In this episode, listeners are invited on a journey through time and tradition. Exploring the parallels between a beloved 1990s pastime and the historical significance of the Santa Fe Trail, we get a window onto the social dynamics and enduring spirit of adventure that characterize both. Through interviews, personal anecdotes, and historical insights, listeners will uncover the rich mosaic of connections forged along the trail, from ancient indigenous pathways to the bustling trade routes of the nineteenth century to small Kansas towns in the 1990s. Join us as we navigate the intersection of past and present, looking for traces of history along the modern-day streets named after the trail and reflecting on the enduring allure of movement, community, and connection.
Written and narrated by: Lillian Williams
Producer and engineer: Kyle Jackson
Interview Guests: Benedict Rogers, Steve Yarnovich, Luke Ryan, Megan Leahy, Melani Keiper, Steven Hardy, Jay Sexton, Ryan Triggs
Character narrator: Kyle Jackson
Theme Song: Fog Holler (used with permission)
Additional Musical Elements: Fog Holler, Casey James Holmberg, Kyle Jackson, Kate Bone
What is Wheels Across the West: History and Legacy of the Santa Fe Trail?
"Wheels Across the West: History and Legacy of the Santa Fe Trail" invites listeners on a fun and fact-filled adventure across time and territory to make sense of an oft-overlooked overland trail. Created, written, and narrated by students at the University of Missouri’s Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy, Wheels Across the West covers a wide range of topics that intersect with the past and present of the American West: mules, military forts, missionization, Hollywood Westerns, gun culture, living history reenactors, pioneer women, Black cowboys, and so much more. Transporting listeners from Indigenous pathways, to international wagon caravans, to railroads, highways, and modern-day Main Streets, this series reveals how the infrastructure and cultural landscape of the West has been constructed atop foundations laid long ago.