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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Feb 08, 2019•27 min
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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Feb 01, 2019•29 min
American Road Trip Talk on 1150 KKNW Seattle debuts with an interview of co-founders Thomas Arthur Repp and Becky Repp. Host Gary Mantz talks with the Repps about their partnership both in life and on the open road. Route 66 gets special attention in this episode. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
Jan 25, 2019•27 min
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 ...
Mar 16, 2018•12 min
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 e...
Jun 30, 2017•15 min
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 comp...
Apr 25, 2017•12 min
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 th...
Apr 18, 2017•14 min
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 Lon...
Apr 18, 2017•7 min
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 high...
Apr 18, 2017•10 min
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 o...
Aug 01, 2016•16 min
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. See Privacy Po...
Feb 21, 2016•13 min
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 h...
Feb 11, 2016•11 min
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....
Oct 13, 2015•13 min
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....
Sep 09, 2015•12 min
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 podc...
Jul 23, 2015•9 min
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...
Jul 23, 2015•12 min
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 f...
Jul 04, 2015•9 min
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 t...
Jul 04, 2015•10 min
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...
May 23, 2015•10 min
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 ...
May 23, 2015•11 min
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 ...
Apr 30, 2015•10 min
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. See Privacy P...
Apr 26, 2015•14 min
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 ac...
Mar 31, 2015•10 min
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 ...
Mar 27, 2015•12 min
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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
Feb 28, 2015•14 min
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. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Feb 28, 2015•11 min
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! See Privacy Policy ...
Feb 24, 2015•7 min
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 yo...
Feb 20, 2015•11 min
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 a...
Jan 24, 2015•11 min
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 piece...
Dec 30, 2014•12 min
