get that sugar high."
Amid visits to 546 Kwik Trips, 2 stores stood out
Meza said visiting roughly 50 stores a day meant some of them blended together, but she said two stores stood out among the green roofs and red-striped awnings.
The store at 611 Gateway Ave., in Mauston, was huge, she said, with fuel stations and weight scales for semi-trucks, large semi parking lots and the consumer-focused store.
"It's just big. It's a larger spot than I realized," Meza said. "It felt like one of the largest ones."
The other one stood out for its unique decoration: Bessie, a cow decorated in Kwik Trip branding that's located in front of the store in Thorp.
"It was just a cute little rendition of Wisconsin that I found unique," she said.
She did it for the destinations, but came to love the journey across Wisconsin
Meza took vacation from her job as a social media specialist for Destination Door County for the trip. She posted updates to her Instagram page and plans to upload video from the trip to her YouTube channel.
And while her trek reinforced her love for Kwik Trip, Meza said she also developed a deeper appreciation of the natural beauty to be found throughout Wisconsin.
"You can drive in a car, but you're kind of closed off from being able to smell the fresh blooms or people that are making a fire across the street," Meza said. "There are so many senses you don't get to experience without riding a motorcycle. I got to see a lot and experience a lot in Wisconsin."
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Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 orjbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier.
