American Road Trip Talk

Have you made a pilgrimage to the heritage sites of your favorite musical performers? Lots of us have and will continue to make the trek to the birthplaces, homes, studios, and commemorative locations of our tuneful idols. Geoffrey Mark has lots to share about a sprawling informal trail of appreciation for legends of song.

Wherever you go around Puget Sound, a blaze of electric glory is close by and ready to enhance your enjoyment of the Season. Matt Shea scouted some of the best venues for Holiday Lights displays and found dazzling arrays along a veritable Christmas corridor between Seattle and Tacoma. Get the details before you get in the car!

Erika Nelson, when she is not gracing the American landscape with her popular art projects, curates the Worlds Largest Collection of the Worlds Smallest Versions of the Worlds Largest Things. “Roadside Yuletide” is a phrase we coined to describe public monuments erected for when ‘Tis the Season. They are seen around the country. Erika shares about several of the best.

Autumn in New England sets a table of natural splendor for modern pilgrims who find something close to heaven on the winding roads of a heritage region. Jamie Jensen has been there and done that more than once. He joins us with tales from his travels.

This season, see Illumination: Tree Lights at The Morton Arboretum near Chicago! From Nov. 19 through Jan. 7, 2023, guests can explore 18 different features along a tree-lined one-mile walking trail immersed in color and light. What better time to visit than during the Centennial celebration of a suburban arboreal paradise? Dec. 14 is the date of the Arboretum’s founding in 1922.

After many years of sharing their passion for style and performance with the world, some very bright lights of car culture have passed on in 2022. Their departure leaves a void, yes, but their brilliance remains behind to inspire the advance of automotive technology. Mark Greene of Cars Yeah is on hand to share their stories.

For those who dare, the Halloween fright season has arrived! With it comes a plethora of choices for enjoying a darned good scare thanks to ghoulishly creative folks around Seattle and Puget Sound. Matt Shea visits to share the spooky details.

Meet author Fred Carlisle. His work, The Lake Effect, is grounded in personal experiences but moves to wider considerations that include the aesthetic, emotional, historic, economic, and social effects of Lake Michigan. The book captures the lake’s mesmerizing beauty in summer and winter.

The tiny community of Grovers Mill, New Jersey was made famous by Orson Welles’ October 30, 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds, where it was depicted as the first landing site of a Martian invasion. The Martians never actually showed up but that didn’t stop much of the nation from becoming terrified as the fictional attack was accepted as real by thousands of listeners. Karl Petry knows the spot and shares the story of The Night That Panicked America.

In the pristine Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, close by a National Park, Luray Caverns invites you to explore beneath the tableau of beauty and discover the largest and most popular caverns east of the Mississippi. A world of magic and majesty, a “fairyland in stone” has been 4,000,000 centuries in the making.

Everyone has a favorite car from the sensational (or 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 The General from The Dukes of Hazzard? Geoffrey Mark visits with stories of the rides that brought style and muscle to TV shows of days gone by.

We chat with Muscogee (Creek) National Council Speaker Will Lowe about exciting places to visit in the tribe's eleven-counties. From the Nation's original capitol built in Indian Territory to exciting nightlife at the renowned River Spirit Casino Resort, it's a road trip to remember!

In the hotly competitive world of pro football, NFL tailgating is big-time fun and serious business. On game day, throngs of fans meet and greet to drink and eat in anticipation of the day’s gridiron clash. There is even a Tailgating Hall of Fame! Matt Shea reports on how things play out each week in parking lots around the league.

Donelle Dadigan (Founder/President of The Hollywood Museum) visits again with news of current Special Exhibits of famous Film and Television autos that most of us will recall lovingly and with a good dose of nostalgia.

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)