American Road Trip Talk: Recent Episodes
American Road® Magazine
Discover the joy of the journey with the AMERICAN ROAD. AMERICAN ROAD with Thomas and Becky Repp, co-hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of AMERICAN ROAD, an internationally distributed magazine, which celebrates the people and places along America's two-lane jewels.
There is a doughnut shop and bakery in Clare, Michigan that has been in constant operation since 1896. This heritage business was just weeks from closing when members of the Clare Police Department came to the rescue. All nine of them. They saved a beloved local enterprise. We meet two of these heroes in this episode.
Driving toward the Manhattan skyline, you can see it for the first time only once. After that, it pays to be in the company of a streetwise friend who knows New York City intimately when you venture into the Big Apple. Karl Petry is back, this time to help road trippers prepare for a visit to the crossroads of the world.
Every make of automobile has its aficionados. For lovers of style and performance, ask any fan of the Pontiac lineage about the now-defunct GM make and you will see stars (and maybe a tear) in their eyes. Passion for Pontiac is our topic as we speak with enthusiasts Karl Petry and Ken Ulrich. (Encore Presentation)
Harriet Baskas returns as her brand new book, 111 Places In Seattle That You Must Not Miss, comes off the presses. From the magnificent to the quaint and quirky, Seattle is a realm unto itself with endless appeal and plenty of intrigue. A sharp-eyed journalist, Harriet puts it all into perspective.
California has a uniquely expansive claim on a road-tripper’s imagination, with plenty of two-lane magic unfolding before an eager driver’s eyes. With so much to see and do, we sought the best advice from ever-reliable Jamie Jensen, author of Road Trip USA.
Jamie Jensen, growing up in Southern California when car culture was ready to ride the wave of the future, became permanently enchanted with the open road early on; especially the lure of two-lane highways. With the publication of a ninth edition of Road Trip USA, Jamie has risen to the status of motoring maven. (Encore presentation)
The grandeur of the National Parks and Monuments has been on display in feature films for generations. Geoffrey Mark joins us with the backstory of iconic movies that made a location out of some of the most stunning scenery in the world.
Situated at the south end of Whidbey Island in Washington state, Langley is the land of lovely vistas and frequent festivals. The Whidbey Island Fair this year runs July 28th thru the 30th at the Fairgrounds and Events Center, being one example of a year-round penchant for celebration. Dena Marie of the local Chamber of Commerce has the inside scoop.
Observing the Do’s and Don’ts of making your car, truck or SUV ready for a memorable summer trek aka The Big Road Trip is serious business. Karl Petry of the Garden State Pontiac Club is a go-to guy for advice on how to prevent costly automotive trouble from hampering your next open-road adventure.
Where will you go this year to celebrate Independence Day? All around the Sound, you can find a safe and spectacular 4th of July fireworks display to create memories for the whole family. Matt Shea joins us with some timely suggestions.
From July 22-31, visitors to Wyoming’s famous Cheyenne Frontier Days return to the Cowboy state for the 126th year – kicking up dust and bringing 10 days of nonstop rodeo action and live entertainment. You can enjoy the world’s largest outdoor rodeo and Western celebration – from a thrilling carnival and chuckwagon cookoff to world-class country music acts and bull riding.
In the land that Patrick Henry and the Green Mountain Boys once called home, a vibrant heritage of outdoor activity alongside gracious living continues in Vermont. Haley Rice of Come Alive Outside reveals a burgeoning grassroots movement with personal health and enjoyment in mind. Vermont is famous for more than just maple!
Mark Greene of CarsYeah fame recently parted with his beloved “Orange Crush” and in the process, discovered little-known insights into today’s superheated automotive market. He has lots to share about the process of buying and selling cars in the midst of persistent inflation and pent-up demand.
Back in 1922, a future legend known as The Cherry Hut opened as a roadside pie stand. To the founders, it was a way to sell homemade cherry pies baked with fresh cherries straight from the family orchard. In 1937, the Cherry Hut moved to its present-day location on US 31 in cozy Beulah, MI. Throughout its long and storied history, The Cherry Hut has been celebrated for their down-home quality pies and jams.
Things can look downright mystical in misty Forks, Washington and otherworldly 100 miles away in Olympic National Park. Don’t forget to have a soak in Sol Duc Hot Springs while you visit! Matt Shea shares highlights and his personal insights from years of trekking to a region that many call God’s Country.
Over 80 years after Dorothy discovered, “There’s no place like home,” the world returns to Oz every so often and thus to a magical place that remains close in heart and mind. Classic Hollywood historian Geoffrey Mark has a wealth of knowledge to share about The Wizard of Oz and its boundless legacy which revives itself with each new generation. Originally aired May 14, 2021.
The Nevada Northern Railway was built over a century ago to service one of the largest copper mines of the era. A museum in Ely, NV celebrates the men and workhorse machines of a rugged frontier time. We wanted to know more about all of it.
Erika Nelson is an independent artist and educator, exploring the fringes of art and culture she experienced on back roads and at offbeat roadside attractions that dot the American landscape. She travels in a permanently altered Art Car, exhibiting the World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things. Erika loves bringing us word of new and exotic places she has discovered.
Escape Rooms, combining elements of mystery, adventure and intricate teamwork, have become very popular destinations across America. Joey and Tonya Madia are aficionados of these eerie attractions and Joey is currently in high demand as a designer of them! Originally aired 8/6/2021
On the 52nd annual Earth Day, we talk with chronicler Harriet Baskas about cities and sites around Seattle and Puget Sound that celebrate our planet as well as the people whose environmental stewardship sets an example for us all.
Washington's beloved annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is back for 2022, and mainstays RoozenGaarde and Tulip Town, both visitor favorites, welcome you to feast your eyes on their gorgeous fields. Matt Shea has returned from another tour with fresh insights into a region renowned for its annual explosion of inspiring springtime colors.
Virginia Phillippi, Director of North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) Association, has made a career of connecting travelers with over a thousand museums under their coast-to-coast umbrella. If it has cultural or historical significance, it is important to the NARM membership. Aficionados, unite!
The wild, rustic and sometimes offbeat beauty of the Sunshine State is yours to enjoy along the system of two-lane roads that have helped to shape the destiny of Florida. For many, today’s roadtrip adventure becomes tomorrow’s nostalgia. Jamie Jensen is on hand to guide the ride.
Part nostalgia trip, part urban archeology, The Neon Museum in Las Vegas is an immense striking tableau of iconic Sin City. Aaron Berger, Executive Director of the museum, shares how neon signage and eye-popping architecture helped establish a unique patch of desert in the world consciousness.
Zak Bagans’ The Haunted Mansion in Las Vegas has been voted #1 Haunted Destination in America. With over 30 rooms of thrills and chills, visitors enter a portal to the ghoulish wonders of Sin City: a world apart from the glitzy casinos. Our correspondent Matt Shea took the tour and survived! Listen to his tales of the macabre in this eerie edition.
Planning a vacation? Don’t get ripped off! Adam K. Levin is a consumer advocate with more than 40 years of experience and is a nationally recognized expert on security, privacy, phishing schemes and identity theft. He is the founder of CyberScout and author of the book “Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves.” Before you venture out, listen to this episode for great advice on outwitting the con artists.
Encore Presentation: Jamie Jensen, growing up in Southern California when car culture was then standing up to ride the wave of the future, became permanently enchanted with the open road early on; especially the lure of two-lane highways. Listen to a man who knows whereof he speaks.
In West Tennessee, the adventure starts in soulful Memphis but does not end there. The rural areas beyond the famous city are uncrowded, tranquil and inextricably linked to American history. You can feel the connection in this episode.
Everyone has a favorite car from the sensational (sometimes campy) days of television in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. The Batmobile, perhaps? How about that jalopy The Monkees drove around town? Or maybe The General from The Dukes of Hazzard? Geoffrey Mark visits with inside stories of the rides that brought style and muscle to TV shows of days gone by.
When “kitsch” was first considered by art critics and historians, the prevalent view was that gaudy roadside attractions were good for a laugh and a bit of banal gratification thanks to sentimentality. Motoring visitors to the Pacific Northwest, however, are inclined to perceive such icons as a quirky welcome to the neighborhood. Harriet Baskas shares her appreciation of these beckoning behemoths.
An ingenious tech generation is hard at work developing alternative fuels for zero net carbon emissions on the highways. Mark Greene of Cars Yeah, our car culture maven, briefs us on a bold sector of science that is helping to shape the future out of thin air.
Utah has long been celebrated for having the “Greatest Snow on Earth and the Greatest Earth on Show”. Erika Nelson went there to find out for herself. What she discovered was a land of ancient grandeur and spellbinding wonders. Her tour of Capitol Reef National Park and elsewhere revealed miracles of Nature, some retouched by human hands.
Planning to travel with your pet this year? Dr. George Melillo believes results reward research. There are many pet carriers on the market and the best depend on what meets the individual needs of your companion. Good carriers should be waterproof and easy to clean; they should also be clearly marked with emergency contact information for the owner. Dr. Melillo joins us with expert advice on mastering the challenges of taking off while taking your pet along for the ride.
JoAnne Worley's instinctive comedic timing and irrepressible laugh make her a favorite of audiences everywhere. Her work includes television, movie and stage productions to game shows, talk shows, commercials, cartoons and opera. For more than 40 years she has been involved with the organization Actors and Others for Animals (founded 1971), which funds spay-and-neuter programs, and provides veterinary financial assistance to pet guardians in Southern California. Since 2007, JoAnne has served as president of the organization. Her expertise in safe, enjoyable travel with pets is well-trusted. Encore Presentation.
In honor of Elvis Presley's birthday, Cory Cooper shares his authoritative knowledge on the places where The King's feature films were shot. Including settings as diverse as New Orleans, Seattle, Hawaii and Las Vegas, hear the details of where, when and how Elvis made movie magic. (Encore presentation)
Happy New Year! In our last episode of 2021, we look back for inspiration to beloved literature with its roots in the American saga as we anticipate open-road adventures to come. As always, the highway is calling!
Holiday light displays in Puget Sound are a blend of the traditional and the downright quirky. Matt Shea returns with his first-hand account of some of the outstanding works created by neighbors who never stop trying to outdo each other, in the spirit of Christmas of course.
Welcome to Seneca Falls, the Real Bedford Falls! Each year, the town celebrates an It's A Wonderful Life Festival the second weekend in December. But the Museum is open all year round. Memorabilia abounds in this magical place of seasonal mirth and endless goodwill no matter when you come to town. We wanted to know more about The 75th Anniversary Celebration of “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
Festive holiday magic has returned with Zoolights at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, running through Jan. 2. The South Puget Sound tradition boasts more lights than ever, with more than 800,000 lights illuminating the zoo at night. Tessa Miller, Media Relations and Communications Coordinator, is our guest.
The driving distance between Oatman and Bisbee in Arizona is 433 miles. It takes a little over 7 hours. In between, you traverse the vibrant center of the state including Phoenix and Tucson. Jamie Jensen, one of America’s foremost Road Warriors, has stories to tell and advice to offer for rugged individuals who want to motor their way through starkly contrasting views of the West, old and new.
In the past year, several visionaries of the automotive world have passed on. Their accomplishments are a wonderful legacy to all who celebrate the beauty of innovation and stylish performance. Mark Greene of Cars Yeah joins us to pay tribute. (Photo: clarewalshcounseling.com)
Labor economists were right. The prediction of a drastic shortage of drivers in the trucking industry has been borne out. This crisis has long-term implications for American consumers and the overall economy. Will a large increase in wages be enough to lure men and women into the rigs that bring goods to our communities?
World War I is referred to as the Great War or more ironically, 'the war to end all wars.' Influences of that terrible conflict resonate today. An historical presentation, with unrivaled exhibits and an unsurpassed collection of artifacts, are found in Kansas City, Missouri at The WWI Museum and Memorial. CEO Matt Naylor and Curator of Education Lora Vogt share their perspectives. An Encore Presentation
Everything old is new again with the rapid rise in electric cars. Actually, the visionary history of their development goes back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mark Greene of Cars Yeah joins us to survey the timeline of an automotive revolution; one that continues accelerating at a startling pace.
From Maine to Florida and on the Pacific Coast as well, historic lighthouses shine their beacon to safely beckon sailors home. According to maritime lore, however, many of them house spectral residents who prefer the darkness. Matt Shea researched legendary lighthouse ghosts for this episode. Pictured: St. Augustine Lighthouse in Florida.
Approaching the December 14th Centennial celebration of The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL near Chicago, holiday-themed beauty abounds at this famous public garden. The lights of Illumination are a warm diversion from chilly nights and other special displays make for a glorious family-friendly trek in the suburban woods during the most glorious time of year. Preston Bautista, Vice President of Learning and Engagement, is our guest.
Celebrating the lives, careers, and legacies of the “First Couple of Comedy,” and their incredible impact on the world, the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum has welcomed thousands of visitors from across the globe for over 25 years. I Love Lucy premiered 70 years ago. Gary Hahn of The National Comedy Center guests.
The Hollywood Museum, official museum of Hollywood, has the most extensive collection of Hollywood memorabilia in the world. It features 35,000 square feet, 4 floors of breathtaking exhibits and is the home of more than 10,000 authentic Showbiz Treasures. Founder Donelle Dadigan is our guest.
Chances are, that orange beauty you turned into a delicious pie or impressive jack-o’-lantern came from one of three Pumpkin Capitals of America, located in Floydada, Texas, Morton, Illinois or Half Moon Bay, California. Eric Spitznagel joins us to celebrate the most famous of pumpkin patches.
Where would you go for a stunning ride into the fiery brilliance of Autumn in America? Jamie Jensen, author of Road Trip USA, has some ideas. He is a troubadour of two-lane highways and his stories will inspire you to go mobile and experience the season like never before.
Every make of automobile has its aficionados. For lovers of style and performance, ask any fan of the Pontiac lineage about the now-defunct GM make and you will see stars (and maybe a tear) in their eyes. Passion for Pontiac is our topic as we speak with enthusiasts Karl Petry and Ken Ulrich.
The September 11th National Memorial Trail, 1,300 miles long, stretches through 6 states and DC, connecting three 9/11 Memorial sites through DC, VA, PA, NJ, NY, MD, and Delaware. To remember, discover and connect is essential. In Part 2, David Brickley, founder of the trail alliance and advisory board member Mike Dannemiller guest.
The September 11th National Memorial Trail is 1,300 miles long, stretching through 6 states and DC, connecting the three 9/11 Memorial sites through DC, VA, PA, NJ, NY, MD, and Delaware. It’s a multi-use trail that you can hike, bike or motor through. To remember and be inspired is essential to the experience. Debby Borza and Tim Brown, instrumental in the development of this active memorial, share their perspectives.
In Lucille Ball’s hometown, celebrate the comedic arts with a visit to The National Comedy Center. This is not quite so much a Hall of Fame as it is an innovative gathering place for professional and amateur comedians, aficionados and every person who ever laughed at a well-told joke. Gary Hahn, VP of Marketing and Communications, is our guest.
On the highway to Hollywood, funny and films travel well together in rollicking tales of the human predicament. Geoffrey Mark, a go-to sage of screens large and small, joins us with his nuanced appreciation of life and laughter on the open road.
Escape Rooms, combining elements of mystery, adventure and intricate teamwork, have become very popular destinations across America. Joey and Tonya Madia are aficionados of these eerie attractions and Joey is currently in high demand as a designer of them!
Jamie Jensen, growing up in Southern California when car culture was then standing up to ride the wave of the future, became permanently enchanted with the open road early on; especially the lure of two-lane highways. With the publication of a ninth edition of Road Trip USA, Jensen has been elevated to the status of motoring maven.
“Heyyyyy, Mrs. C!” Marion Ross aka Mrs. Cunningham from the iconic "Happy Days" sitcom, hails from Albert Lea, MN. The town is so proud of their famous TV mom that they have named a theatre after her and a street also bears her name. Now, the community has dedicated a bronze statue of their favorite citizen, unveiled on July 2nd. We are fortunate to speak with her about her life and career.
We all want our road trips to go just right. Much of the success (and joy) comes from smart preparation done when there is still adequate time. Vinnie Richichi of DRIVETIME With New York Vinnie shares his Do’s and a few of the Don’ts derived from his numerous highway adventures.
Erika Nelson, professional artist and Curator of The World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things, visits us again; this time with the story behind her mural in celebration of Women’s Suffrage and her recommendations of outstanding murals in the Midwest.
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is organized into Mission Zones where attractions and tours are grouped by chronological era. From the dawn of space exploration to current and ongoing missions, you can get an up-close, hands-on feel for the story of humans in space. Rebecca Shireman, Manager of Communications and Public Relations at the Complex, is our guest.
The cities of Blaine, Lynden and Sumas in Washington state are gateways to Canada, fortified by mutual friendship along an undefended border that separates the USA from our neighbors to the north. Each has its own appeal and all welcome travelers with a warmth that belies the cool PNW. Matt Shea surveys the scenery for us.
Mark Greene of Cars Yeah fame is back to survey an elegant array of automobile museums located in New England and also share a story about one of the world’s most famous car aficionados who once took a drive in Rhode Island and ended up buying a dream house.
The Long Beach City Council recently approved $2.5 million for the Queen Mary to facilitate plans for urgent repair work as the city contemplates the venerable vessel’s future. It is not the first time the “Ship of Woods” (or “the Grey Ghost” during WWII) has faced daunting challenges to its survival. Nicole Strickland joins us to share the saga. Thanks to Kelly Puente of the Long Beach Post.
As pandemic restrictions ease their grip on the traveling public, there is an RV craze underway. The Who, What, When, Where and Why of vacationing with your home on wheels is the topic for this episode. Guest Brian Demo is a retired U.S. Marine helicopter mechanic who has transitioned to a mobile Master RV technician. When COVID hit, he joined JustAnswer as an online way to answer hundreds of questions a week from RV owners and renters around the world.
The Mob Museum, officially the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, is a history museum located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. Opened on February 14, 2012, the Mob Museum features the artifacts, stories, and history of organized crime in the United States, as well as the dedicated efforts by law enforcement to prevent such crimes. Geoff Schumacher, vice president of exhibits and programs, is our guest.
World War I still is referred to as the Great War or more ironically, “the war to end all wars.” Influences of that great military conflict resonate today. An historical presentation, with unrivaled exhibits and an unsurpassed collection of artifacts, are deployed in Kansas City, Missouri at The WWI Memorial and Museum. It is monumental in every sense. CEO Matt Naylor and Curator of Education Lora Vogt share their perspectives
Over 80 years after Dorothy discovered, “There’s no place like home,” the world returns to Oz every so often nonetheless and thus to a magical place that remains close in heart and mind. Classic Hollywood historian Geoffrey Mark has a wealth of knowledge to share about The Wizard of Oz and its boundless legacy which revives itself with each new generation.
Erika Nelson returns with more stories of the artistic gems and roadside attractions she has discovered in her continuing travels as creator and curator of the World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things. This time, we turn our attention to America’s heartland and the magical legacy of Oz.
Something new under the Mojave Desert sun! Camel Safari announces three distinctive experiences for viewing the property’s exotic desert animals. Visiting 176 acres under wide-open skies 80 minutes north of Las Vegas, guests can choose from the Feed With A Keeper Safari, Day Glamp Camp Safari and VIP Sunset Safari. Resident zoologist Allie Singer has all the details.
From coast to coast, they move the country forward while driving big rigs with 18 wheels. The life of a long-haul trucker can be lonesome but seldom is short of adventure. Matt Shea, who made his living for many years in the industry, talks about places seen and people met while he crisscrossed the storied road of American commerce.
