“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.”
—John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America
Introduction: “The Road is Life”
During the spring semesters of 2015 and 2017 the Seminar in History at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay explored the place of the road trip in the American experience and the search for the American dream. Through the reading of historical monographs, memoirs, and novels and the viewing of several essential films chronicling this quintessential component of modern American life our course sought to find an answer to the question of why the road has been so central to Americans and their collective identity. I think you will find some possible answers to that enduring question in the projects below.
From our explorations of the advent of modern tourism to the creation of the interstate highway system to the struggles of the Freedom Riders to the classic road trips of Jack Kerouac, John Steinbeck, Easy Rider, and Thelma and Louise, we discovered an American people who found freedom and meaning on the road, an innate character of a nation founded on the ideals of the pursuit of happiness and reinvention. As the historian and novelist Wallace Stegner commented in The American West as Living Space, “It should not be denied…that being footloose has always exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligation, with absolute freedom.”
As a part of our seminar experience students were tasked with conducting oral histories and creating podcasts — digital audio programs — related to the theme of the road, and the results of their semester-long projects are below. Accompanying the student group podcasts are TimeMapper projects, which offer visual companions — through maps and images — to the following stories. We hope that you enjoy these compelling stories and that they might inspire you to hit the open road in pursuit of your own American dreams.
—Eric J. Morgan
April 2015 (rev. 2017)
Podcasts and TimeMapper Projects – Spring 2017
“Family Road Trips: A Vehicle to the American Dream”
by
Christien Carmickle, Breanna Linna, Leonard Odea
Link to TimeMapper
“‘Go West Young Man’: Allen Learst’s 1972 Road Trip”
by
David Burge, Michael Dahlberg, and Amber Foster
Link to TimeMapper
“European Road Trip: A Journey of Discovery”
by
Brennan Christianson and Samantha Dannhauser
Link to TimeMapper
Podcasts and TimeMapper Projects – Spring 2015
“Why Do We Travel?”
by
Aaron Albright, Zak Lenski, and Josh Quaintance
Link to TimeMapper
“We Don’t Want the Truth”
by
Hayden Davison, Dillon Kazemi, Laura Leigh, and Mariah Pursley
Link to TimeMapper
“Ron’s Truck Driving Adventure and Experience Across the U.S.”
by
Scott Pamperin, Bradley Schetter, and Ben Spiering
Link to TimeMapper
“Thomas Moule’s Hitchhiking Journey”
by
Brian Heiser, Jordan Heller, Robert Mooers, Tommy Moule, and Lucas Schroeder
Link to TimeMapper
“Stereotypical Family Road Trips”
by
Kimberly Koth, Morgan Swick, and Brianna Wichlacz
Link to TimeMapper
“Cross Country Road Trips!”
by
John Blume, Jacob Hock, Katelyn Krajewski, and Kendall Sherman
Link to TimeMapper