Destination: North America

Video You Must See: Mountain Light in California

(Via The Daily Dish)


On the ‘Easy Rider’ Trail, 40 Years Later

Keith Phipps followed Wyatt and Billy’s path from Southern California to the Gulf Coast, and the first part of his resulting multiday series for Slate ran yesterday. It looks to be a good one. Here’s a sample:

More an elegy for a generation that never got where it wanted to go than a celebration of that generation’s superiority, it pits hopefulness against resignation and sets the battle on a lovingly photographed stretch of the United States. Easy Rider hit theaters with a memorable tag line: “A man who went looking for America. And couldn’t find it anywhere.” Star, producer, and co-writer Peter Fonda hated that line, and rightly so. It’s really the story of two men—Wyatt and Billy, played by Fonda and co-writer and director Dennis Hopper—who went looking for America and found it everywhere. They just didn’t find a place for themselves.

We paid tribute to the movie on its 40th anniversary this past summer.


Tim Cahill: At Home in Montana

The Wall Street Journal visits the veteran travel writer at a cabin in southwest Montana where he does most of his writing. Says Cahill: “It’s often hilarious to me that I’m writing about Tonga or some tropical place and there’s a blizzard outside and the cows are on their backs with their hooves in the air.”

For more about Tim Cahill’s writing process, check out his remarks on creating literate adventure stories. (Via @Gadling)


Coming Soon: The Robert Johnson Birthplace Museum?

Coming Soon: The Robert Johnson Birthplace Museum? Photo by JMazzolaa via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by JMazzolaa via Flickr (Creative Commons)

Blues travelers, get ready to mark another must-see on your maps of Mississippi. The most mysterious of the famous Delta bluesmen could be getting a pilgrimage spot of his very own, as Copiah County looks to restore his birthplace and childhood home and open it to visitors. The home was identified a few years back, but there was no money for the restoration—now, with a movie about Johnson in the works, local officials see a fundraising opportunity. Here’s hoping they can get it done.


World Travel Watch: Monster Crocs in Australia, Bridge Collapses in Costa Rica and More

Larry Habegger rounds up global travel news

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Iowa’s New Tourism Campaign: ‘Arrest a Traveler’

Promotional campaigns just keep getting weirder. The latest: A small town in Iowa that had its sheriffs “arrest” a pair of motorists with out-of-state plates and offer them a free night’s stay. Predictably, accusations of abuse of police power have been flying—though not from the “arrested” couple, who noted that the town is “darling.” Mission accomplished? (Via @BudTravel)


Travel Movie Watch: ‘127 Hours’

It looks like “Slumdog Millionaire” director Danny Boyle may not be headed back to Mumbai right away, after all. Variety is reporting that Boyle’s next project is an adaptation of “127 Hours,” the true story of a mountaineer who was pinned under a boulder in Utah for five days and eventually amputated his own arm to make his escape. The rumor mill has Ryan Gosling playing the lead, but nothing’s been confirmed yet. Stay tuned. (Via Gawker)


Video You Must See: From Denver to Singapore in Five Minutes

(Via Kottke)


Photos: 10 All-American Must Sees for All Americans

yellowstone Photo by Sophia Dembling

Flyover America's Sophia Dembling shares the sights that will make you swoon

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Travel Song of the Day: ‘Lodi’ by Creedence Clearwater Revival


Photo You Must See: Yankee in Times Square

Photo You Must See: Yankee in Times Square REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

A New York Yankees fan in Times Square reacts to video of a play during game six of the World Series.


Mapped: The U.S. Interstates, in the Style of the London Underground Map

See it in Senex Prime’s Flickr stream. (Via Coudal)


Fall Foliage Around the World

Central Park, New York Photo of Central Park, New York City, by joiseyshowaa via Flickr (Creative Commons)

From Osaka to Chicago, seven photos of turning leaves around the shrinking planet

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World Hum Goes to the Travel Blog Exchange ‘10

We’ll be communing with our fellow travel writers and bloggers in New York City June 26-27, 2010, at the second annual Travel Blog Exchange. Founder Kim Mance and her crew launched TBEX last July in Chicago with a memorable day of travel talk.

Next year, the event spans two days and World Hum, one of the event’s media partners, is on the organizing committee. We’re working with Kim and several others in the travel blog universe to help develop the event, and we’ll also be preaching the Travel Writing in the Digital Age gospel with a small taste of our new workshops. If you’ve got any thoughts, suggestions, etc. about what you’d like to see covered, please .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).


Travel Song of the Day: ‘By the Time I Get to Phoenix’ by Glen Campbell