The National Corvette Museum was established in 1994, with a mission of celebrating the invention of America’s Sports Car; preserving its past, present and future; and educating the public. The 115,000 sq. ft. facility is located on a 55-acre campus in Bowling Green, Kentucky which also is home to the world’s only General Motors Corvette Assembly Plant.
Americans by the millions are planning to take to the highways this year; especially when they can do so safely and conveniently. Hollywood long has celebrated road travel and revealed a nomadic streak in our national character. Geoffrey Mark, popular curator of cinematic and television knowledge, shares about movies and TV shows with themes of living large and finding America on the open road.
Vaccinations are rolling out and warm weather is approaching, enticing many to travel for the first time since the pandemic began. Millions of us are opting for road trips this spring. Those who left their cars sitting in the garage throughout the pandemic need to anticipate maintenance needs now or risk costly repairs. Tim Clay, Chief Business Development Officer at DigniFi, shares insights gained from more than 20 years of getting results in the automotive retail world.
The resort town of Seaside, Oregon offers some of the state’s most stunning ocean vistas and ample opportunities for windswept walks, on the sands or along the Seaside Promenade. Recently, the city has become home to the annual Oregon Ghost Conference. Nicole Strickland, paranormal author and featured presenter, joins us to share her experiences.
Ashley Waymouth is a park ranger and the Anniversary Coordinator for Hot Springs National Park. In this episode, we'll be exploring natural features of the park, its social history and of course, the centennial celebration underway.
Mount Airy, North Carolina and the famous Mayberry Inn harken back to a simpler time, when CBS’ The Andy Griffith Show brought gentle laughter and wholesomeness to America from 1960-1968. Today, the community is a shrine to the still-popular program and its many memorable characters. Step back in time as Matt Shea, a Mayberry aficionado, reflects on the town’s heritage as chronicled for American Road Magazine by Tony Craig.
Pacific Northwest chronicler Harriet Baskas surveys some of the better-known films and TV shows set in or near the Emerald City. Some have been filmed there entirely while others capitalized on the stunning scenery and urban chic of Seattle to frame memorable dramas and comedies.
Anson Williams, famous for his role as Potsie Weber on Happy Days, keeps faith with the idea that happy days are still “yours and mine” in the here and now. Nostalgia will always have its special place and today, Williams is also passionate about helping highway drivers stay safe by warding off drowsy driving.
Frequent “Trip Talk” contributor Erika Nelson is back, this time with lots to share about COVID-safe roadside attractions. Included are Butch Anthony's drive through museum in Alabama; the Enchanted Highway in North Dakota; and Porter Sculputre Park. All are outdoor venues that you can road trip to and through. And hear about those Mardi Gras House Floats!
St. Joseph is identified by the slogan, "Where the Pony Express started and Jesse James ended." Beth Conway, Communications Director at the local Convention & Visitors Bureau, draws from a trove of historical fact and lore in telling the story of “St. Joe,” voted the top true western town in 2007. The townsfolk continually revel in living up to that award.
Hickory Corners, Michigan is home to the sprawling Gilmore Car Museum. Within, you can find motorized totems from every avenue of American life, including the TV Highway. Coming in 2021, the return of a Happy Days icon: Fonzie’s 1952 Triumph motorcycle. Hear the obscure story behind the famous bike.
Classic TV actor Hank Garrett joins us for a round of nostalgic talk about his improbable rise from childhood poverty in Harlem to a rewarding life in Hollywood. Mr. Garrett is the only surviving cast member of the still-beloved Car 54, Where Are You?
The 4077th took up prime time on American television for 11 memorable seasons. The set for the legendary MAS*H series also took up some prime real estate in Malibu, California. To think that it all could have gone up in flames! The harrowing story behind the famous finale of a still-beloved TV show is revealed by American Road contributor Jess Winfield.
Until 1960’s tales of the macabre “Mothman” scared the dickens out of the locals, Point Pleasant, West Virginia was exactly what you might expect: an historic riverside town with bucolic vistas and friendly people. Today, the town is still small but with an outsized legend and lots of early American lore to attract throngs of visitors every year. Tonya and Joey Madia are Point Pleasant pilgrims with plenty to share.
In honor of Elvis Presley’s birthday, Cory Cooper stops by to share his expertise on locations and sets where The King’s feature films were shot. Including settings as diverse as New Orleans, Seattle, Hawaii and Las Vegas, hear the details of where, when and how Elvis made movie magic.
Cars Yeah creator and host Mark Greene has an unquenchable passion for automobile technology and the countless places it can take us. To start 2021, we talk with Mark once again about the array of museums and exhibits that put automotive ingenuity on proud display from coast-to-coast.
Fantasy Lights is a drive-through Christmas light display located just south of Tacoma. It's the largest holiday drive-through event in the Northwest, featuring nearly 300 elaborate displays and thousands of sparkling lights. An eye-popping variety of displays are found around Puget Sound, as detailed by guest Matt Shea.
Edgar Cayce's Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) was founded by Edgar Cayce (1877–1945) in 1931 to research and explore a wide variety of spiritual subjects. His headquarters, located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is still going strong as a center of inquiry and metaphysical tourism. Josie Varga and Kathy Lamm share their appreciation of a unique man and his legacy.
Chances are, that orange beauty you turned into a delicious pie or impressive jack-o’-lantern came from one of three Pumpkin Capitals of America, located in Floydada, Texas, Morton, Illinois or Half Moon Bay, California. Eric Spitznagel joins us to celebrate the most famous of pumpkin patches.
(Originally aired 2-28-20) Cynthia Schreiner Smith is an actor/writer who was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota where she still lives. Since 1998, she has worked at the Wabasha Street Caves in St. Paul, researching, writing scripts and acting as a guide for their historical tours. Cynthia shares her knowledge of the town's Gangster Era and talks about why the Twin Cities are hardly identical.
The holiday feast dates back to November 1621, when the newly arrived Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians gathered at Plymouth for an autumn harvest celebration, an event regarded as America’s “first Thanksgiving.” History merges with our personal recollections in this episode dedicated to America’s perennial time of gratitude
The World’s Only Corn Palace is Mitchell’s premier tourist attraction. Some 500,000 tourists come from around the nation each year to see the uniquely designed corn murals. The city’s first Corn Palace was built as a way to prove to the world that South Dakota had a healthy agricultural climate. Today, the Palace is a cultural showpiece of the Prairie with cleverly designed themes. Thanks to cornpalace.com for their information.
Tom Yamarone lives in California and has been researching Bigfoot for a long time. He is beloved in the Sasquatch community of believers and seekers. As a balladeer, Tom is sometimes referred to as the Bob Dylan of Bigfoot songs! In this Trip Talk episode, he shares from his comprehensive store of insights and experiences.
Harry Thomason is the Hollywood award-winning producer & director best known for the tremendously popular and iconic TV hits Designing Women, Evening Shade and Hearts Afire. His TV Miniseries,The Blue and The Gray won the prestigious People's Choice Award. In his riveting podcast series, The Story You Never Heard, Harry vividly brings to life fascinating moments, intriguing events and thrilling if lesser known stories about people and places in history.
Built in 1853 as a company owned logging town, Port Gamble, Washington today is a Victorian vision out of time, a fun getaway with friendly locals and more than its share of resident ghosts. Matt Shea chronicles paranormal activity in the Pacific Northwest; he joins us to share a brief history of the town that once was home to sailors and society folk alike. Apparently some citizens liked it far too much to leave.
JoAnne Worley’s instinctive comedic timing and irrepressible laugh make her a favorite of audiences everywhere. Her work runs the gamut from television, movie and stage productions to game shows, talk shows, commercials, cartoons and opera. For more than 40 years she has been involved with the organization Actors and Others for Animals (founded 1971), which funds spay-and-neuter programs, and provides veterinary financial assistance to pet guardians in Southern California. Since 2007, JoAnne has served as president of the organization. Her expertise in safe and enjoyable travel with pets is known and trusted far and wide.
Once the proverbial phrase for hunting, now “Sport of Kings” typically is used to exalt the world of thoroughbred horse-racing, although the earliest uses of the expression related to war, as in the days of King Arthur. We talk with Marie D. Jones about the Kentucky Derby, Triple Crown and famous racing venues from coast to coast that have been elevated to shrine status.
Erika Nelson is back again with the highlights of her latest foray into the wilds of artistic expression. Being an independent artist and educator, Erika is always up for a new cultural safari as she explores contemporary art forms in the public realm. Next stop: Wisconsin.
encore- Erika Nelson is an independent artist and educator, exploring the fringes of art and culture as experienced on the back roads and offbeat roadside attractions that dot the American landscape. Her recent exploration of Tulsa, Oklahoma got her up close and personal with a celebrated statue known as the Golden Driller and other memorable landmarks deep in oil country.
With an explosion of wildfires consuming millions of acres and threatening lives in the Western United States, travelers are forced to reconsider their plans for dreamed-of road trips to the region. Mark Greene of Cars Yeah discusses the enormous impact on residents and visitors alike.
David Gessner discusses the most celebrated legacy of the first President Roosevelt, referred to admiringly as TR by millions of tourists who annually traverse a gorgeous labyrinth of National Parks, Forests and Lands that Roosevelt championed as America’s gift to the world
Picturesque and blissfully removed from the traffic and haste of the big city, Camano Island treats visitors to a plethora of rustic natural wonders along with some of the finest crab (and crabbing) to be found in the Pacific Northwest. Recent arrival Sig Hess shares his story of retiring from Boeing and Seattle to his version of Eden.
David Crockett, affectionately referred to as Davy, today remains an American icon of courage and patriotism. There is much more to his story than his celebrated stand at the Alamo. Seven sites endure as living memorials to a man for whom history and legend compete in defining a frontier hero and uncompromising lover of freedom. Jess Winfield, American Road editor, joins us to discuss his article, King Of The Wild Frontier.
Route 66 is part of the native range for Tom Cotter aka The Barn Find Hunter. He and his BBF (best barn finder) pal Brian Barr sought rusted gold in every state The Mother Road passes through. Along the way, ace lensman Michael Alan Ross documented their finds, mishaps, and various adventures. Starting in the Midwest and barreling through Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, the barn-find bunch drove on to Arizona before completing their quest in Santa Monica, California. You'll never guess what automotive treasures they discovered peeking out from corroded garages and behind weary buildings along the way!
Nowhere is devotion to The Mother Road more evident than in Mohave County, Arizona where the Arizona Route 66 Museum beckons you to Kingman with a soft glow of neon and the kind of hospitality you only find where past meets present, sprawled out on the rugged desert floor. Nikki Seegers, Director of Operations for almost 3 years now at the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona shares with us, joined by Joshua Noble, a local county historian whose appreciation of the Road and surrounding area is unsurpassed.
Indulge in a bit of time travel with us as we are joined by Jerry Mathers aka Theodore Cleaver aka the Beaver. Countless Americans grew up (and still enjoy) following the wholesome adventures of a sweet-faced kid from childhood to adolescence. As Jerry reveals, his road stretches from child star to lifelong status as a TV legend.
Detroit native and travel writer Amy S. Eckert recently packed up the bare essentials and headed to the U.P. Her trek to the wondrously wooded region in Michigan, bounded by three of the Great Lakes, rewarded Amy with the experience of getting away from big city pressures and encountering the rich natural beauty that stokes the pride of every Michigander.
Meet NY Vinnie, a longtime auto aficionado with as many stories as miles under his belt. He hosts DriveTime Radio, an entertaining weekly look at the fascinating world of automobiles from the classics to the latest styles and technology. Nostalgia meets modern road life when Vinnie is behind the wheel!
Greater Miami's Coral Castle (Homestead, FL.) is rated by TripAdvisor as one of the Top 35 museums in the nation. The unique complex built by the remarkable Edward Leedskalnin (by himself!) stands as one of the most mystical and architecturally baffling wonders of the modern world. Ken the Tour Guide shares his expertise and local history.
From the stately Palace of the Governors to myriad cultural and scenic venues, Santa Fe is a burnished jewel of the Southwest. We spoke with Hersch Wilson, known as The Zen Firefighter and a local newspaper columnist, about his ardent love for New Mexico’s capital and all it has to offer
Visitors are rewarded with a look backward in the town of Litchfield, one of the premier locations along historic Illinois Route 66; we talked earlier this year with local expert Carol Sneed to get the details about its fascinating history and contributions to the enduring mystique of The Mother Road.
Visitors are rewarded with a look backward in the town of Litchfield, one of the premier locations along historic Illinois Route 66; we talked earlier this year with local expert Carol Sneed to get the details about its fascinating history and contributions to the enduring mystique of The Mother Road
In this episode, we trek to legendary Long Beach, Washington. Laying claim to The World’s Longest Beach, this stretch of shoreline is a genteel oasis for retirees and beach bums but also home to Jake The Alligator Man, Rubberneck Row, The World’s Largest Chopsticks and The Whale Skeleton on Long Beach Trail. Matt Shea shares stories from his four decades of pilgrimages to this enticingly offbeat patch of the Pacific Coast.
Need a break from the grinding turmoil and stress of daily life? Climb in and join us on a rollicking tour de force of the wildest, wackiest, most outrageous people, places, and things the Evergreen State has to offer! Harriet Baskas returns with plenty to say about places you will want to visit and can never forget.
Join us on a trip to The Historic Indian Agency House in Portage, Wisconsin for insights into the cultural and historical context surrounding John H. Kinzie's 1830s commission as United States Indian Agent to the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Nation. Built in 1832, the house was opened as a museum in 1932 by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Wisconsin. This historic site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. (Adapted from agencyhouse.org)
Erika Nelson is an independent artist and educator, exploring the fringes of art and culture as experienced on the back roads and offbeat roadside attractions that dot the American landscape. Her recent exploration of Tulsa, Oklahoma got her up close and personal with a celebrated statue known as the Golden Driller and other memorable landmarks deep in oil country.
With small crowds and social distancing in mind, iconic Graceland is once again open to the public. Elvis Presley aka The King of Rock and Roll, left a great legacy of popular songs, hit movies and his beautiful sprawling home which is still a top tourist destination in Memphis, Tennessee. From hardscrabble roots in the delta town of Tupelo, Mississippi to the heights of fame and fortune, the journey of Elvis can be traced from home to home in a single day. In January we discussed the pilgrimage millions have made with Elvis expert, Cory Cooper.
For the past two decades, Marie D. Jones has been researching and writing her way to literary stardom through non-fiction and fiction genres alike. Marie is also a screenwriter and producer, with a science fiction feature film titled "AURORA," in development with Bright Frontier Films, as well as numerous other projects in various stages of development. She is the author of more than 20 books including Celebrity Ghosts and Notorious Hauntings, a compendium of places to visit (if you dare) that are accessible by road.
Joey and Tonya Madia are renowned for sharing their love of North Carolina, including the Crystal Coast which is an 85-mile stretch of coastline extending from the Cape Lookout National Seashore with 56 miles of protected beaches, southwestward to the New River. The Crystal Coast is a popular area with tourists who revel in the sand, surf and sensational lore of legendary pirates who once plundered the region.
As America gradually reopens to road-trip travel, the dangers of drowsy driving return as well. Thankfully there is a simple and affordable remedy, invented by actor Anson Williams of Happy Days fame, offering quick relief to tired motorists. Hear him describe the benefits of Alert Drops before you set out on your next highway adventure.
For this episode, we talk with prolific author and veteran radio producer Harriet Baskas. Her book, Oregon Curiosities offers a definitive collection of odd, wacky, and decidedly offbeat people, places, and things found uniquely in the Beaver State.
Kim Marcille Romaner, founder of Possibilities Amplified, is an expert on the science of amplifying possibility into reality. Author of The Science of Making Things Happen, Kim helps people, organizations and communities tap into the power of possibility. Until quite recently, you would have found her living fulltime and traveling the continent in her RV with her husband Michael.
Car Culture expert Mark Greene, host of the Cars Yeah podcast, describes himself as an incurable automotive enthusiast. He has spent thousands of hours meeting and interviewing people who have woven their passion for cars, trucks and motorcycles into their businesses and lives. In this episode, Mark shares stories of auto aficionados he admires and discusses some choice car museums just waiting to be discovered when Americans hit the road again.
The city of Savannah proudly claims to be a Top 10 historic place to visit in the United States, welcoming hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. Some people, like celebrated Rock journalist Susan Masino, decide to relocate there and embrace the soul of the South. In this edition, we list some not-to-be-missed places to enjoy when you arrive in the town that charmed even a relentless Civil War General.
We are talking about a world-class vacation! Idaho offers excitement and scenery galore in the southeast sector of The Gem State. When Road Warriors are on the move again, they will be eager to relish some “world’s only” destinations that invite visitors to step back in history or revel in timeless natural beauty. Listen to an inspiring inventory of all that Southeast Idaho promises to those who pursue adventure in the rugged West.
The National Scenic Byway Foundation is the “National Voice of Scenic Byways and Roads.” Experts and volunteers work to strengthen the Byways, advocating for critical funding and promoting increased awareness throughout America. Executive Director Sharon Strouse shares with listeners her longtime experience of supporting concerted efforts to protect and enhance this national treasure.
Cowboys, guns, oil, a big blue whale, the world’s largest totem pole, Will Rogers and the true nut house...experience Oklahoma hospitality, the legends of Claremore and Historic Route 66 and all her glory in beautiful northeast Oklahoma! Get the skinny on all the adventure waiting for you when it is time again to venture out on the open road.
The Fort Lewis Military Museum, now the Lewis Army Museum, is a revered (and haunted) stalwart of Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, WA. In 1918 it was the 'Red Shield Inn.’ An actor apparently died when filming the 1927 film 'The Patent Leather Kid' on this site. It is believed that he was murdered on the 2nd floor. Many sightings of an angry spectral actor in a cowboy outfit have been reported. The sound of soldiers marching has been heard on vacant lots. Lights and alarms go off for no apparent reason. Matt Shea reveals more spooky tales from The Evergreen State.
Erika Nelson has been called an “eccentric Kansan” but aficionados of roadside attractions and grassroots artistic endeavors love her for curating the World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things. Erika exhibits them across America and has a bounty of quirky revelations to share.
Cynthia Schreiner Smith is an actor/writer who was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota where she still lives. Since 1998, she has worked at the Wabasha Street Caves in St. Paul, researching, writing scripts and acting as a guide for their historical tours. Cynthia shares her knowledge of the town’s Gangster Era and talks about why the Twin Cities are hardly identical.
Carol Sneed shares her intimate connection with the town of Litchfield, one of the premier locations along historic Illinois Route 66, including details about its fascinating history and impact of the community on the world beyond The Mother Road.
Meet Bryan Yadon. In the spring of 2003, Bryan created Intermountain Guide Service (IGS) and that year on July 4th he began operations as a concessionaire of Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, offering Fly-Fishing, Horseback Rides, and sightseeing tours. Bryan knows a lot about taking a ride on the wild side!
What if you could morph your car into a mobile work of art, and drive it down the road for all to see? What would it look like? What would the world think of you? How would you be changed? These are questions we have for artist and documentarian Harrod Blank whose Camera Van attracts intense interest everywhere he goes.
Dena Marie is a versatile teacher and author of the book "Our Energy Matters". She is also a well-traveled facilitator of retreats to Kauai, Hawaii and now includes Whidbey and Camano Islands in beautiful Washington state to her portfolio. There is a quaint magic to Whidbey Island and Dena Marie enjoys helping visitors discover it.
