When Is A Road Trip Something More?

Feet out the window

Anja (CC0)

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Original Air Date: 
July 09, 2017

For a lot of Americans, summer means that it's time to hit the open road. We take road trips and endless highways for granted, but there are other countries where people can pay a heavy price just for getting behind a wheel.

Big trucks
Audio

Finn Murphy talks about his career as a long-haul driver who moves people's possessions across the country.

Manal al-Sharif
Audio

Manal al-Sharif on how the most transgressive thing a Saudi woman could do was learn to drive.

Length: 
9:56
Man gets lost
Sonic Sidebar

Rebecca Solnit prepares the smartphone era for a time when we no longer know how to not know where we are.

cover of "The Negro Travelers' Green Book"
Audio

Lawrence Ross delved into the "Green Book," a 1957 handbook to help black motorists find safe stops along the highway, and used it to shape a contemporary road trip that celebrated black history, culture, and business.

The mountain beckons
Articles

For years, David Roberts climbed some of Alaska’s biggest mountains, and made a number of first ascents. His new book is an examination of why some climbers feel compelled to push the edge of what’s possible.

Screenshot from "Desert Bus" playthrough by Phrasz013.
Sonic Sidebar

A simulated eight-hour bus drive earns you one point. Why would anyone want to play a game like that?

Length: 
3:04
Extras

Show Details 📻
Airdates
July 09, 2017
July 07, 2018
Guests: 
Finn Murphy
Long-haul trucker, Author
Manal al-Sharif
Women's Rights Activist, Author
Rebecca Solnit reading book
Author, Memoirist, Essayist
Lawrence Ross
Author (fiction and non-fiction), Writer, Lecturer
Last modified: 
July 09, 2018