One of the problems is connecting to the main panel. There's no easy way to access it from outside the house. Not to mention that getting the generator near the main would be impossible in the winter with snow on the ground.

That doesn't include the fact that the main is diagonally opposite the garage and most of the stuff I want to run. I keep the generator under the lean to for weather protection and ventilation, that puts it about 85 wire feet from the main breaker, and then the items to run are about 75 wire feet from the breaker.

Or, I add a dedicated system to run everything desired within a 20 foot distance.

That said, it looks like I'll be adding a ground rod, thanks.