Stephanie Stuckey recently became the shepherd of her family’s brand. And now, since taking over as CEO last November, she has been on a mission to visit all of Stuckey’s current locations: more than 90, mostly concentrated in the South. As she notes, people on the road still have to stop for gas, a restroom and a snack. Stephanie wants to reignite the retro feel of the ‘60s and ‘70s for which the stores were famous.
Donald R. Schmitt, among the world’s best-known researchers into the Roswell UFO Incident, shares his enthusiasm for the lively town 75 miles from the site of the alleged crash of extraterrestrial “flying saucers” during a violent New Mexico thunderstorm in July of 1947. Roswell has since become a mecca for UFO investigators and otherworldly curiosity-seekers. The desert town has more mundane attractions to offer as well.
Tom Cotter is a legend among car culture enthusiasts and his love of “barn finding” has attracted a following around the globe. He shares stories of discovering obscure collections that surprised him and made him wish these languishing beauties were already restored and back on the road.
Elvis Presley aka The King of Rock and Roll, left a great legacy of popular songs, hit movies and a beautiful home called Graceland which is still a top tourist destination in Memphis, Tennessee. From hardscrabble roots in the delta town of Tupelo, Mississippi to the heights of fame and fortune, the journey of Elvis can be traced from home to home in a single day. We discuss the pilgrimage millions have made by auto with Elvis expert, Cory Cooper.
Our last program of 2019 fondly recalls a wonderful man named Foster Braun who passed away in February: he was a warm-hearted professional whose love of broadcasting and long support of the American Road family left an inspiring Trip Talk legacy. Some honorable mentions of stories from the magazine round out an appreciation of 2019 even as we look ahead to the open road and more adventures to come in 2020.
Exploring the back roads in a state like North Carolina reveals an endless treasure trove of inspiration for artists and photographers like Tony Craig and his buddy on the road, Cotton Ketchie. For them, the next great discovery is just up the road or around the bend.
100 Dream Cars: The Best of "My Ride" is the latest book by car culture aficionado, New York Times best-selling author and Wall Street Journal "My Ride" columnist, A.J. Baime. It was hard to choose but A.J. selected one hundred cars, motorcycles, and other vehicles to fill the dream garage.
Road trips offer an endless array of amazing encounters. Write them down! Book publicist and Road Warrior Julia Brown maintains a journal of all the places she and her husband visit in North America. More than a keepsake, her copious notes prevent memories of great times and great places from fading. (San Antonio Riverwalk scene at aarp.org)
A landmark that takes visitors back to Early California days, Rancho Buena Vista Adobe is a beautiful legacy of the Mission-to-Rancho transition period in what is now the Golden State. Nicole Strickland guides tours of the historic (and reportedly haunted) locale in the city of Vista, 30 minutes north of San Diego.
Stephen Fagin, curator of The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, shares his scholarly insights into the history and lore of the November 22, 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy and describes what visitors can explore at the site today.
Erika Nelson is a Department Editor at American Road Magazine and the founding curator of The World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things. In this episode, Erika brings her latest stories from the road.
Edward McClelland, author of Folktales and Legends of the Middle West, details the tragic story of Resurrection Mary, celebrated for more than 80 years as Chicago’s most famous ghost. Her identity and untimely death in a car accident are the subject of extensive research and much speculation.
Mark Greene of Cars Yeah pays tribute to beloved Car Culture luminaries who departed this world in 2019, leaving behind legacies of their passion and commitment to quality automotive experiences. Time also is spent discussing the future of electric vehicles.
Tour owner and host Ross Allison brings over 30 years of paranormal investigation to his eerie repository in The Emerald City, where curious visitors and veteran ghost hunters alike find a treasure trove of macabre items, each with a hair-raising history.
Kirk McKnight, sports culture chronicler and author of The Voices of Baseball and The Voices of Hockey, describes a variety of dazzling venues for big-league fans in cities as diverse as the Motor City of Detroit and glitzy Las Vegas where he resides.
Detroit’s Hunter House Hamburgers was established in 1952 in Birmingham, Michigan, featuring the original type of slider – a little hamburger with some sweet juicy onions packed into the meat and with the buns steamed. The unassuming white pillbox diner is a family-run mainstay on Woodward Avenue, the first paved road in America.
Author and researcher Nicole Strickland, whose knowledge of the Queen Mary as a legendary luxury ocean liner is nonpareil, shares the rich and poignant history of a ship that occupies a remarkable niche in world history. Docked in Long Beach, California since 1967, the “QM” has bid an elegant (many say haunted) welcome to countless visitors from around the world.
The Reviving America’s Scenic Byways Act of 2019 directs the Secretary of Transportation to start the application process for new byways within 90 days and designate a new round of National Scenic Byways within one year. The implications for road travelers across the nation are far-reaching, heralding a resurgence of support for beautiful places off the beaten path. Mark Falzone, President of Scenic America since April 2017, describes the profound significance of this legislation.
New England is rich in historical significance and cultural influences harkening back to colonial and Revolutionary War days. From Boston, Massachusetts to Acadia National Park in Maine, history blends with some of North America’s most spectacular scenery to entice road trippers from sea to shining sea as Trip Talk host Gary Mantz recently discovered for himself.
David L. Scott and Kay W. Scott have spent over thirty summers touring the United States and Canada, including six summers exclusively devoted to the national park lodges. They are experts in planning affordable enjoyment of the U.S. National Park system and the wide variety of lodging options it offers.
Author Kim Romaner and her retired husband decided over two years ago to sell their home and most of their possessions to embark on a cross-country RV adventure that continues to this day with stays at famous places like National Parks as well as small towns and roadside attractions that can accommodate their big rig. Kim is an inspiration to those who hope to pursue their own dreams someday by hitting the open road.
Manresa Castle in Port Townsend, WA is both a haunted hotspot and a landmark hotel boasting Victorian-era elegance. Several other popular lodgings in the Evergreen State have a ghostly reputation as well, including The Tokeland Hotel in the town of Tokeland. It is the oldest hotel in Washington. Photo credit: manresacastle.com
Jess Winfield, American Road editor, L.A. based author and screenwriter talks about his feature article “Star Trek Original Movie Locations” in the Summer 2019 issue revealing a gorgeous array of natural settings that filmmakers used in developing the franchise.
Paranormal investigator Marie D. Jones researched the tragic history of numerous American roads and bridges for a chapter in her book, Celebrity Ghosts and Notorious Hauntings. From Hwy. 41 on which James Dean met his untimely (though predicted) demise to infamous bridges where apparitions are frequently spotted, the lure of the haunt compels many of us to seek out spectral scenes as revealed in this edition of Trip Talk
Tom Cotter has gained a large and loyal following among classic car enthusiasts with his Barn Find Hunter series on YouTube and by forging a career promoting the collection and restoration of these coveted automobiles. He shares experiences and insights gathered during his many Barn Find road trips in this episode
Trip Talk recently hosted an interview with the amiable and informative Greg Peerbolte, executive director of the Joliet Area Historical Museum. Enjoy this "Best Of" episode again and listen for news of American Road Magazine's 2019 "Picture Perfect" photography contest. You could win $500! Visit americanroadmagazine.com for details and entry instructions.
Hidden away like a palace fashioned of magic and artistic genius, Solomon’s Castle in the lush wet wilds of central Florida is Howard Solomon’s dream of paradise. The creator’s daughter and current keeper of the Castle flame, Alane Solomon articulates the vision her father lovingly constructed from 1972 until his death in 2016.
For over a century, Detroit has been established as a major urban and industrial center. Yet the Motor City has a surprisingly large and impressive array of outdoor adventures for locals who are in on the secret and countless visitors who discover and revel in The D’s striking open-air pursuits. Travel writer Amy S. Eckert shares her firsthand knowledge of a hundred exciting venues in and around Motown.
The nocturnal joys of taking in a movie (or two) at a Drive-In Theatre are still available across North America. We talk with Wes and Brian Neal, owners and operators of The Boulevard in Kansas City, Kansas about the enduring appeal and evolution of the Drive-In Theatre experience in the digital era.
This episode sends you to prison in Joliet but luckily in a good way, with a fascinating survey of local crime and punishment legacy courtesy of Greg Peerbolte, executive director of the Joliet Area Historical Museum. Other attractions along the Heritage Corridor in Illinois also are included.
Erika Nelson is an independent artist and educator who explores the fringes of art and culture on the back roads and at offbeat roadside attractions that dot the American landscape. Erika travels the USA in a permanently altered Art Car, exhibiting the World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things. In this episode, Erika offers a survey of quirky Colorado attractions and iconic artwork.
American Road Magazine co-founders Thomas Arthur Repp and Becky Repp deliver a preview of our Summer 2019 Issue including a tribute to numerous Drive-In Theaters that still dot the USA with nostalgic pride, now accentuated by modern amenities. And take in the glories of Detroit’s fabled Woodward Avenue, a magnet of the Motor City celebrated in the Spring issue.
Meet Erika Nelson, Pretty Smart Cookie and Creator of the World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things Traveling Roadside Attraction and Museum, trains her visionary eye on quirky attractions of Seattle and environs.
Local historian and preservationist Mary Truitt details the remarkable history of Vandalia, Illinois as a crossroads of 19th Century America, a town rich with Midwest history and a significant location for the study of Abraham Lincoln’s early public life. 2019 is Vandalia’s Bicentennial with lots of celebrations planned, peaking from June 13-16.
Dr. Cori Convertito, Curator of Collections for the Key West Art & Historical Society, presides over a treasure trove from her office at the Custom House, flagship of four renowned museums in town and an interpretive center of local culture brimming with “southernmost” heritage. Cori shares her insights on a wealth of displays celebrating the freewheeling character of a unique American city under the shimmering sun.
Anyone who spends time in Key West, Florida will discover as Ernest Hemingway himself did that this four-mile long stretch of paradise gets into your soul and never leaves. Key West Rebecca, a very popular concierge with seemingly unlimited facts and figures at her fingertips, offers history and advice to travelers headed for the southernmost place in the United States.
Austin, Minnesota is home to Hormel Foods and the colorfully interactive SPAM Museum that welcomes many thousands of loyal consumers each year to a veritable shrine that celebrates a product introduced to Depression Era families and American soldiers in World War II, thereafter gaining a global reputation as one of the most versatile food items ever.
Veteran travel writer Amy S. Eckert introduces first-time visitors to the Motor City while helping Detroit residents explore their hometown in the full bloom of its cultural rebirth with an engaging and indispensable guide to enjoying all that Detroit has to offer.
Gary Mantz and Suzanne Mitchell recount their visit to the MSI in Chicago, site of world-class exhibits and home to technological marvels from classic locomotive engines and a Boeing 727 airliner to a WWII German U-Boat captured by the U.S. Navy in time to assist with planning the D-Day Invasion. Special thanks to Robert Klara for his American Road Magazine article, “Down To A Science.”
Jay Follis, Marketing Director of the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan surveys North America’s Largest Auto Museum. The scope and beauty of the collection located on a 90-acre campus are breathtaking. The Museum tells the history of America through the automobile so plan to stay half the day and enjoy vintage dining too.
Author, artist and photographer Tony Craig details the venerable history of country stores in North Carolina and then with equal passion guides listeners into the highly competitive (and lucrative) culture of duck decoy artistry.
Tom Cotter is a bucket-list “highway and byway” dreamer who envisions extraordinary road trips and then looks for ways to make his dreams come true. Hear his story of traveling the length of the Lincoln Highway in a classic Ford Model T speedster.
From Troll Hunts to a massive LEGO display this spring and summer, the Morton Arboretum 25 miles from downtown Chicago offers a destination for nature lovers and day-trippers with exercise and environmental education on the brain. Lots to see, do and learn!
Inspiring Automotive Enthusiasts is the trademark and mantra of Mark Greene whose passion for classic automobiles and the adventures to be had in them can be traced back to his car-crazy boyhood and a surprise visit to the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas.
Erika Nelson, roadside attraction warrior and consummate curator of The World’s Largest Things, returns to share her insights into the Big Tire in Michigan, The House on the Rock in Wisconsin and American Gods, a STARZ network series for the road-tripper in all of us.
Host Gary Mantz and his well-traveled guest Suzanne Mitchell reminisce about their “Great American Road Trip of 2017” from Sarasota to Seattle and back including details of amazing places they encountered.
Holly Barker and her partner Tully Garrett rescued and lovingly restored the legendary Launching Pad restaurant on Route 66 in Wilmington, IL. The massive Gemini Giant statue is the guardian of this grandly reopened treasure featured in the Spring, 2018 issue of American Road Magazine.
Artist Tony Craig shares tales from his prolific career in Disney cartoon and digital animation/production, now entering a third decade; he also reveals a passionate gift for preservation of roadside Americana through his exceptional watercolor art.
Lecompton, Kansas is known as the “Birthplace of the Civil War and Where Slavery Began to Die.” The desperate, even vicious political and military saga of the free-state vs. slave-state division that led to the Civil War is explained in detail by Paul Bahnmeier, President of the Lecompton Historical Society.
A highly regarded artist and photographer, Jerry McClanahan shares his love for and vast experience of Route 66 dating back to the family treks of his childhood nearly six decades ago up to the present. The Mother Road is deep in his soul and lovingly rendered in his popular artwork, commissioned by people around the world.
This episode offers a decidedly peculiar assortment of The World’s Smallest Version of The World’s Largest Things, an incredible traveling roadside attraction. Special attention is given to what curator Erika Nelson calls “some of the best offbeat sites in Washington state.” Erika’s versatile brainchild fascinates crowds from coast to coast.
Greater Miami’s Coral Castle, rated one of the Top 35 museums across the U.S. by TripAdvisor, is featured. The unique complex built by Edward Leedskalnin (working alone!) comprises one of the most mystical and scientifically baffling wonders of the modern world. Ken the Tour Guide shares his expertise and some local history.
Join Thomas and Becky Repp as they team up with Gary Mantz to bring you a new road trip adventure each week. American Road Trip Talk is your chance to discover the backroads that embody true Americana.
As the owners and producers of award-winning American Road magazine, Thomas and Becky want your future road trip to be both interesting and exciting. By teaming up with veteran radio broadcaster, Gary Mantz, they offer up valuable road trip planning information.
In the winter of 2018, American Road Magazine published a 15th Anniversary issue of the magazine to highlight the special people and places we have visited during those years. One of our favorites was Terry “Ike” Clanton, a descendant of one of the cowboy cut down in the infamous battle of the OK Corral. The story has always been seen as a paean to Old West rough justice where retribution was swift and final. Not so, says Terry Clanton. nd we invite you to listen to a very different side of the story…what famous announcer Paul Harvey used to call…the rest of the story. You can read more details in vol. 15, num. 4 of American Road Magazine.
In the rough and tumble days of the late 1800’s, the little town of Sidney, Nebraska was an important military and commercial outpost on the railroad lines that were becoming the arteries of American expansion. It was indeed the wild west, populated by such colorful characters as Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane and earned the moniker, Toughest Town on the Tracks.
In 2017 what was once called Sinful Sidney is celebrating its Sesquicentennial ( that’s 150 candles) between Aug. 18-20 with a double extravaganza. One is man-made and the other is Mother Nature made and utterly unique. Our guest Heather Haussmann has all the details for both events.
In the rough and tumble days of the late 1800’s, the little town of Sidney, Nebraska was an important military and commercial outpost on the railroad lines that were becoming the arteries of American expansion. It was indeed the wild west, populated by such colorful characters as Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane and earned the moniker, Toughest Town on the Tracks.
In 2017 what was once called Sinful Sidney is celebrating its Sesquicentennial ( that’s 150 candles) between Aug. 18-20 with a double extravaganza. One is man-made and the other is Mother Nature made and utterly unique. Our guest Heather Haussmann has all the details for both events.
One of the great American Road annual events is the Woodward Dream Cruise held each year on a stretch of Woodward Avenue in Detroit, MI that runs from Detroit city limits to the suburb of Pontiac nearly 30 miles to the north. The day features classic cars that have been lovingly cared for traversing some of the oldest paved road in the country. Hundreds of thousands of classic car enthusiasts and curious fans line the entire route. Some large parking areas a reserved for special displays by companies that serve this audience. Our show today focuses on a unique display that was part of the 2016 Woodward Cruise. The classic car insurance company Hagerty, based in Traverse City, MI, created a drive thru display called Veils, Vettes and Vows. Our guest, Rachel Flynn, the Haggerty Youth Advocacy Coordinator, will ftll you in on this fun and popular site. You won’t want to miss this interview.
After a long hiatus, we are back on the American Road with the folks who are part and parcel of the stories in our magazine. In this first edition, we meet Erika Nelson, one of the authors who has given us a unique view of the American Road’s roadside attractions for over a decade. Erika is kind of a travelling evangelist for folk art both collecting it and encouraging its creation. She has chronicled bigger than life attractions along our nation’s byways: Everything from the biggest duck on Long Island to the largest baseball bat in Louisville, Ky and an enormous catsup bottle that serves as the water tower in Collinsville, IL Erika has collected these and miniaturized them into…the World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things. I caught up with Erika recently at her home base in Lucas, KS where she is now planning on establishing a world HQ for her collection. A local businessman donated an historic building as a base for her miniatures and she is going to spend 2017 setting up her base of operations in the Sunflower State. You’re going to love Erika’s definition of the kind of art she scours America’s backroads to find.
Credit the dedication of passionate volunteers like Rusty Davis for finding the links to Michigan's first highway, Hull's Trace. It was part of the road carved out of the wilderness called Michigan and Ohio that followed well worn Native American trails and figured in the failed attempt to hang on to fort Detroit during the War of 1812. Some of that road, also known as Hull's Trace, follows existing highways, like M125 in southeast Michigan along the western shore of Lake Erie. Other parts of the old highway can been seen poking out of the shallows of that shore when the water is low. Our guest on this American Road Trip Talk is Rusty Davis. He is a volunteer at the River Raisin Battlefield Park in southern Michigan who has dedicated himself to uncovering and recognizing this historic byway. Rusty will uncover the fascinating story of Hull2019s Trace, a road that figured into the history of the War of 1812 and the development of Ohio and Michigan.
In our recent volume 15, number 1 there was a story in the Friends in the Fast Lane column about the National Scenic Byways Program 25th anniversary. The Scenic Byways 25! event was celebrated at the US Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, DC. That same month in Kansas a brand-new byway was inaugurated: The Land and Sky Byway. Our guest on this American Road Trip Talk is Roxie Yonkay, byway coordinator and PR manager for the Goodland Visitors and Convention Bureau. Roxie will describe the highlights of this brand-new byway which has a unique claim to fame: it’s the only agriculturally focused byway to date in America.
Our Summer 2016 issue was dedicated to the theme of Comic Strips and the American Road. Our Memory Motel column focused on the Li’l Abner Motel in eastern Kentucky. You might imagine a rustic and rugged haven of rest that matched the cornpone antics of Al Capp’s famous characters like Mammy Yokum, Daisy Mae and Lil Abner himself. But as you will hear from Billy D. Abner, the current provider, that is far from true although the motel is still nestle in the beauty of the Red River Gorge and some of the finest rock climbing in the country. Billy’s accent may be a bit thick but I think that you will enjoy getting to know his down home hospitality and make the Lil Abner Motel a stop on your journey. The American Road TripTalk is brought to you by Marinette County in Wisconsin where you’re invited to visit the real north.
The state of Illinois has long been known as the Land of Lincoln because of the wealth of tourist attractions around the 16th President throughout the state. However, Cory Jobe, Illinois’ Director of Tourism, would like you to know that there are three other first executives who call the Prairie State their home. In this edition of Trip Talk, Chris will reveal three main locations for those sites in hopes that you will include them in the itinerary for your next Midwest road trip.
