TWIN LAKE, Mich. — A Twin Lake family is competing in the Ultimate Explorer contest in hopes of winning a cash prize and a family vacation in an RV—and they need your help.
The story begins with 16-year-old Brecken Hulings, who was diagnosed with autism when he was 3 years old. His dad, Andy Hulings, said Brecken loves being in the car, and that it doesn't matter how long the drive is.
"Every time we go to the grocery store, the school, anytime we go towards home, he always points the opposite direction," Hulings said.
This love of traveling led Hulings and Brecken to go on an impromptu vacation just the two of them, which Hulings said was a "lifelong dream" of his.
“I always thought I would do this when I retired, is to take him on like a ‘Brecken Vacation,’ where I just let him pick wherever we go," he said.
So the pair packed up their car and Hulings asked Brecken a question that jumpstarted their trip: "Do you want to see the ocean or mountains?"
Brecken picked the mountains, and the two ended up traveling over 4,500 miles in six days, stopping to visit Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park, the Badlands, Devil's Tower and more.
Hulings heard about the Ultimate Explorer contest while talking to another visitor at Yellowstone. He immediately applied for the competition.
The winner of the Ultimate Explorer contest will take home $10,000, appear in Outside Magazine and win an RV trip to multiple national parks.
For Hulings, signing up for the competition is a chance to create memories with his family.
"I'd love to, like, do this trip over and dedicate the proper amount of time to it," Hulings said, adding that he didn't realize how much time was needed to see national parks like Yellowstone. "So it'd be great to go, if we won this contest, to go in an RV, bring his brother and his two sisters and kind of experience the whole thing."
Brecken is still in the top 5 of his category. The top 20 candidates will move forward starting Aug. 22. The first round of voting closes Thursday, Aug 22 at 7 p.m.
You can vote for the Hulings family here.