Welcome Erika Nelson, a traveling artist who has chronicled bigger than life attractions along our nation’s highways. Everything from the biggest duck on Long Island to the largest baseball bat in Louisville, Ky and an enormous catsup bottle that serves as the water tower in Collinsville, IL Erika has collected all of these and miniaturized them into…the World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things. In this conversation Erika will explain her recent hiatus from the magazine to work on a project in Georgia. She will share some very special memories of former President Jimmie Carter in Planes, GA and share with us her vision of what is coming up in this year’s Think Big column. I hope you enjoy this first podcast of 2016
In the summer issue of American Road Magazine an article in our Friends in the Fastlane column featured a new byway that will thrill fans of the old west. It is called the Tracks Across Borders Byway and it traces a route from southern Colorado to northern New Mexico along the top of the continental divide. As our guest Murielle Eason, commissioner for the byway, will explain it is not the sort of hike you want to take in your prize sports car but four wheelers will delight in the rugged trails. Saddle up, and join us for a ride over the divide into the history of the Old West.
This edition of American Road Trip Talks goes behind the scenes of an article and picture that appeared in our Spring 2015 issue. The focus was on a remarkable sculpture display in the town of Troy, Ohio featuring a 31’ tall sculpture of Abraham Lincoln that will delight all of you Lincoln fans. But in the course of my conversation with Katherine Hays, Executive Director of Main Street Troy I discovered the really big event: the display of the Funeral Train of Abraham Lincoln, Sept. 10-13, 2015.
The Tunnel Vision column of our Spring 2015 American Road featured an article entitled Joy to the Road about the centennial of a remarkable journey from Detroit to San Francisco by Henry B. Joy, first president of the Packard Motor Car Company in 1915. Between the end of June 2015 and the first week of July, another group of Lincoln Highway enthusiasts are going to make that same trip in 12 days. Their tour guide was Paul Gilger who also led the mapping committee for the tour.
In this final podcast in the Lincoln Highway Centennial Tour series, Paul Gilger describes the complicated process of putting a cross country tour together. International visitors make up a large part of the traveling band, particularly the Germans who have taken a particular shine to Route 66
Between the end of June 2015 and the first week of July, another group of Lincoln Highway enthusiasts are going to make that same trip in 12 days. They will be lead by the husband and wife team of Rosemary Rubin and Bob Lichty and their tour guide will be Paul Gilger who also led the mapping committee for the tour.
In this fourth and final podcasts in the Lincoln Highway Centennial Tour series, Paul Gilger shares fascinating stories about the original Lincoln Highway Tour. You will find out that there is a particularly sticky form of mud in Iowa, that the road got some urgently needed repairs after a miserable Thanksgiving and that the final stop of the Lincoln Highway was built with the ruins of the San Francisco earthquake.
The Tunnel Vision column of our Spring 2015 American Road featured an article entitled Joy to the Road about the centennial of a remarkable journey from Detroit to San Francisco by Henry B. Joy, first president of the Packard Motor Car Company in 1915. Between the end of June 2015 and the first week of July, another group of Lincoln Highway enthusiasts are going to make that same trip in 12 days. They will be lead by the husband and wife team of Rosemary Rubin and Bob Lichty. In this second of four podcasts, Bob Lichty, a veteran of a number of Lincoln Highway adventures, will talk about the tour itself and the route that will take the group 2,836 miles to the shores of the Pacific.
The Tunnel Vision column of our Spring 2015 American Road featured an article entitled Joy to the Road about the centennial of a remarkable journey from Detroit to San Francisco by Henry B. Joy, first president of the Packard Motor Car Company in 1915. Henry mounted his trusty Packard I-35 and navigated the often-muddy trails that were the Lincoln Highway just two years after the route had been established from New York to San Francisco. Henry’s destination was the Panama-Pacific Exhibition in the newly resurrected City by the Sea, which had risen from the rubble of a disastrous earthquake. Between the end of June 2015 and July 8, another group of Lincoln Highway enthusiasts are going to trace that same 2,836 mile trip in 12 days. They will be lead by the husband and wife team of Rosemary Rubin and Bob Lichty who are veterans of the route and our guests for this podcast. In this first of four podcasts, Rosemary Rubin, a veteran of a number of Lincoln Highway adventures, will start the conversation talking about the history of the highway.
The Tunnel Vision column of our Spring 2015 American Road featured an article entitled Joy to the Road about the centennial of a remarkable journey from Detroit to San Francisco by Henry B. Joy, first president of the Packard Motor Car Company in 1915. Henry mounted his trusty Packard I-35 and navigated the often-muddy trails that were the Lincoln Highway just two years after the route had been established from New York to San Francisco. Henry’s destination was the Panama-Pacific Exhibition in the newly resurrected City by the Sea, which had risen from the rubble of a disastrous earthquake. Between the end of June 2015 and July 8, another group of Lincoln Highway enthusiasts are going to trace that same 2,836 mile trip in 12 days. They will be lead by the husband and wife team of Rosemary Rubin and Bob Lichty who are veterans of the route and our guests for this podcast. They will be sharing both the history of the Lincoln Highway and highlights of the upcoming tour. Don’t miss a minute of the conversation.
Our Spring 2015 issue of American Road Magazine was dedicated to the Trail of the Ancients, finding some of the American Road’s oldest attractions. The Upper and Lower Dells of the Wisconsin River are one of Nature’s works of art in Southwest Wisconsin that have been a tourist attraction since just after the Civil War. It is also the site in 2015 of the 70th anniversary of its famous Duck Tours. No we aren’t talking about a feathery parade. These DUCKS are six-wheel-drive amphibious modification of the 2-ton trucks used during World War II.
This podcast is the second of two conversations with Dan Gavinski, the General Manager of the original Wisconsin Ducks and Dells Boat Tours, who has risen from parking lot attendant to running the whole show. In this interview Dan talks describes the remarkable Ducks and other aspects of the high powered aquatic entertainment at the Dells and finally about the upcoming 70th Anniversary celebration.
Our Spring 2015 issue of American Road Magazine was dedicated to the Trail of the Ancients, finding some of the American Road’s oldest attractions. The Upper and Lower Dells of the Wisconsin River are one of Nature’s works of art in Southwest Wisconsin that have been a tourist attraction since just after the Civil War. It is also the site in 2015 of the 70th anniversary of its famous Duck Tours. These amphibious vehicles called DUKW’s, or popularly known as Ducks, are six-wheel-drive amphibious modification of the 2-ton capacity CCKW trucks used by the U.S. military in World War II and introduced to the Dells in 1946.
This podcast is the first of two conversations with Dan Gavinski, the General Manager of the original Wisconsin Ducks and Dells Boat Tours. In part one Dan tells the both the history of the Ducks at the Dells and his own rise from parking lot attendant to running the whole show. In our second podcast Dan will talk more about the Ducks themselves and the upcoming 70th Anniversary celebration.
That soft, sweet, summertime sensation better known as DQ or Dairy Queen has been a favorite diversion on the American Road for three quarters of a century. In the fall of 2013 I traveled to downtown Joliet, Illinois to visit the site of the very first DQ in America. Our Spring 2015 issue is dedicate to the oldest things along the American road and this certain fits the bill. My tour guide was former Joliet City Manager Thomas Thanas and, while our tour had to be virtual because the building no longer housed the original Dairy Queen, it was conducted alongside the very real Route 66 in downtown Joliet. Join us as we find more about the birth of this icy American Road icon.
The Spring 2015 issue of American Road Magazine was dedicated to tracking down the Ancients along the American highway. One of the stories was a fish tale about the oldest resident at the world famous Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. Its name is “Granddad”, and he’s an Australian lungfish, a scaly survivor of prehistoric times found in very few places around the globe. Our guest, Mike Marselis, is one of the aquarists at the museum who has some interesting stories to tell about Granddad.
The winter issue of American Road Magazine featured an article entitled American Road’s Big Birds. The story stretched from coast to coast and the steamy south to the cold north in the search of truly large birds or to be more precise their artistic representations like the 21-ton Pheasant in Huron, S. Dakota or the Big Duck on Long Island, NY. In today’s podcast Doris Schneider, the VP of the Friends of the Big Duck is going fill us in on more of the background of this enormous replica which actually gave its name to a style of architecture. Visit the Big Duck online at www.bigduck.org and look for them on Facebook.
Tunnel Vision always provides our readers with snapshots of fascinating places along the American Road. Our Autumn 2014 issue featured a story about a Contrary Barber Pole at the National Barber Museum in the Columbus, OH suburb of Canal Winchester. Mike Ippoliti is the curator/director of the huge collection of tonsorial memorabilia and he joins us to talk about a recent tragedy that almost wiped out these beloved mementos of what has been called “the second oldest profession”. Stick around to learn more about the harrowing tale.
Randy Goodpasture runs a national pigeon race that runs along Route 66 in OK. This is the second part of two podcasts featuring Randy talking about his Oklahoma flock of racing pigeons who use Route 66 as their guide in the +100 mile competitions at speeds near 80 MPH.
Randy Goodpasture runs a national pigeon race that runs along Route 66 in OK. This is the first part of two podcasts featuring Randy talking about the pigeons and the race.
In our winter 2014 edition of American Road Magazine, the Tunnel Vision column featured an article that is bound to get you started on the right foot…unless you’re a tea drinker. I’m talking about the Coffee Trail in Columbus, Ohio! In this podcast Meguni Robinson of Experience Columbus will tell you how a group of local businesses got together to create a unique way of promoting their themselves and the city of Columbus all at the same time. Oh and don’t forget the passport!
One thing American Road readers seems to have in common is that they are avid travelers. It’s not enough for most of us to get information about sites; we want to be there as well. A new tool to help you find a very special place to stay is the website of the National Trust for Historic Preservation which is found at www.historichotels.org. Heather Taylor is a spokesperson for National Historic Hotels of America and she will share some of the many features that the website has to offer you as you plan your next vacation.
It’s a brand new year for American Road Magazine and for American Road Trip Talk. Normally we use this podcast to introduce you to the people and places behind the stories in the magazine. This time around we are going to cast our gaze in another direction, forward into 2015 in Illinois, home of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. Along Route 66 in Springfield, Illinois you will find the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, which is turning 10 in 2015 which is also the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. Our guest Chris Wills, a spokesperson for the library and museum, has a whole year full of suggestions for your travels. Get your calendar ready to circle some dates for 2015. You’ll find that we do a little Lincoln myth busting along the way. For more information on the ongoing events at the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Il. visit www.tenyearslincoln.com
The fall 2014 edition of our magazine had fun with the theme of Rock, Paper, Scissors and included stories about everything from a Wall of Scissors to a Waffle Rock and a Paper House. In this podcast we visit with Edna Beaudoin, who is the current caretaker of the Paper House, which is located in the scenic seaside town of Rockport, MA just north of Boston. What started out as a summer project in the 1920’s became a lifelong passion for an engineer named Ellis Stenman who used over 100,000 pieces of newsprint to complete the project. His grand niece Edna tends to the family heirloom which is open to visitors from April through October.
In 2013 American Road Magazine featured a unique store in rural Indiana that has weathered the changes in American toy tastes for the past 75 years. Veach’s Toy Station has found a way to the heart of the child in all of us for three generation of the Veach family in Richmond, Indiana. In part 2 of the conversation that we had with John Veach, the current owner, he begins by reflecting on the reappearance of some of his favorite childhood toys.
It’s holiday time and that’s the time for giving toys to our favorite girls and boys. In 2013 American Road Magazine featured a unique store in rural Indiana that has weathered the changes in American toy tastes for the past 75 years. Veach’s Toy Station has found a way to the heart of the child in all of us for three generation of the Veach family in Richmond, Indiana. This podcast is part 1 of the conversation that we had with John Veach, the current owner, about the magic of selling toys for all those years.
In our Fall issue of the magazine, the Tunnel Vision column features a story about Old 41 Caters to Gaters. It was the tale of the valiant efforts of John Brady, a local photographer, to save one of the last everglade showplaces in Florida. The Everglades Wonder Gardens. In part two we will hear about the colorful history of the original Wonder Gardens and how it has come to be one of the last places in Florida where you can see pink flamingos and still be sober! Just kidding. Please enjoy part two of this Everglades Revival.
In our Fall issue of the magazine, the Tunnel Vision column features a story about Old 41 Caters to Gaters. It was the tale of the valiant efforts of John Brady, a local photographer, to save one of the last everglade showplaces in Florida. The Everglades Wonder Gardens. In our first part of the story in this podcast, John tells the story of how this famous, original Florida roadside attraction was about to fade into history. But John and some other lovers of Florida’s wild beauty with the help of some “enthusiastic young alligators” turned a fading roadside attraction into a botanical garden. Enjoy part 1 of this Everglades Revival.
In our Fall 2014 issue of American Road Magazine an article entitled Rock, Paper, Scissor featured a visit to the Cardboard Boat Museum in New Richmond, Ohio. Our guest for part 2 of our podcast about the museum is Ray Perszyk a colorful Ohio river man who is the chairman of the Cardboard Race Committee. It might seem remarkable that craft made of something so frail as cardboard could last up to 10 years and be featured in the museum. That is where we pick up our conversation with Ray in today’s podcast.
Normally you wouldn’t associate anything make out of cardboard with the word “racing” but the paper flotillas of New Richmond, Ohio defy that notion. In our Fall 2014 issue of American Road Magazine a clever article entitled Rock, Paper, Scissor included a visit to the Cardboard Boat Museum in that little Ohio river town. Our guest is Ray Perszyk a colorful local who is the chairman of the Cardboard Race Committee. In this part of conversation, Ray talks about the race and its origins and in part of our podcast he will focus on the museum that has collected some of these remarkable vessels over the last decade.
For many of us the image of North Dakota the pops to mind comes from the movie Fargo: A vast sea of white snow, bitter cold and knife like winds. Needless to say there is much more to the Peace Garden State than that and the newly expanded State Museum in Bismarck says it all. Our guest today is Kim Jondahl, Communication and Education director for the State Historical Society of North Dakota. At the end of October 2014 the state opened a magnificent 97,000 sq ft expansion that includes to very big and very popular figures.
A lot of our listeners/readers are avid travelers and many use the itineraries posted on our American Road Magazine homepage. The holiday season for 2014 is just starting to get into high gear whether grandma lives in Tampa, Fl or Topiniabee, Michigan, Spokane, WA or Seabrook Island, SC. The folks at the National Motor Club have your best interests at heart and have a special winter driving checklist to offer you. In this podcast we speak with Heidi Vincent, President of NMC about their services and specifically about their holiday driving tips.
In the Friends in the Fast Lane column of our Fall 2014 magazine, we highlighted the official designation of a portion of a famous California costal highway as part of the Purple Heart Trail. In reality the famous commemorative trail is not a contiguous, physical route but rather a symbolic system of roads honoring the men and women of our armed forces over the decades. In this podcast we speak with Kathy Long, Ventura County Supervisor, about the official inclusion of scenic coastal Highway 101 in southern California in this honorific highway system.
Drive in theatres have been featured in a couple of issues of our magazine because they are a unique part of the American Road heritage. The same goes for diners; we even have a regular column called Diner Days. In our summer 2014 issue we featured the Mayberry Diner and Drive In, a unique combination of these two classics. In this podcast we talk with Bob Craig the owner of this fine establishment located in the mountains of central Virginia near Smith Mountain Lake. You’ll never guess where Bob found his diner and how it came to be the dynamic doubleheader that it is.
In the summer edition of American Road Magazine Erika Nelson, author of the Think Big column, found a big bottle of pop to quench her thirst: a 66 ‘ bottle to be exact outside of Pops Restaurant in Arcadia, OK. We talked extensively in another podcast with her about the enormous roadside attraction but the restaurant behind it looked just as interesting. Enter Marty Doepke, General Manager for Pops Restaurant. In this podcast Marty gives us the background of why Pops has that name and describes the amazing 700 + kinds of soda on display from Kona Coffee flavor and Prickly Pear to Bacon and Ranch Dressing flavored Soda. Don’t miss the conversation.
Erika Nelson is someone who is hard to catch up to because she is always on the road and always traveling. The big game she is hunting, literally Big Game, are the largest attractions along the American Road. Erika then turns them into the smallest replicas of the Largest Attractions on the American Road. And she has a travelling collection. She also contributes a regular column about her finds called Think Big. True to form the story that appeared in the summer edition of American Road Magazine was about the largest soda bottle on the American Road. Erika Nelso tells us the full story of her find in our podcast.
In the summer issue of American Road Magazine we took a jog through the Deep South in Tunnel Vision and explored the Grand Gulf-Raymond Scenic Byway. Signs have finally been put up that tells the story of this 50 mile stretch of southern byway beauty which traces one of the most significant marches in America’s bloody Civil War. Our guest on this podcast is Ret. General Parker Hills, a Civil War military expert and longtime supporter of the Grand Gulf-Raymond Scenic Byway. Journey with us as he describes the route and its relationship to General Ulysses Grant’s pivotal victory at Vicksburg.
Over the last few years American Road Magazine has featured stories about the Hocking Hills in southeast Ohio. This beautiful part of the state is quite different from the flat farms lands of the north and east of the Buckeye state. In the Hocking Hills the land begins to roll gently as it heads southeast into the Appalachian Mountains and the Virginias. This is a two-part conversation about a time-honored tradition of the region: moonshining! While the typical homemade and very illegal distillery is still plentiful in the area around New Straitsville, OH, our guest Doug Nutter runs the completely legal and highly taxed Straisville Special Moonshie Co. Doug’s fountain of hooch became legal just in time for the 2014 New Straitsville Moonshine Festival, which has been going on for a long time.
In Part 2 of our conversation with Doug Nutter, we talked more about the New Straitsville Moonshine annual festival, his own family’s recipe and a little about how to make their brand of firewater.
Over the last few years American Road Magazine has featured stories about the Hocking Hills in southeast Ohio. This beautiful part of the state is quite different from the flat farms lands of the north and east of the Buckeye state. In the Hocking Hills the land begins to roll gently as it heads southeast into the Appalachian Mountains and the Virginias. This is a two-part conversation about a time-honored tradition of the region: moonshining! While the typical homemade and very illegal distillery is still plentiful in the area around New Straitsville, OH, our guest Doug Nutter runs the completely legal and highly taxed Straisville Special Moonshie Co. Doug’s fountain of hooch became legal just in time for the 2014 New Straitsville Moonshine Festival, which has been going on for a long time. In this part 1 of our conversation, Doug Nutter shares the fascinating history of moonshining in the Appalachians where it is a survival business, family heritage and a big part of the culture.
As a reader of American Road Magazine, you know we are all about enjoying and preserving America’s Scenic Byways. They are not just great vacation destinations but are also vital economic links to a host of communities offering entertainment, opportunities to learn and appreciate our heritage and taste the wonderful variety of American cuisine; but this is a delicate ecosystem that needs support. Anaise Berry, our guest, is the chair of the National Scenic Byway Foundation, a volunteer organization formed in 2003 to support byways around the nation. Our own Becky Repp, General Manager of American Road Magazine, was recently named to this prestigious board. In our conversation Anaise will tell you more about the critical mission that the Foundation performs since Federal Funding was removed a few years ago.
There is just no better treat on a hot summer day than a scoop of ice cream. Our Friends of the Fastlane column in the Summer Edition celebrated one of America’s oldest ice cream companies, Velvet Ice Cream as they celebrated their Centennial. What adds to the charm of this family owned creamery is that is located in the heart of central Ohio’s countryside in Utica, Ohio 45 minutes north of Columbus. Andre Dager, one of the three sisters who run the company, gave us a family history and a peek at some of the special flavors created to celebrate this wonderful event.
Rebecca Repp is the General Manager of American Road Magazine which she publishes along with husband Thomas Repp. Normally Becky stays behind the scenes but in the 2014 Spring Issue she stepped from behind the headlines into our Tunnel Vision section. There we learned about her appointment to the America’s Byways Foundation. This group is a non-profit group organized years ago to help Byway committees all over the country share resources and ideas for growth. Becky Repp brings her considerable insight into the national Byway scene as a resource for this support group.
The summer 2014 issue of American Road Magazine brought back one of our favorite family themes for the lazy, hazy days, A Night at Drive In Part 2. This podcast is part 2 of a series focused on the Melody Drive In located in rural northern Indiana near the Bass Lake campground resort. Their family owned drive in is one of the few that still sport grass infield rather than asphalt or gravel and give an almost park like feel. But it has not always been nostalgic fun for the Heiss’s. Fred and his family have not only had to tackle rough economic times but also the wrath of Mother Nature. He will share the remodeling job a huge windstorm did to the big screens a few years ago.
The summer 2014 issue of American Road Magazine brought back one of our favorite family themes for the lazy, hazy days, A Night at Drive In Part 2. The best part about the more than 30 outdoor movie palaces reviewed is that the majority of them are still going strong. Being a family business seems to be one of the big factors in their survival. Families work cheap! Just ask Fred Heiss and his son Fred Jr. Three generations of their family have kept the Melody Drive In going in the beautiful countryside of Northern Indiana. In the first of two parts, father and son discuss the transition from 35 mm film to the high tech hard drives that deliver today’s box office hits and how Drive Ins are experiencing a revival.
The summer 2014 issue of American Road Magazine brought back one of our favorite family themes for the lazy, hazy days, A Night at Drive In Part 2. The best part about the more than 30 outdoor movie palaces reviewed is that the majority of them are still going strong. According to Steve Bloomer, second-generation owner of the Skyview Drive In of Belleville, Illinois, things have never been better. We know you will enjoy Steve’s stories in this podcast as he describes a family business he has been involved with since the first time he watched a movie from the projection booth when he was 5 years old. The Skyview took off in the late 40’s and doesn’t look like it is going to land any time soon.
Summertime and the living is easy or so the so went in the famous operetta Porgy and Bess. We certainly hope the arrival of our summer edition of American Road Magazine is adding to your summertime relaxation. Our Friends in the Fast Lane column made a stop at a unique exhibition at the Lincoln Highway Experience Museum in Latrobe, PA. There we met executive director, Olga Herbert, who described the Postcard Exhibit which launched in May of 2014. Thousands of postcards from destinations along the Lincoln Highway in Penn. are on display but there is one very special part of the exhibit that requires your participation! Olga explains all.
This is part 2 of our Odessa, Texas interview. Our Spring 2014 issue of American Road Magazine featured an article entitled Hopping the Hippety Highway by Jillian Gurney. The author followed rabbit trails all over the country tracking down big bunnies. One of the stops was Odessa, Texas, home of the largest jackrabbit in the world. In this two-part interview with Linda Sweat of the Odessa Convention and Visitors Bureau we will find out about the history of the rascally native jackrabbits and even more about the surprising cultural oasis that this west Texas town has become.
Our Spring 2014 issue of American Road Magazine featured an article entitled Hopping the Hippety Highway by Jillian Gurney. The author followed rabbit trails all over the country tracking down big bunnies. One of the stops was Odessa, Texas, home of the largest jackrabbit in the world. In this two-part interview with Linda Sweat of the Odessa Convention and Visitors Bureau we will find out about the history of the rascally native jackrabbits and even more about the surprising cultural oasis that this west Texas town has become.
In the Spring 2014 issue of the magazine Tunnel Vision highlighted the birth of a new scenic roadway, the Nanticoke Heritage Byway which will eventually traverse parts of southern and western Delaware. In this podcast Dan Parsons, a historic preservationist for the Delaware, tells us about the importance of this unique byway and its link to the beginnings of our nation. To keep up with the Nanticoke Heritage Byway development, visit their Facebook page.
The Tunnel Vision Column of our Spring 2014 issue of American Road Magazine featured a bizarre piece of art called the “Paulverizer” in front of an auto recycler on Highway 501 in Buena Vista, VA. It is just one of dozens of huge, humorous and highly visible works of art created by Mark Cline. In our interview, I hope you will catch some of his passion for creating these merry roadside monsters that have found homes all over the country. His one regret…His may be a dying art.
In our Spring 2014 issue of American Road Magazine we presented the story of a three wheeled, bullet-shaped orange car called the Urbee 2 in our Friends in the Fast Lane column. The strange little car represents the vision of Jim Kor and Bruce Stewart to build an aerodynamically perfect and absolutely energy efficient vehicle. In Part 2 of the Urbee 2 story, Jim and Bruce describe how 3D Printing will give their ultra efficient vehicle the ability to cross the US on just 10 gallons of gas.
In our Spring 2014 issue of American Road Magazine, you’ll find a story about a three wheeled, bullet shaped orange car called the Urbee 2 in our Friends in the Fast Lane column. The strange little car represents the vision of Jim Kor and Bruce Stewart to build an aerodynamically perfect and absolutely energy efficient vehicle. In Part 1 of the Urbee 2 story, Jim and Bruce share the journey that is taking them toward an historic voyage on the American Road.
2016 will mark the official 100th anniversary of our number highway system. Up to 1926 the process of naming, building and publicizing a stretch of roadway was very much a local affair. The results were often confusing if pleasantly familiar to the folks who drove them. The named trails served a valuable purpose in their day, but they began to pass into history when the American Association of State Highway Officials adopted the U.S. numbered highway system on November 11, 1926.
The Spring 2014 issue Friends in the Fast Lane highlighted the efforts of Solomon Valley US 24 Association to rediscover one of those named highways, the Midland Trail, We spoke with Joan Nothern in an earlier podcast about those efforts.
In this podcast we are going to reach back into our archives for a conversation from the Spring 2011 issue with another leader in the movement, Mike Conlin, a mapmaker by trade and one of the movers behind the recreation of the Jefferson Highway. This remarkable ribbon of highway stretched from north of the US border in Canada all the way to the Gulf Coast and New Orleans.
2016 will mark the official 100th anniversary of our number highway system. Up to 1926 the process of naming, building and publicizing a stretch of roadway was very much a local affair. The results were often confusing if pleasantly familiar to the folks who drove them. The named trails served a valuable purpose in their day, but they began to pass into history when the American Association of State Highway Officials adopted the U.S. numbered highway system on November 11, 1926.
The Spring 2014 issue Friends in the Fast Lane highlighted the efforts of Solomon Valley US 24 Association to rediscover one of those named highways, the Midland Trail, We spoke with Joan Nothern in an earlier podcast about those efforts.
In this podcast we are going to reach back into our archives for a conversation from the Spring 2011 issue with another leader in the movement, Mike Conlin, a mapmaker by trade and one of the movers behind the recreation of the Jefferson Highway. This remarkable ribbon of highway stretched from north of the US border in Canada all the way to the Gulf Coast and New Orleans.
The Think Big Column in our magazine is a regular platform for some of the most remarkable sights along the American Road. Erika Nelson is the peripatetic folk artist who chronicles kings and queens of the highway like the largest ketchup bottle or biggest baseball bat in the World’s Largest Collection of the Smallest Replicas of the World’s Largest Things. In this conversation Erika shares her most recent find: a titanic turtle that is displayed in our Spring 2014 issue. How does she find these roadside behemoths? You’ll just have to listen to our conversation to find out that and much more.
In the Spring 2014 issue in the Friendd in the Fast Lane department, we show a Kansas artist, Dave DeArmond, who was so moved by the 1916 Midland Trail Tour guide that he began painting scenes mentioned in the book. Now people like our guest, Joan Nothern, of the Solomon Valley Hwy 24 Heritage Alliance are making that nearly century old driving guide come alive. Joan is the president of that association and right here shares the story behind their efforts to rediscover the forgotten transcontinental Midland Trail. Joan will share the vision she and her associates have for restoring the awareness of this remarkable homemade link between oceans that sprang up in the early days of touring cars. To spur that effort on, the alliance is going to showcase the historic Midland Trail Guide at the Kansas Sampler Festival on May 3-4in Wamego, KS. For more information about that festival visit http://www.kansassampler.org/festival/.
Butterflies normally conjure up beautiful images of colorful, delicate winged creatures flitting by your mind’s eye. How about throwing in a few thousand cockroaches you can play with and lots of hungry caterpillars? In the Spring 2014 issue of American Road Magazine in our US 40: Across the Middle Department, I described some of the Looking Glass Insects I discovered at the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House of the Missouri Botanical Gardens. This remarkable facility is located in a beautiful park just west of St. Louis in the suburb of Chesterfield. Laura Chisholm, Living Collections Manager, takes us on a quick tour of the insides of this beautiful facility that you will want to make a must visit on your next trip to the Gateway of the West, St. Louis, MO.
In the Spring 2014 issue of American Road Magazine our Memory Motel column was all ears as we swept down into the mountain resort of Steamboat Springs to visit the Rabbit Ears Motel. Ironically, as Greg Koehler, our guest and owner of the motel will tell us, the name has more to do with geology than a certain rascally cartoon character. On the other hand the inn’s overactive sign did create something of a distraction for visitors to the famous Steamboat Springs right across the street. Greg also shares an honest look at the hard life of maintaining a motel. It’s a real labor of love.
In our Winter 2013 issue of American Road Magazine we wandered a bit north of our theme area of Washington State into the Canadian Rockies for the subject of our Memory Motel Column. Tucked in the foothills of the craggy grandeur of British Columbia near the town of Ainsworth Springs stands the Mermaid Lodge and Motel. Not quite the image that would seem to go with a town that grew up in the rough and tumble of the Canadian Gold Rush. In part three and our final interview with Marsh Giles, the current innkeeper shares a wonderful story about the bawdy mermaid sign that once graced her Lodge and the artists who have memorialized the inn.
Welcome to Part 2 of our interview at the Indiana Medical History Museum in Indianapolis where I met Mary Ellen Hennessey Nottage, the passionate curator of medical history in Indiana. We conducted the interview as we strolled through what had been the pathology lab for the state's main mental health hospital for more than a century. In Part 2 of our interview you will find out how death provided both a valuable resource in medical study and a compassionate benefit to the deceased's family. This interview was not only remarkable because of the historical artifacts and history of the institution but also because it traced the early efforts to hunt down a cruel disabler and often killer, mental illness.
In our Winter 2013 issue of American Road Magazine we wandered a bit north of our theme area of Washington State into the Canadian Rockies for the subject of our Memory Motel Column. Tucked in the foothills of the craggy grandeur of British Columbia near the town of Ainsworth Springs stands the Mermaid Lodge and Motel. Not quite the image that would seem to go with a town that grew up in the rough and tumble of the Canadian Gold Rush.
In part two of our interviews with Marsh Gillies who is the current innkeeper along with her husband she describes the colorful history of the Lodge and how her family overcame a terrible tragedy to maintain the historic inn. Don’t miss our third interview when Marsha will share a wonderful story about the bawdy mermaid who once graced her Lodge.
In our Winter 2013 issue of American Road Magazine we wandered a bit north of our theme area of Washington State into the Canadian Rockies for the subject of our Memory Motel Column. Tucked in the foothills of the craggy grandeur of British Columbia near the town of Ainsworth Springs stands the Mermaid Lodge and Motel. Not quite the image that would seem to go with a town that grew up in the rough and tumble of the Canadian Gold Rush. In part one of our interviews with Marsh Gillies who is the current innkeeper along with her husband we will find out about the fascinating history of an area of the Rockies that has been a gathering place for millennia due to its healing waters. In part 2 and 3 Marsha will share the colorful history of the Lodge itself and her family’s overcoming tragedy to maintain it.
In 2011 a California grocer named Dave Schaub drove his Brizio-built Custom ’32 Ford roadster through all 49 continental United States in an amazing 7 days, 14 hours and 21 minutes. We featured a picture of Dave at the finish line in Alaska in one of our recent Friends in the Fast lane Column.
In part two of our interview Dave describes how he made the incredible journey on 5 hours of sleep a day without being accompanied by a chase crew. It was literally man and machine against the clock for nearly 9,000-miles to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford University Hospital. But the most challenging part of the race against the clock and the most inspiring part came as Dave entered Canada on his way to the finish line in Alaska.
In 2011 the jovial California grocer drove named Dave Schaub drove his Brizio-built ’32 Ford roadster through all 49 continental United States in an amazing 7 days, 14 hours and 21 minutes. We featured a picture of Dave at the finish line in Alaska in one of our recent Friends in the Fastlane Columns. It was all part of an effort to raise funds for the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford University Hospital. In this first part of the interview, Dave talks about getting himself and his custom car ready for the grueling journey. In part 2 Dave Schaub will reveal a surprising benefit that he gained from the journey.
You only have to mention the words “Route 66” and people all over the world begin to conjure up their own visions of this nostalgic ribbon of American highway. I seriously doubt, however, that many if any of you would identify pigeons with that same stretch of asphalt. However, for our guest in this two-part American Road Trip Talk podcast, Route 66 is a feathery racetrack. Randy Goodpasture is the owner, loft manager and organizer of the Route 66 Race in which the contestants are the noble carrier pigeons capable of speeds for hundreds of miles that will blow your mind. In this second part of our conversation Randy talks about the unique nature of these powerful pigeons and how he builds a relationship with them that turns out winners. There is even an American Pigeon Museum in Oklahoma City where you can see some of the high flying and decorated war heroes of the flock.
You only have to mention the words “Route 66” and people all over the world begin to conjure up their own visions of this nostalgic ribbon of American highway. I seriously doubt, however, that many if any of you would identify pigeons with that same stretch of asphalt. However, for our guest in this two-part American Road Trip Talk podcast, Route 66 is a feathery racetrack. Randy Goodpasture is the owner, loft manager and organizer of the Route 66 Race in which the contestants are the noble carrier pigeons capable of speeds that will blow your mind for hundreds of miles. In this first part of our conversation Randy gives us the big picture of what a pigeon race is and what it has to do with Route 66. In part 2 we’ll find out more about the character of these noble birds, some of whom were decorated war heroes.
Like any good fish story, the tale of the National Freshwater Fishing Museum located in the wooded Lakeland of northwest Wisconsin is about a big one…that didn’t get away. In this second of two parts, Emmett Brown, the museum director, gives some of the vision and mission behind the Hall of fame. It is very much about protecting our valuable fish stocks and educating the public about ways to keep our freshwater resources healthy. Emmett even has a story about the big one that got away…deliberately.
For a full article about the museum and a collection of photos, check out our Winter 2014 issue of American Road Magazine.
Like any good fish story, the tale of the National Freshwater Fishing Museum located in the wooded Lakeland of northwest Wisconsin is about a big one…that didn’t get away. Emmett Brown, the current director of the Museum, takes us on a two part tour of this remarkable and growing collection of freshwater fishing memorabilia, hall of fame for the greatest fishermen and women and even home to over 100,000 lures, rods and reels. For a full article about the museum and a collection of photos, check out our Winter 2014 issue of American Road Magazine. In this first of two parts, Emmett tells us how a famous distillery was behind the opening of the museum and he’ll describe a part of the display that might even make old Noah step off the ark for a look!
The movie The Help took viewers behind the scenes of a post WWII southern society in the midst of change. It was filled with wit, insight and mouth-watering southern fried dishes. When Hollywood location scouts for the movie found Greenwood, MS, they knew that had struck gold. The architecture, cotton fields, fabulous food, and residents who welcome everyone with open arms were enough to convince producers that Greenwood was the perfect place.
Here to give us a guided tour of Greenwood is Paige Hunt who directs the town’s convention and visitor’s bureau. She’ll tell you all about the rich blues and southern cuisine that make a trip to the Delta Country well worth your while.
For many of us this has been a hard winter that has kept us cooped up. Good news, there is an event taking place during the first two weeks of February that is guaranteed to get you out of the house. The scenic Hocking Hills area of Ohio just 40 Miles southeast of Columbus, Ohio is hosting a Comfort Food Cruise Feb. 1-2 and 8-9. Karen Raymore, the Executive Director of the Hocking Hills Tourism Association has all the details about this wonderful opportunity to visit a winter wonderland and to sample local comfort food for just $15. It’s a feast for the eyes and the tummy. You can find full details and get your tickets online at www.explorehockinghills.com.
If you have been a frequent listener to these podcasts you will know me as the host of American Road Trip Talk but most of the time I wear an entirely different hat. For 40 years I have been a radio broadcaster in the Detroit Metropolitan area and for the last 16 of them I have hosted a weekly show called the Internet Advisor where we help people with their computer problems and introduce them to experts in the field.
So what has that got to do with traveling the open road? Glad you asked. On the first show of 2014, I interview Mike Wendland, a nationally noted tech reporter on radio and CBS TV Network. Mike recently retired and, like some of you, decided to take his considerable talents on the American Road in a small RV. Mike has turned this new chapter in his life into a whole new career called Roadtreking. You can find stories and pictures of his adventures at http://www.roadtreking.com. Mike now handles all sorts of topics from repairing your generator to dealing with sitting disease and knowing when it’s too cold to RV,
This interview is brought to you by the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway--Where the Mother Road Begins. From famous road-side restaurants to hidden gems, Route 66 in Illinois offers a journey back in time.
For many years now Erika Nelson has been like a big game hunter stalking her elusive prey all over the continental United States. The major difference is not the size of her quarry but that they stand still so patiently waiting to be captured. I am referring of course to the World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World Largest Things. Erika is a peripatetic artist who has scoured the American Road for the Largest Coin, Biggest Ball of String, Biggest Bank Vault Door and most recently the World’s Largest Baseball. During this interview we will catch up with our busy copyist as she was home for a short break before heading out to capture another one of the American Road’s Largest Roadside Attractions.
Collinsville is a little town in southwest Illinois with a big roadside attraction that’s hard to miss and that will be even harder to miss this Christmas season. Towering over a hundred feet above the town’s main road stands the world’s largest catsup bottle, a symbol of both the town’s proud past and valiant efforts to save the landmark during the 1990’s. In this podcast Mike Gassman, President, CEO and Big Tomato of the non-profit World’s Largest Catsup Bottle, Inc. tells how they got Jolly Old St. Nicholas to climb 70 feet up that tower.
Sometimes the best visits you make during a vacation are those unique, hidden attractions that aren't on the big maps. It's a special little cafe, a unique overlook or a remarkable museum that is full of extraordinary displays. Such was my experience when I visited the Indiana Medical History Museum off US 40, the National Highway, just outside downtown Indianapolis. There I met Mary Ellen Hennessey Nottage, the passionate curator of medical history in Indiana. We conducted the interview as we strolled through what had been the pathology lab for the state's main mental health hospital for more than a century. This interview was not only remarkable because of the historical artifacts and history of the institution but also because it traced the early efforts to hunt down a cruel disabler and often killer, mental illness. In Part 2 of our interview you will find out how death provided both a valuable resource in medical study and a compassionate benefit to the deceased's family.
Nothing evokes the magic, the tainted/painted history of the showplace of the west Las Vegas, Nevada like the gaudy brilliance of its brash neon signs. Our summer 2013 issue was entitled Electric Avenue and dedicated to the neon signs that pointed the way to lodging, lunch and lots of roadside attractions but none could quite match Las Vegas for pure size and scope of magnificent displays of gas and glass.
One of our Tunnel Vision articles in that issue focused on the Neon Boneyard of Las Vegas, also known as the Neon Museum. In this podcast Danielle Kelly, executive director of the museum, fills in some of the history of the display and shares her own artistic passion for preserving these unique works of art.
In Tacoma, WA, summer 2013 ended with a Blast From The Past at the LeMay Family Collection. What began, as a personal collection of vintage cars more than 40 years ago is now the largest private collection in the world with 2,200 vehicles according to the Guiness Book of World Records. The Blast from the Past annually raises funds to help local charities and serves as a showcase for the highlight of the upcoming Annual LeMay Car Show, Auction & Swap Meet around Labor Day weekend.
According to our guest Stacy Rushton, Office Manager for the LeMay Family Collection, in 2013 the Blast from the Past featured a very unique restored item from 1961. LeMay Family technicians normally specialize in revitalizing Edsels, Packards and Duessenbergs but I guarantee that you will never guess what it was that they restored in 2013. Don’t miss this fascinating peek at a unique charity event at a very special spot on the American Road.
The summer 2013 issue of American Road Magazine focused on: Neon Sights that Keep the Night Bright. Dave Hutson, our guest in this podcast, is the man who brings the warmth of yesterday back to those glowing gas sentinels. He is the owner of Neon Time, a company in suburban St. Louis, MO that specializes in restoring neon signs. He is also part of the Neon Heritage Preservation Committee that was formed by the MO Route 66 Assoc. in 2008 to save endangered historic neon signs along the Mother Road. In this second of two conversations, Dave shares some of the secrets to resurrecting the glow back in a motel’s marquee and restoring the allure of an historic St. Louis donut shop. You’ll find that the skill of “bending glass” and giving it the perfect hue is a precise and rare skill.
Our summer 2013 issue of American Road Magazine is focused around: Neon Sights that Keep the Night Bright. In this podcast we meet Dave Hutson, the man who brings the warmth of yesterday back to those glowing gas sentinels that once beckoned us to spent the night or to enjoy some homemade comfort food along the American Highway. Dave is the owner of Neon Time, a company that specializes in restoring neon signs in suburban St. Louis, MO. He is also part of the Neon Heritage Preservation Committee that was formed by the MO Route 66 Assoc. in 2008 to save endangered historic neon signs along the Mother Road. In this first of two conversations, Dave shares the challenges of putting the glow back in a motel’s marquee and restoring the allure of an historic St. Louis donut shop. Listen closely and you will learn the art of creating that special Neon glow.
The summer 2013 issue of our magazine features the theme: Neon Sights that Keep the Night Bright. In the Motoring the Mother Road column, I wrote about an ambitious Neon Heritage Preservation program led by Jim Thole, a member of the board of the Missouri Route 66 Association. Be sure to check out the magazine issue for great photos and more details.
In 2008, a terrible windstorm blew through St. Louis, MO and nearly tore down a neon sign, which had been a local landmark. Jim Thole and his fellow committee members sprang into action and the Neon Heritage Preservation Committee began its crusade to turn historic neon lights back on Route 66. In our final podcast in this series, Jim Thole will introduce us to the other members of the Neon Heritage Committee, reveal how they get the sign owners to allow their signs to be restored and look to the future of preservation.
The summer 2013 issue of our magazine features the theme: Neon Sights that Keep the Night Bright. In the Motoring the Mother Road column, I wrote an article about an ambitious Neon Heritage Preservation program led by Jim Thole, a member of the board of the Missouri Route 66 Association. Be sure to check out the magazine issue for great photos and more details.
In 2008, a terrible windstorm in St. Louis, MO nearly tore down a neon sign, which had been a local landmark. Jim and his three fellow committee members sprang into action and the Neon Heritage Preservation Committee began its crusade to turn historic neon lights back on Route 66. In this second of three podcasts Jim outlines the ambitious projects that he and the committee have accomplished during the last 5 years.
The summer 2013 issue of our magazine features the theme: Neon Sights that Keep the Night Bright. In the Motoring the Mother Road column, I wrote an article about an ambitious Neon Heritage Preservation program led by Jim Thole, a member of the board of the Missouri Route 66 Association. Be sure to check out the magazine issue for great photos and more details.
In 2008, a terrible windstorm in St. Louis, MO nearly tore down a neon sign, which had been a local landmark. Jim and his three fellow committee members sprang into action and the Neon Heritage Preservation Committee began its crusade to turn historic neon lights back on Route 66.
In the fall of 2011, I met Jim while on a visit to St. Louis just after the lighting of the Crestwood Bowl in suburban St. Louis County. In this first of three podcasts Jim Thole focused the conversation on the restoration of the Crestwood Bowl sign.
The last weekend of June 2013 in Kearney, NE marks the 100th Birthday Party for the Lincoln Highway, one of the first transcontinental highways for automobiles across the United States of America. In Part 2 of our Centennial Celebration for the Lincoln Highway, Sarah Focke, of the Kearney Convention and Visitors Bureau gives you all the details on the upcoming celebration. Car buffs, Lincoln Highway aficionados and the Lincoln Highway Association are all gathering for a big week of celebration between Sunday, June 30 and July 5.
The last weekend of June 2013 in Kearney, NE marks the 100th Birthday Party for the Lincoln Highway, one of the first transcontinental highways for automobiles across the United States of America. In Part 1 of our Centennial Celebration for the Lincoln Highway, Sarah Focke, of the Kearney Convention and Visitors Bureau gives some of the background on why her fair city of 30,000 was chosen to host the party. Sarah will also fill us in on the history of this main line for autos across the heart of America. Don’t miss part two when she will give you all the details on the upcoming celebration.
Perhaps no other roadside attraction is as closely identified with the American Road as the neighborhood drive in movie theatres that once dotted the US map. Sadly the ritual of warm summer evenings with the family piled in the car to watch the latest blockbuster has gone the way of the Edsel in most places. But the good news is that people like Jim Kopp of Stephens City, VA are hard at work keeping that tradition alive. Our guest on this podcast runs, the Family Drive In, a 500 car outdoor theatre the last remaining Drive In in northern Virginia about an hour west of Washington, D.C. Jim is not only passionate about keeping this unique entertainment experience alive but he has found a very special way to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Drive In Theatres in America. He helped create a category for an upcoming episode of Jeopardy. The venerable game show will air a special, July 4th show featuring a category called At The Drive In. Jim will share all the details in this podcast.
The rich earth of the Mississippi River bottom just east of St. Louis has long been a place to grow some of the best produce in the country. In particular, it was something of the tomato capital of the Midwest for many decades. What better monument to that juicy history than a massive catsup bottle, masquerading as the city water tower for Collinsville, Ilinois? In this podcast you’ll meet the Big Tomato himself, Mike Gassman, who along with his wife and many other volunteers have successfully fought to preserve their unique roadside attraction.
The great Heritage Tractor Adventure is taking place again between June 7 and 10th in the rich Illinois farmlands just outside of Chicago. The adventure, with a three-day tractor ride, combines vintage farm tractors and displays with entertainment, great food, and family fun. WGN-720 AM's own Farm Reporter, Max Armstrong, an avid collector himself, will be setting off on the adventure with you. His knowledge of the Midwest farming community, and passion for vintage tractors, makes this an event worth your while. That is why we are bringing you this vintage American Road Trip Talk interview with Max himself. For more details about the Heritage Tractor Adventure June 7-10 visit www.heritagetractoradventure.com
Erika Nelson has dedicated her life to hunting down the world’s largest attractions along the American Road and then creating The World’s largest collection of the World’s Smallest Replicas of the World’s Largest Attractions. Erika is an artist and regular columnist who journals here trophy finds in the Think Big column of each American Road Magazine. In the spring 2013 issue, the world’s largest Pirate kidnapped her attention outside of Treasure Island, Florida. Erika not only tells how this unique landmark captured her attention but she also gives us a great reason for taking a second long look at these colossal monuments across America and at their communities.
For most of us the idea of rolling down Route 66 involves a nostalgic trip on 4 wheels powered by a motor. For Virginia Sullivan that’s two wheels too many and her vehicle runs on legs. She is with Adventure Cycling Association based in remote Missoula, Montana which is in the middle of an ambitious Route 66 mapping project.
In part 2 of our conversation, Ginny explains how this great cycling group sprang up in remote Missoula, Montana and the appeal that Route 66 has for international visitors.
For most of us the idea of rolling down Route 66 involves a nostalgic trip on 4 wheels powered by a motor. For Virginia Sullivan that’s two wheels too many and her vehicle runs on legs. She is part of Adventure Cycling Association based in Missoula, Montana. I caught up with her on a Skype connection a while back to talk about an ambitious Route 66 mapping project and to learn about the association. In part 1, Ginny talks about the history of the organization and its project.
The 2013 spring issue of American Road Magazine featured a story about a golf course in northern Michigan with a one-of-a-kind feature to its course. Sweetgrass Golf course is part of the Hannahville Indian Community resort complex just north of Green Bay, Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Michigan. The 18 golf complex benefits from the beautiful wetlands that feed into the traditional tribal hunting grounds and from some unique survivors of nearby highways. Our guest, Scott Herioux, CFO of the Hannahville Community Resort complex, tells the story of rescued bridges and how they came to be part of the Sweetgrass Course.
This podcast is brought to you by Levy County Florida and Springfield, Illinois Mile after Magnificent Mile.
The movie The Help took viewers behind the scenes of a post WWII southern society in the midst of change. It was filled with wit, insight and mouth-watering southern fried dishes. When Hollywood location scouts for the movie found Greenwood, MS, they knew that had struck gold. The architecture, cotton fields, fabulous food, and residents who welcome everyone with open arms were enough to convince producers that Greenwood was the perfect place.
Here to give us a guided tour of Greenwood is Paige Hunt who directs the town’s convention and visitor’s bureau. She’ll tell you all about the rich blues and southern cuisine that make a trip to the Delta Country well worth your while.
Today’s podcast is brought to you by Levy County Florida.
One of the best parts of an American Road adventure is finding interesting and authentically local places to eat along the way. If you are planning a trip down the mid-Atlantic coast, you should take notes on today’s podcast.
In Volume 4 of the 10th Anniversary edition of American Road Magazine, our Diner Days column focused on the tiny and unique Ten Top Restaurant in an historic Norfolk Virginia neighborhood. It’s a story of romance and a love of good, homemade food that our guest and co-owner Rick Fraley has to tell about his charming Ten Top Restaurant. In this second of two podcasts Rick tells the secret of delicious homemade delicacies straight from Chesapeake Bay.
Legend has it that Napoleon said, “An army marches on its stomach.” Whether that is true or not, it is absolutely true that finding new, interesting and authentically local places to eat is a wonderful part of the American Road adventure. In Volume 4 of the 10th Anniversary edition of American Road Magazine, our Diner Days column focused on the tiny and unique Ten Top Restaurant in Norfolk Virginia’s historic Ghent neighborhood. It’s a story of romance and a love of good, homemade food that our guest and co-owner Rick Fraley has to tell about his charming Ten Top Restaurant in this first of two podcasts.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one of America’s most influential presidents having brought the country through the Depression and to the brink of victory in WWII. The quaint town of Hyde Park, New York was his hometown and the site of the Roosevelt Inn, the Memory Motel in our Winter 2012 issue. Karen Rudowski runs this family motel along with her mother Raili. In this second part of our conversation with her she shares more about the inn and the rich history that surrounds the city of Hyde Park on the Hudson.
In the colonial days of Ichabod Crain, the Headless Horseman and the Knickerbockers, a stagecoach, post road connected New York City and the state capital of Albany. The little city of Hyde Park along side the mighty Hudson River marked the halfway point in the long journey and was a frequent overnight lodging place. That Post Road still exists as US Route 9. In a recent issue of American Road Magazine the Memory Motel column featured The Roosevelt Inn, a family owned, modern day rest stop for travelers in Hyde Park. In this first of two podcasts Karen Rudowski who runs the Inn along with her mother shares the unique nature of this quaint motor court and its historic surroundings.
For most of us, a road trip is no more strenuous than getting in our vehicles and driving from one destination to another. For our guest, Jamie Summerlin, his 2012 road trip was an extraordinary feat of human endurance that only 40 + other humans have ever accomplished. Starting at Sunset Bay State Park in Oregon, Jamie Summerlin ran 3,452 miles in 100 days until he dipped his 10th pair of worn shoes into the Atlantic at Annapolis, MD. In part two of our conversation this tough ex-Marine talks about the people he met along the way, how they renewed his faith in America and the team that helped him make this historic journey. Join us for part two of our conversation with this great American Road Warrior.
Welcome to the second decade of the American Road Magazine. During the past 10 years we have covered lots of miles with our guests on American Road Trip Talk, but none of those excursions compare with the cross-country journey that today’s guest made in 2012. Starting at Sunset Bay State Park in Oregon, Jamie Summerlin ran 3,452 miles in 100 days until he dipped his 10th pair of worn shoes into the Atlantic at Annapolis, MD. In our conversation with this tough former Marine, Jamie will share the purpose behind his ultra-marathon and the people to whom he really wants us to pay attention. In this first of two parts Jamie describes some of the people he met along the byways of America on his coast to coast journey.
I confess; I have favorites. After nearly 40 years of hosting talk shows, podcasts and a weekly radio program, I have interviewed an estimated 50,000 people and today’s guest, Erika Nelso, is one of my favorites. This delightful peripatetic artist is the author of the Think Big column that appears in every American Road Magazine. In this podcast, we talk not only about her most recent subject, the world’s largest Dime in a Box, but also telling the stories of the American Road, the passion that drives her art and about her plans for the future.
Nothing says Christmas like sparkling lights, mistletoe and leg lamps. That is, of course, if you are a fan of the 1983 holiday movie, A Christmas Story. The film chronicles a hilarious holiday season during the late 1950’s through the eyes of a child. In one classic scene the father proudly displays his sweepstakes prize, a lamp in the shape of a woman’s leg. The story is pure fiction but not the house. It still exists in a Cleveland, Ohio working class neighborhood. Our guest is Steve Sidlecki, the executive director of The Christmas Story House and Museum and he will fill us in on more of the details. You can visit The Christmas Story House in Cleveland or online at their homepage to find the times for visiting and some of the merchandise from the movie. Just imagine how you'd look in one of those pink bunny pajamas!
Believe it or not, covered bridges are as American as apple pie. According to Robert Huttinger, web designer and covered bridge aficionado, what we might consider quaint rural river crossings are very particular to North America. Robert is not only knowledgeable about these architectural wonders but he also wants to make sure that the rest of us can find them. That is why he developed a covered bridges app or program for the iPhone or iPad, a portable tablet in the hands of millions of users. We reviewed the application in detail in the fall 2012 issue of American Road Magazine. Robert will share his enthusiasm for covered bridges and tell how you can use his application to find one near you or even plan a vacation route to see a bunch of these beauties.
Margaret Dunning may be 102 years old, but most of us might find it hard to keep up with her. In a recent issue of our magazine this remarkable woman was featured for her participation in a classic car event with her 1930 Packard 740 Roadster. In this second part of our interview, Margaret relates what it was like to travel on the original American Highways when there were more horses than horseless carriages. But her most incredible journey was the one she took when she was 12 years old; you don’t want to miss that story.
Margaret Dunning may be 102 years old, but most of us might find it hard to keep up with her. In a recent issue of our magazine this remarkable woman was featured for her participation in a classic car event with her 1930 Packard 740 Roadster. During an extended interview with Margaret, she shared about her love for cars and told some fascinating stores about the beginnings of motor travel in America. In this first of a two-part interview, Mrs. Dunning tells how she first learned to drive and shares her fascination with the motor car. Part 2 will focus on her travels on the early American roads.
It's not the kind of thing that you can miss if you are headed through the heart of the land of Lincoln. An enormous crucifix rises nearly 200' out of the corn and soybean fields of central Illinois and can be seen for miles away coming from any point of the compass on the flat landscape. It towers above the convergence of two major freeway systems: I 70 between Terre Haute, IN and St. Louis MO and I 57 between Chicago and Memphis, TN.
In our Fall issue of American Road Magazine I wrote an article for the National Road column based on a visit I made to that monument and a discussion I had with Christy Hackman, spokesperson for the Cross Foundation. You're invited to join me for the conversation, which inspired the article that appeared in the magazine, and to find out more about this remarkable beacon of hope.
From Biblical times the name Goshen has been synonymous with a promised land of plenty. That is exactly what the little community by the same name in Northwest Indiana’s Amish country became for Care Anderson’s relatives. His great-grandfather brought European candy making skills from Greece to Goshen where folks have come to count on those handmade delicacies and his corner restaurant, the Olympia Candy Kitchen. During a recent trip through Indiana American Road Trip Talk host, Foster Braun, interviewed Care in a quiet moment between customers to talk about the family tradition of good food and friendship that they have been serving for almost a century.
Beautiful photography has been a key part of the magic of American Road Magazine right from the start. How fitting, then, that we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the magazine with the Take 10 Photo Contest to find the best "ten themed" images of the American byways! In this interview Becky Repp tells you how to help the magazine celebrate their tenth anniversary year by sending them your favorite “ten” themed road trip photo! You could win $250 and have your photograph published in an upcoming issue of American Road® magazine.
American Road Magazine is not just another a beautiful, glossy magazine, it has also developed an excellent digital presence with its Internet homepage. Readers can now view their full magazines online if they prefer and enjoy all the information and beautiful pictures on the device of their choice. They can even work the crossword puzzle electronically, find special sales and enter sweepstakes online! On this podcast magazine co-founder Becky Repp describes itineraries on the American Road Magazine homepage that visitors can use to plan trips all over the country.
Foster Braun has not only been the host of this podcast he has also been the co-host of The Internet Advisor radio program on WJR 760-AM in Detroit since 1998. It was there that he met Thomas and Becky Repp, the co-founders of American Road Magazine. In this interview Foster and his co-host Gary baker chatted with Becky in 2011 about a summer issue that featured classic drive-ins and they discussed the best things about traveling the great two lane highways of America.
America’s love of games was the theme of American Road Magazine’s Spring 2012 issue. A feature article by Terri Cook traced the Pinball Route down the east coast from New Jersey to the National Pinball Museum in Baltimore. Along the way we met, Todd Tuckey, the Pinball Wizard and proprietor of TNT Amusements. His Pennsylvania showroom specializes in the acquisition, restoration and sale of old, coin-operated video game machines. In Part 2 of our conversation Todd focuses on a reality TV show he is developing about restoring those classics called, "High Score". Think of it as Storage Wars meets American Pickers but this time the prize is a valuable classic video arcade game.
America’s love of games is the theme of American Road Magazine’s Spring 2012 issue. A feature article by Terri Cook traced the Pinball Route down the east coast and along the way we met, Todd Tuckey, the Pinball Wizard and proprietor of TNT Amusement. His Pennsylvania showroom specializes in the acquisition, restoration and sale of old, coin-operated video game machines. In part one of our conversation Todd shares the rich history of classic video arcade games that he lovingly restores. Part 2 will focus on a reality show that he is developing that is based on his passion for video games.
The 2012 summer edition of American Road Magazine celebrates some of the best columns, trips, interviews and stunning photographs presented during its first decade. This podcast brings back a favorite conversation with ARM Editors Thomas and Becky Repp as they interviewed Judy Bushy from Happy Camp, CA. The subject was a bashful fellow named Big Foot and California's Bigfoot Scenic Byway, a breathtaking Northern California stretch running 89-miles on a portion of Highway 96 surrounded by the Siskiyou and the Klamath Mountains.
In 2002 Thomas and Becky Repp took their dreams and turned them into American Road Magazine, a nationally syndicated travel publication celebrating our nation’s two lane highways. Its 2012 summer edition celebrates some of the best columns, trips, interviews and stunning photographs presented during that first decade. To mark this milestone, this podcast brings back one of Thomas and Becky’s first and favorite interviews with a mermaid, Barbara Wynn, one of the early piscine princesses at Florida’s Weekee Watchee Springs. This was also the inaugural podcast of American Road Trip Talk and one of our most listened to shows.
We all have a trusted steed that carries across the American Road whether it’s a vintage VW Campervan or the latest hybrid. But there is group of travelers with a peculiarly deep passion for an historic American Road transport: The GMC Motorhome. From 1974-1978 GMC made the only RV produced by a major automaker. Of the 12,000 made, 8000 are believed to still be on the road. The GMC motorhome was not a home stuck on top of a truck frame; it was intentionally built as a motorhome from the ground up. In addition the community of devoted fans who keep these vintage RV’s going are unique among car groups. According to our guest, Dave Silva who is also an avid RV fan and ersatz chronicler, “There is a cottage industry of specialized vendors, all on a first name basis. They drive these 40 year old coaches all over the country under the protection of the 'Blacklist'."” This is a story not only of a remarkable house on wheels but also of the passionate people who have kept them running on the American Road.
Normally our podcasts introduce you to the people behind the places along the American Road that we visit in our magazine. In this interview, however, we are going to focus on a different kind of celebrity: a toy! Not just any toy, but Slinky, the All American Toy born during the battles of WWII and still internationally popular after more than half a century.
The 2012 spring issue of American Road Magazine focused on games so it seemed fitting to talk with Ray Dallaveccia Jr. the President and CEO of Poof-Slinky, the Plymouth, Michigan based company that manufactures the Slinky in Pennsylvania. Like many popular inventions, Slinky began its life with quite a different purpose than entertainment but has maintained its popularity through generations precisely because of its simplicity.
200 years ago this summer the War of 1812 secured Detroit for the United States and gave us our national anthem, the Star Spangled, among many other historic milestones. Its battles were fought from the steamy bayous of Louisiana, to the expanse of Baltimore’s harbor and the inland seas of the Great Lakes where we pick up our story.
In the spring edition of American Road Magazine, a Tunnel Vision article entitled Walking the War of 1812, described the Walking Tours developed by the Great Lakes Seaway Trail association in Sackets Harbor, New York. My guest today is Kurt Schumacher, the Director of Business Relations for the group. He has lots of details about the unique walking tours developed for the nearly 500 mile-long area bordering the St. Lawrence Seaway and other special events that you will want to put on your summer travel calendar.
The American Road is home to some of the most unique landmarks in the world from the Largest Catsup Bottle to Biggest Ball of String. In each issue of our magazine artist and educator Erika Nelson trains her gifted eye on one of these unique sentinels. This time it’s Babe’s Big Bat that is on deck; the world’s largest baseball bat that leans up against the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory in old downtown Louisville, KY.
For many years the designation of an American Byway meant the recognition of a very special route and a very special history of the American Road. In the Spring 2012 issue of American Road Magazine, we caught a quick glimpse of a brand new byway in the birthing, The Quaker Heritage Scenic Byway in southern Ohio. On this TripTalk our guest Ruth Dobyns, curator of the Quaker Heritage Center on the campus of Wilmington College of Ohio shares the fascinating history of the Quakers, a group of American founders who were not only pioneer but also dedicated warriors in the battle against slavery. She then outlines the path the byway will take and the history it will visit. (You can get trip information, brochures and maps of the coming Quaker Byway by visiting http://www.wilmington.edu/qhc .) Thanks to Springfield, Illinois for sponsoring this American Road Trip Talk.
It’s loud, it’s funky and definitely a whole lot of fun. It’s The Heritage Tractor Adventure in Morris, Illinois held this year from June 8-11, 2012. Nearly 200 vintage tractors that have been lovingly restored and carefully tended take to the road with a roar to celebrate the farmer’s iron work horse and best friend. To give you some of the history of the Heritage Tractor Adventure we spoke with Max Armstrong, the Voice of Agriculture on WGN Radio for the best part of 40 years. Max's agricultural reports are now heard on a network of smaller stations throughout the Midwest and on the Internet. Max Armstrong is as colorful as the festival that he has organized and you won’t need to be a farmer to catch his enthusiasm for this great family adventure on the American Road.
For the last two years we have followed the progress of one of the most eccentric art projects on the American Road: Bowl Plaza in Lucas, KS. And now the moment of truth has arrived: June 2, 2012 The First Flush. We met Rosslyn Schultz, the curator of the Grassroots Museum in Lucas, back in 2010. At that point she was midway through the construction of Bowl Plaza, a public restroom/ art project behind the museum built in the shape of an actual toilet. You really need see the photo album attached to our interview at the American Road Magazine blogsite. While laughter may be one of Rosslyn’s gifts, she and her fellow artists are deadly serious about this artsy outhouse, as you will hear in this interview.
In Part 2 of our series on the Indianapolis Speedway Donald Davidson, the track historian talks about the curious links between the Speedway and Miami Beach and the birth of the National Road. But Don is most excited when he describes his realm, the magnificent Indianapolis Speedway museum. Part 2 of our interview with Donald Davidson is brought to you by the Heritage Tractor Adventure coming June 11 – 15 along the I&M Canal Heritage Corridor. For more information visit Heritagetractortour.com. Illinois ...Mile After Magnificent Mile
Donald Davidson is the track historian for the Indianapolis Speedway. In this first part of our exclusive interview with Donald he tells how he came to be the track historian and how the Indianapolis Speedway grew from the ambitious dream of an early promoter named Carl Fisher.
Behind all the romance of the motor courts that grew up in the early 50’s, there is a story of dedication and hard work on the part of the families that owned them. In this second part of our conversation, Vicki Troyer, talks about how she landed at the Ace Motel in northwest South Dakota. She left home to pursue her own dreams, which took her to the gaming tables of Las Vegas where she became a skilled dealer. I fact Vicki was so good she was chosen to deal cards for the World Championship of Poker. But as they say, there’s no place like home and we pick up the conversation with Vicki Troyer as she talks about returning home to help her parents run the family motel in Belle Fourche, South Dakota.
Our spring edition of the American Road Magazine is now on the newsstands. One of our regular columns called Memory Motel features the Ace Motel in Belle Fourche, South Dakota in keeping with our gaming theme. Behind all the romance of the motor courts that grew up in the early 50’s, there is a story of dedication and hard work on the part of the families that owned them. In this first part of our conversation, Vicki Troyer, the current owners of the Ace Motel, talks about Belle Fourche and how her family came to own the motel. It’s all part of the enduring charm of these family run hostels that make you want to get off the highway and go the extra mile to enjoy some real homemade comfort.
During the last 5 years we have interviewed dozens of people behind the articles in our American Road Magazine but this time the subject has to do with one of our regular columns: On the Yellowstone Trail. A delight Wisconsin couple, John and Ann Ridge, specialize in the history of the Yellowstone Trail. Their story was so fascinating that we decided to keep the whole thing but to divide it into three parts to make it easier to listen to. In this first of our three parts series on the Yellowstone Trail, John and Ann take us through the unique history of one of America’s great transcontinental highways that developed in the early 1900’s. It is a fascinating story that began in the middle of the country and worked its way west and then east. The history of the Yellowstone Trail is interwoven with the development of interconnecting roads in the United States spurred on by a marvelous new machine…the personal car.
American Road TripTalk is where you normally meet the people behind the stories and places on American Road Magazine. This show, however, will introduce you to a new companion for your next trip down that road. If you can figure out how to listen to a podcast, there is a good chance that you understand some things about digital devices like iPods, smartphones and the device we’ll about. This special American Road TripTalk podcast is about a new digital way of taking your favorite traveling tunes, audiobooks and radio stations on the road with you. Host Foster Braun interviews Jake Sigal, inventor of Livio Radio, a car kit and free downloadable application that allow you to connect smartphones wirelessly to any car radio. It's a perfect companion for long road trips.
Each issue of American Road Magazine has a regular column called On the Yellowstone Trail dedicated to the people and places along this historic highway. The idea for this northernmost of America’s transcontinental highways actually began 100 years ago in the wheat fields of the Midwest. So it’s fitting that one of the centennial parties for the Yellowstone Trail would take place Spring 2012 in northwest Wisconsin. May 11-13th Hudson, Wisconsin on the beautiful St. Croix River will kick off the 100th birthday party with Yellowstone Trail Heritage Days. Andrea Jorgensen of the Hudson Convention and Visitors Bureau has all the details for our American Road listeners.
Erika Nelson is a traveling artist who has made it her life mission to chronicle and clone the largest landmarks along America’s classic byways. In each issue she has a think big column and the Winter Issue focused on a massive can of fruit cocktail that just happened to be a water tower. Erika will tell us all about that remarkable California landmark.
Today’s TripTalk is all about how a very unique birthday present turned into a famous restaurant’s unique calling card. The location for this strange but charming site is Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant and Butik in Sister Bay, Wisconsin. The eatery is located near the tip of the beautiful Door County, which was the subject of a full-length article in our Winter edition of American Road Magazine. Our guest and guide is Lars Johnson son of the restaurant’s founder Al Johnson.
Discover the joy of the journey with the AMERICAN ROAD. AMERICAN ROAD with Thomas and Becky Repp, co-hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of AMERICAN ROAD, an internationally distributed magazine, which celebrates the people and places along America's two-lane jewels.
This is part two of our conversation with Ray Scriber of the Louisiana department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism about that state’s Main-to-Main Street Program. During this second segment Ray talks about some of the unique areas to visit in this richly diverse state. We also get the inside scoop on the different ways that Mardi Gras is celebrated across the Pelican State and learn where to find those Gone With The Wind, moss covered southern mansions.
Discover the joy of the journey with the AMERICAN ROAD. AMERICAN ROAD with Thomas and Becky Repp, co-hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of AMERICAN ROAD, an internationally distributed magazine, which celebrates the people and places along America's two-lane jewels.
What do Fat Tuesday, Fasching and Mardi Gras have in common? They are the same food and fun festival celebrated throughout the great state of Louisiana. But the Pelican state is famous for much more than this one day of the year. In this two-part Trip Talk segment, Ray Scriber of the Louisiana department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism will open your eyes to the wonderful celebrations of Main Street Louisiana from the Cajun Bayous of the Mississippi Delta to the German settlements of northeast Louisiana. It’s a trip you won’t want to miss.
This is Part 1 of 2.
Discover the joy of the journey with the AMERICAN ROAD. AMERICAN ROAD with Thomas and Becky Repp, co-hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of AMERICAN ROAD, an internationally distributed magazine, which celebrates the people and places along America's two-lane jewels.
Warning dieters. The following podcast may be dangerous for your diet! The White Gull Inn is a beautiful little hotel/bed and breakfast in Fish Creek, Wisconsin on the Door Peninsula. The winter edition of American Road Magazine features a tour of this colorful arm of the Badger state that forms the southern boundary of Lake Michigan’s Green Bay. As you’ll hear, the White Gull Inn is not only famous for its historic genteel setting but also as one of Wisconsin’s culinary traditions: the fish boil. Our host Andy Colson will fill in all the details.
Discover the joy of the journey with the AMERICAN ROAD. AMERICAN ROAD with Thomas and Becky Repp, co-hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of AMERICAN ROAD, an internationally distributed magazine, which celebrates the people and places along America's two-lane jewels.
Our Winter 2012 issue of American Road Magazine features a wonderful drive right down the middle of Florida on the Orange Blossom Trail. Just before you get to Lake Okeechobee you want to take time to visit the Toby the Clown Foundation in Lake Placid, the City of Murals. Big Al Pelski is the president of the Foundation and will be our guide during this podcast. If you think clowning is just about funny noses and flowers that squirt water, you’re in for an education.
Discover the joy of the journey with the AMERICAN ROAD. AMERICAN ROAD with Thomas and Becky Repp, co-hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of AMERICAN ROAD, an internationally distributed magazine, which celebrates the people and places along America's two-lane jewels.
Two Rivers, Wisconsin is a town in love with history. It has four historical settings that celebrate everything from the birth of one of America’s favorite fountain treats to a labor saving device that everyone who has done laundry appreciates. Carol Schwantes who is one of the guides at the Washington House Museum is our guide to the wealth of history in this Lake Michigan town.
Discover the joy of the journey with the AMERICAN ROAD. AMERICAN ROAD with Thomas and Becky Repp, co-hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of AMERICAN ROAD, an internationally distributed magazine, which celebrates the people and places along America's two-lane jewels.
This is part 2 of our interview with Lt. Mike Kline, Quartermaster for the Berrien County Sherriff’s Dept. who is the keeper of the machine guns used in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. During this concluding interview Lt. Mike reveals how examination of the guns used in the bloodbath became the key to launching what we now call CSI (Crime Scene Investigation.) Our guest also has a fascinating story of an assassin with a heart of gold.
Discover the joy of the journey with the AMERICAN ROAD. AMERICAN ROAD with Thomas and Becky Repp, co-hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of AMERICAN ROAD, an internationally distributed magazine, which celebrates the people and places along America's two-lane jewels.
We wrap up our coverage of the Gangland fall issue of American Road Magazine with The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in Chicago. Our guest is Lt. Mike Kline, Quartermaster for the Berrien County Sherriff’s Dept. in southwest Michigan. His office is home to the two Thompson submachine guns used in that bloodbath and in this first of two segments, Lt. Mike will tell us how these brutally efficient killing machines started out as the cowboy’s best friend.
Discover the joy of the journey with the AMERICAN ROAD. AMERICAN ROAD with Thomas and Becky Repp, co-hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of AMERICAN ROAD, an internationally distributed magazine, which celebrates the people and places along America's two-lane jewels. Butte, Montana may sit a mile above sea level but some of the most interesting secrets of this rugged mining town are underneath its current streets. In this podcast Bob McMurray, the owner of Butte Underground Tours is going to tells us all about a level of history that folks were walking all over until it was recently rediscovered. Perhaps the most fascinating find of all, the Rookwood Speakeasy, was hidden behind a mirror. Join us for this modern day, wild west treasure hunt.
Discover the joy of the journey with the AMERICAN ROAD. AMERICAN ROAD with Thomas and Becky Repp, co-hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of AMERICAN ROAD, an internationally distributed magazine, which celebrates the people and places along America's two-lane jewels. Our fall issue of American Road Magazine has featured the theme of Gangsters. There have been some very interesting highlights, but possibly one of the most curious among them is the story of Pretty Boy Floyd’s death mask. Charles Arthur Floyd’s career as Public Enemy #1 ended in a hail of bullets on Oct 22, 1934 near the southeast Ohio town of East Liverpool. His body was transported to the nearest funeral home where we will pick up the story with our guest Susan Anderson. She manages the most recent incarnation of that funeral home, the Sturgis House bed and breakfast.
Discover the joy of the journey with the AMERICAN ROAD. AMERICAN ROAD with Thomas and Becky Repp, co-hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of AMERICAN ROAD, an internationally distributed magazine, which celebrates the people and places along America's two-lane jewels. Hot Springs, Arkansas has a lot to be proud of including its salutary springs that have been refreshing folks since the beginning of our country and it is also the site of one of America’s first national parks. However, Hot Springs is also noted as the favorite hang out for the country’s most notorious gangsters during the first half of the 20th Century. All that is immortalized in the Gangster Museum of America in the Hot Springs National Park. Director, Robert Raines will guide you through the colorful history of this exotic hole in the wall for America’s most wanted.
Discover the joy of the journey with the AMERICAN ROAD. AMERICAN ROAD with Thomas and Becky Repp, co-hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of AMERICAN ROAD, an internationally distributed magazine, which celebrates the people and places along America's two-lane jewels. What is the least favorite part of a trip? I bet that no matter where you are headed or how long the trip is, the least pleasant aspect of the journey is driving at night. Signs are harder to read, the fellow coming at you won’t dim his headlights and there’s always the concern that something will dart out in front of you, particularly on winding rural roads. Of course you could decide to drive only in the daytime but for most of us that isn’t a reasonable option. Fortunately my guest, Dr. Cristina Schinder, the Senior Director, Medical Affairs for Johnson and Johnson Vision Care, has great advice that will help you keep trucking through the darkest night safely.
Discover the joy of the journey with the AMERICAN ROAD. AMERICAN ROAD with Thomas and Becky Repp, co-hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of AMERICAN ROAD, an internationally distributed magazine, which celebrates the people and places along America's two-lane jewels.
The Fall 2011 issue of American Road Magazine is all about the lurid lives of America’s gangsters, their hangouts, histories and holdups. One of the most famous heists of the 1920’s was the Great Denver Mint Robbery for which no one was formally charged. Now you can try to solve the mystery yourself and have a great time getting to know Denver, Colorado with the Denver Mint Robbery Tour. Who better to tells us all about it than Mr. Big himself, Robert Cashell, the tour director.
Chiles, green and red are the state vegetable of New Mexico where they proudly serve them in everything from soups to ice cream and apple pie. But one of the outstanding uses of these gastronomic grenades is in Green Chile Cheeseburgers which can range from mild to molten. Dan Monaghan, the director of video services for the New Mexico Tourism Department tells us all about the famous Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail that stretches from north to south and east to west across the Land of Enchantment.
If you’re guarding America’s wealth, you better have a really good lock on your front door, particularly when the year is 1922. It was an era of gangsters and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland was determined to be ready for anything. That was why they installed the world’s largest bank vault door, a 100-ton lid on the nation’s cookie jar. In the fall issue of American Road Magazine Erika Nelson tells the story of the monstrous door in her Think Big column. Erika is the owner of the “World’s Largest Collection of the Smallest Replicas of the World’s Largest Things.”
He may not be Babe the Blue Ox of Paul Bunyan fame, but Ollie has one big advantage: He can be whatever color you make him! I’m talking, of course, about the friendly mascot for the Illinois National Highway Association, Ollie the Ox. You can find his smiling face and many other characters that were part of the wagon trains moving through the Illinois wilderness, in a 13 page coloring book created by the Association. This fun book and a stagecoach boarding pass were designed to help children learn about this part of American history and have been wildly successful. John Goldsmith, the Executive Director of the Illinois National Highway Association will tell us all about this wildly successful project.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
Henry Ford's favorite roadway received a high tech, solar powered salute in the summer of 2011 when the National Scenic Byway conference named the Woodward Avenue Tributes the best interpretive highway project in the nation. Detroit's Woodward Avenue Action Association (WA3) helped erect the 30 ft. tall, cylindrical glass and concrete pillars that feature solar-powered LED lights, translucent art panels and integrated audio technology that offer downloadable audio tours. Plans are for 15 Tributes along the 27 miles of Woodward Avenue, part of Detroit's landscape since 1805. My guest, Heather Carmona, Executive Director of WA3 tells all about that award winning project and the other efforts to preserve this urban byway.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show. The notion of a high-tech tour of Amish country is a bit of a contradiction in terms. You normally identify the Amish with horses and buggies, kerosene lamps, quaint clothing and NO electricity. However, Jackie Hughes and the folks at the Elkhart Convention and Visitors Bureau have managed to combine the two opposing concepts in one excellent package: The Heritage Trail Driving Tour. In just a moment Jackie will describe this free audio tour of northern Indiana’s Amish country.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
Fred Sachtleben isn’t proud that he ignored his father’s stories of pioneer adventure, but he’s making up for it now. Fred’s dad was one of the first people to travel the then brand new Lincoln Highway from Chicago to San Francisco in 1915. That was all ancient history until just after Fred’s father passed away and he found a medal and a handwritten diary from that journey. Our interview is about that rediscovery and getting the record straight that Fred Sachtleben and his friends at the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association are doing.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
In May of 2011, a caravan of antique cars set out on a very special pilgrimage to celebrate the bicentennial birthday of one of America’s oldest roadways, the National Road. Within a generation of the Revolutionary War, President Thomas Jefferson began building the road to open up America’s new territories. Two centuries later, Mary Truitt, president of the Illinois National Road Association set out with a group of friends to retrace that roadway from its western end, Vandalia, IL, to mile 0 in Cumberland, MD. In this second part of our conversation, Mary shares stories from journey retracing the National Road to its origin in Maryland.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show. In May of 2011, a caravan of antique cars set out on a very special pilgrimage to celebrate the bicentennial birthday of one of America’s oldest roadways, the National Road. Within a generation of the Revolutionary War, President Thomas Jefferson began building the road to open up America’s new territories. Two centuries later, Mary Truitt, president of the Illinois National Road Association set out with a group of friends to retrace that roadway from its western end, Vandalia, IL, to mile 0 in Cumberland, MD. In this first part of our conversation, Mary shares some fascinating stories about the building of this granddaddy of American highways.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
Who in their right mind would make a public restroom look like a giant toilet? Well, the city of Lucas, Kansas of course! Almost a year ago we told you about a folk art project called Bowl Plaza. The Grassroots Art Center director Rossalyn Schultz shared their vision for an enormous outdoor restroom crafted by local artists in the shape of a toilet bowl, water tank and even toilet paper roll. We recently heard that the project had suffered a setback because of a natural disaster. So we called Rossalyn to find out about the Leaning Toilet of Lucas.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
When the Mother Road calls, few can resist her. Route 66 is a long way from Vince Cricchio’s New Jersey home, but when he got the call, he and his wife grabbed their video gear and spent 2010 travelling the heartland of America. They recorded the stories and chronicled what Vince likes to call “one long amusement park” from Chicago to Santa Monica pier in California. In this American Road TripTalk Vince will share his vision for a TV series that will take all of us down the American Road.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
Double your pleasure, double your fun…and right now some of you are singing the name of a favorite gum. Actually I am talking about one of the most unique drive in theatres in North America because it’s the only place in the country where you get both a motel room and a drive in theatre all in one. My guest, George Kelloff, is the proprietor of the Best Western Movie Manor in Monte Vista, Colorado and he wil tell you all about this one of a kind experience.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
All that glittered became gold when it came from Los Angeles, California for most of the last Century. Hollywood became the hub of America’s movie, radio and TV industry turning Midwest girls, like Jean Harlow into The Blond Bombshell in the early twenties. Today we are going to visit with Donelle Dadigan, Founder and President of the Hollywood Museum. We featured her current exhibit “Harlow at 100” in our Summer issue’s Tunnel Vision section but she has news about an even bigger exhibit going on through this fall.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
Some wags say the camel is a horse designed by a committee. The same might be said for the Jefferson Highway! This long forgotten but now much cherished classic American highway once stretched from the pines of Manitoba, Canada to the sultry palms of New Orleans. My guest today is Mike Conlin, a map maker by trade, who is the president of the Jefferson Highway Association with a passion for reconnecting this legendary thoroughfare. The association’s inaugural meeting was chronicled in the spring issue of American Road Magazine.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
Our summer 2011 issue of American Road Magazine featured a special section highlighting 26 classic Drive In’s across North America. In today’s episode we meet Greg Greenhill who represents the second generation to run the King Drive Inn, in Russellville, AL. He and his family have found a sure fire formula for drawing families that’s as treasured as the recipe for Aunt Bea’s Sweet Tater pie. It ‘s a combination of hard work, a love for the business and a commitment to providing entertainment that the whole family can enjoy. We’ll serve up a king-sized helping of southern charm and hospitality
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
Like 21 rough-cut jewels the Apostle Islands adorn the shores of western Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin. These rugged islands aren’t just pretty baubles crowning the Badger State; they have had tremendous cultural and historical significance to North America for millennia. Once the ancestral home of the Ojibwa people, and resource for a growing nation, the Apostle Islands are now once again wilderness wonderland. Neil Howk, Assistant Chief of Interpretation and Education, for Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Park will give us the full tour of the Jewels of the North.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
Our summer 2011 issue of American Road Magazine featured a special section highlighting 26 classic Drive In’s across North America. A common thread among the picture parks, like the Vali Hi Drive In Lake Elmo, Minnesota, is that they are survivors. Bob O’Neil, owner since 1978, has learned how to hang on and is now enjoying a renaissance in moonlight movie-going thanks to families who want their kids to enjoy a time they fondly remember. It also helps that Bob has the secret to picking just the right movies for this atmosphere, a secret sauce he’ll reveal shortly.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
After seeing his obituary in a newspaper, Mark Twain quipped, “News of my death has been greatly exaggerated.” Along these same lines, some of you may be more than a little put off by the title of this photo exhibit: Route 66: Death of an American Icon. Arnold Berkman, a retired psychologist and professional photographer, took the pictures during four trips he made along Route 66. During our conversation we discussed his perspective on a roadway where many people insist there are still plenty of places to get your kicks.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show. The night sky never looked brighter over central Illinois than when The Sky View Drive In Theatre in Litchfield lit up the night with Hollywood’s stars. The Sky View is the last operating drive in on Historic Route 66 in the Lincoln State. Somehow it has survived until just recently charging just $2/person for admission to a double feature. How they manage this magic is the subject of my conversation in this recording with plain talking, hard working Carol Stuttle, the long time manager of the Sky View. Carol Burke from the Litchfield Tourism Council will also describe the interactive Route 66 Wayside Marker erected outside the theatre in 2011 and we'll hear the voices of two people who grew up with the Sky View.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show. For nearly a decade Dave Preston has entertained readers of the American Road Magazine with reviews of travel books and other memorabilia from the heritage roadways. Recently I had an opportunity to talk to him about his passion and favorite way to see the American Road: on a motorcycle! In our story you’ll hear how Dave went from being a schoolteacher to become a motor enthusiast and learn about some of his favorite rides.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
Whether it’s political turmoil in the Middle East or pure greed on the part of oil companies, there always seems to be an excuse for jacking up the prices of fuel. Well there are some folks in the heartland of America working to break that dependence on foreign fuels at a company called POET, a company formed in the mid-80’s to turn corn into ethanol, liquid fuel that has been included in most of our gasoline. On this program I speak with Nathan Schock their PR director about producing ethanol to break our addiction to foreign fuels.
Claude Bell was a man who could dream bigger than most men can imagine. Two enormous concrete dinosaurs that command the Mohave desert town of Cabazon, California are silent witnesses to his hard work, persistence and vision. The desert dinos were featured in our spring 2011 American Road Magazine column The World’s Largest Things. In every issue, author and artist Erika Nelson salutes the king-sized roadside attractions that adorn the American Road. Here Erika tells the story of Claude Bell’s towering dinosaurs of the desert and talks about her traveling display of miniatures of the World’s Largest Things.
The State of Washington is building a series of rapid recharging stations that will release the electric cars from the urban grid and let them breath the air of wide open spaces. These stations are part of the West Coast Green Highway that will one day stretch from Vancouver, Canada to Baja California. Tonia Buell, Project Developer and Communications Manager with the Washington State Dept. of Transportation, explains the scope of this great green highway and the schedule for implementation starting in late 2011.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
Rollin Southwell personifies the area that he calls the loneliest and oldest highway in America, US 50, the Lincoln Highway. His website www.lincolnhighway.com chronicles this dusty road that makes its way through central Nevada like a rattle snake through sagebrush. I spoke with Rollin about the fall of the shoe tree near Middlegate, Nevada around Christmas 2010 and how his website is preserving the history of this wild west roadway, the Lincoln Highway.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show. When filmmakers want to create a dinosaur domain for our imaginations, there is one favorite place on earth that they go to create their prehistoric settings: The Hawaiian island of Kauai. Specifically, they set up their cameras in the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. Our spring issue of American Road Magazine is built around the theme of dinosaurs so I dialed up the NTBG and spoke with communications director Janet Leopold about this remarkable tropical gem. On Kauai, the westernmost of the Hawaiian islands Steven Spielberg found the perfect setting for many of the scenes in his 1993 prehistoric classic, Jurassic Park. Janet was there for the filming and has some interesting stories to share on this podcast.
This is a special American Road TripTalk due to both the subject and the guest. Weeki Wachee Springs, is a natural wonder in northwest Florida where “mermaids” have performed under water for millions of visitors since it opened shortly after WWII. Right now the very existence of this extraordinary attraction is in danger. Like every state in the union, Florida is trying to save money by cutting costs and state services. Weeki Wachee became a Florida state park in 2008 and has been extremely successful since then. However the state of Florida is threatening to privatize services at the park which would threaten the quality of services currently being offered.
Our guest, Barbara Wynns, became a mermaid at the historic park many years ago but still performs regularly as one of the “retired” mermaids. She is passionate about saving Weeki Watchee from the changes that the state of Florida wants to make.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
The spring 2011 edition of the American Road Magazine is centered around dinosaurs and their many manifestations along the highways of North America. One of our articles presented The Extinction Theatre part of the Talisman Energy Fossil Exhibition housed in the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Canada. Our guest for this American Road TripTalk is Dr. Steve Cumbaa, a paleontologist at the museum and one of the scientific advisors who helped create the Extinction Theatre. He’ll describe the show which is actually a truly unique multi-media experience that chronicles the passing of the great thunder lizards and the dawn of a new age for the earth ruled by mammals.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
The stretch of desert highway between Austin and Fallon, Nevada was home to one of the rarest trees in Americana: the ”shoe tree.” Actually there are a number of these huge trees draped with Doc Martins, tennies, work boots and all manner of used shoes all across the country. Rather than being treated as smelly, eyesores, they have become beloved roadside shoe shrines. Around New Years 2011 tragedy struck the shoe tree on the loneliest stretch of highway in America highway, US 50 near Middlegate, Nevada. Dee Helming of the Austin, Nevada Chamber of Commerce tells the tragic tale.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
Like any dedicated artist Costas Schuler wants to make his mark on the world. The only difference is that Costas wants to make that mark with used up pens, thousands of them, in all sizes and colors and all of them glued to his 1981 Mercedes 300D, better known simply as the Mercedes Pens. Costas has his sights set much higher than his ingeniously colorful ride and you’ll hear more about what made Costas simply known as The Pen Guy and the big dreams he has for the future in his adopted home state of California.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
Tom Holm is a man on a mission to change the way Americans travel our favorite roadways without becoming enslaved to foreign oil based fuels. In early 2011, Tom completed a 10,000-mile Eco Trek from coast to coast and back powered solely by cellulosic ethanol. It’s a fuel derived from cornhusks, stalks, and other plant byproducts and is currently produced by a company named POET. Our conversation with Tom talks about the incredible event that turned his life around 180 degrees to plant based fuels and is now leading him on a quest that could have profound impact on the defenses of our nation.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
Starting in the 1920’s the art of neon lighting lit up American roadways and towns from coast to coast. In many ways it was a revolutionary as the digital artistry of today. Curiously, neon lighting made its way into the US from Europe by jumping to Los Angeles. So it’s fitting that the city of the angels is the home of the Museum of Neon Art and on this American Road TripTalk we’ll visit with Kim Koga, the museum’s director to find out about a national display of neon art at the beginnings of one of America’s great highways, Route 66.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show. When the weather person wants you to know just how cold things can get in case you were starting to feel sorry for yourself, they would probably say, “But in Cut Bank, Montana it’s 40 degrees below zero.” In our Winter 2010 Holiday Road tour we visited the Glacier Gateway Inn and Plaza in Cut Bank where former owner Ron Gustafson had built the largest penguin in the world to mark the coldest spot in the nation.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show. Route 66 has been dubbed the Mother Road and Bob Waldmire has to have been one of her favorite sons. A Tunnel Vision article in the Winter 2010 issue of American Road Magazine describes some of the unique vehicles that Waldmire used while creating his incredibly detailed pen and ink images of the American Road along Route 66 . In this American Road Trip talk, Jim Jones, the director of the Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum in Pontiac, IL shares fond memories of an eccentric but passionate artist and the vehicles that took him from Illinois to the great Southwest.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show. "You'll shoot your eye out!" was probably the most famous line in the movie, "The Christmas Story" but it was the infamous leg lamp that became the movie's most famous prop. As a matter of fact it was a homemade version of the Leg Lamp that served as the inspiration that led Brian Jones in 2005 to buy the Cleveland house where the movie was shot. The full story behind the rebirth of the Christmas Story House can be found in the Grand Old US Six column written by Joe Hurley in the Vol. 8 Winter 2010 issue of the American Road Magazine. In this TripTalk, Steve Sidlecki, the executive director of The Christmas Story House and Museum fills in more of the details.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
The city of Wheeling, W. Va is home to a treasure trove of childhood toys we all fondly remember collected in the Millers Kruger Street Toy and Train Museum. Alan Miller and his son assembled toys dating from the 1890's along with an impressive collection of trains and housed them in a Victorian mansion. The National Road column of the American Road 2010 Winter issue tells the full story of their collection.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show. In 2010 three graduate students from California State University East Bay campus created “The Mother Road Multimedia Experience”. The project was described in the Tunnel Vision column of the Winter 2010 edition of The American Road Magazine. My American Road TripTalk guest is Ann King, one of those bright young students, who combined the best of cutting edge technology, with a 1969 Volkswagen Beetle to provide a virtual tour of a portion of Route 66.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
Fans of Abraham Lincoln have a very special weekend to look forward to Feb. 12-13, 2011 in Vandalia, Illinois. It was there that Honest Abe served as a young politician and it became his launching pad into history. So it is fitting that would both celebrate the great man’s life and a crucial moment in American history. JoAnn Sasse Givens, Director of Economic Development & Tourism for Vandalia will share the full details of the event in this edition of American Road TripTalk
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road Magazine. Join Foster Braun, Your host and our guide on the American Road Trip Talk Show.
Over 50 years ago a man named Wally Bronner, the son of German immigrants, bucked family tradition and opened a Christmas store that has become a holiday landmark throughout the Midwest. In this edition of the American Road Triptalk, you’ll meet Wayne Bronner the founder’s son and learn how Wally’s dream grew into a Christmas Wonderland the size of nearly two football fields.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road® magazine. Join Foster Braun–your host and your guide on the American Road® Trip Talk show. In the Big Foot Country of northern California, you need an appetite the size of the legendary Sasquach to beat the challenge laid down by the Seiad Valley Cafe. Find out more about this mountainous meal and the lost State of Jefferson in this podcast from Rick Jones the proprietor.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road® magazine. Join Foster Braun–your host and your guide on the American Road® Trip Talk show. The little village of Christmas, Michigan was built on a dream in the Nineteen Thirties that was almost wiped out by fire. But the spirit of Christmas is alive and well on the shores of Lake Superior and it is home to the world’s tallest Santa Claus. Sharon Tesch is the proprietor of Santa’s Workshop where Christmas reigns all year ‘round.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road® magazine. Join Foster Braun–your host and your guide on the American Road® Trip Talk show. Catalin (Cat) Bonciu is the proprietor of the Buchanan Tavern and Hotel in Mercersberg, Penn along the route of the Buchanan Highway (Hwy 16). Find out how a Romanian immigrant became fascinated with one of America's least well known presidents and restored the James Buchanan Pub and Hotel.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road® magazine.
Join Foster Braun–your host and your guide on the American Road® Trip Talk show. Mother Nature's concert hall will ring with the sounds of the holiday season from Dec. 3-5, 2010 at the Cave of the Mounds National Landmark. Ann Wescott describes the holiday caroling tradition and the unique setting in the lime stone caves of southwest Wisconsin.
American Road Trip Talk hosted by Foster Braun is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road® magazine.
Join Foster Braun–your host and your guide on the American Road® Trip Talk show. This week is all about an artistically designed restroom in Lucas, Kansas. Rosslyn Schulz, the exec. dir. of the Grassroots Art Museum in that down shares about the loving details going into this unique outhouse!
American Road Trip Talk, hosted by Foster Braun, is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road® magazine. This week's focus on American Road Trip Talk: Jay Allen, one of the creators of a project that salutes the Lincoln Highway by creating original murals that celebrate historic events along the roadway. Jay and artist, Bill Hueg have "painted the town" in 43 Illinois towns.
American Road Trip Talk, hosted by Foster Braun, is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road® magazine. This week's focus of American Road Trip Talk: "Honest Abe" Clymer. best known in Vandalia, IL and around the country as an Abraham Lincoln "presenter". At 6' 2" the 80 year old "Abe" Clymer is a slow talking, charming replica of one of America's greatest presidents with a bushel full of great stories.
American Road Trip Talk, hosted by Foster Braun, is a talk show that celebrates travel across the two-lane highways of North America. This unique broadcast is an extension of American Road® magazine. This week meet Erika Nelson, a regular contributing editor to American Road Magazine's Think Big column. In this interview Erika describes her passion for creating the World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things.
AMERICAN ROAD® Magazine: Join us for a discussion with Robert and Carole Phillips, co-creators of the World's Largest Fuzzy Dice. Find out how they turned their home into the Giant Fuzzy Dice Capitol of the World - wholly rollers!
AMERICAN ROAD® Magazine: What neon cowboy sign is the tallest in the land? How tall is he? Who made him? Where, precisely, is he? Tune in to American Road® magazine's interview with Chris Melville, City Manager of West Wendover City, Nev. to find out the answers. www.americanroadmagazine.com
AMERICAN ROAD® Magazine: Another Fine Landmark. The next time you feel a bit thick around the waist, think of Oliver Hardy, and Stan Laurel, too. Comedy film buffs can have a few nostalgic laughs and burns some calories by visiting the 133-step stairway in Los Angeles made famous in Laurel and Hardy's 1932 Oscar-winning short "The Music Box" on their next trip. Join American Road staff as they interview Vincent Brook, a founder of the annual Music Box Steps Festival. www.americanroadmagazine.com
AMERICAN ROAD® Magazine: Meet Rich Henry of Henry's Rabbit Ranch and tourist Information Center—an establishment home to rabbits, and camels, and Volkswagens (Oh My!) on an old alignment of Route 66 in Staunton, Illinois. www.americanroadmagazine.com
AMERICAN ROAD® Magazine: Amble along California's Bigfoot Scenic Byway with guide, Judy Bushy. The Byway is a breathtaking Northern California stretch running 89-miles on a portion of Highway 96 surrounded by the Siskiyou and the Klamath Mountains. www.americanroadmagazine.com
AMERICAN ROAD® Magazine: This podcast is the third in a three-part series along Iowa's Blue Valley Drive. Listen as American Road staff interview Ron Preston—at his classic service station at the crossroads of the Lincoln Highway and the Blue Valley Drive. www.americanroadmagazine.com
AMERICAN ROAD® Magazine: This podcast is the second in a three-part series along Iowa's Blue Valley Drive. Listen as American Road staff interview Kelly Sullivan Loughren, granddaughter of the youngest Sullivan brother (of the Five Fighting Sullivans). www.americanroadmagazine.com
AMERICAN ROAD® Magazine: This podcast is the first in a three-part series along Iowa's Blue Valley Drive. Listen as American Road staff interview Don Shaffer-who believes that he is the real Radar O'Reilly from Ottumwa, Iowa. www.americanroadmagazine.com
AMERICAN ROAD® Magazine: Join American Road magazine staff as they interview Barbara Wynns, Mermaid Queen of Florida. www.americanroadmagazine.com