This American Life: Walking Across America, Talking To People

494: Hit the Road

MAY 3, 2013

Source 
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/494/hit-the-road

Launch Audio player 
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/play_full.php?play=494

It's spring, so we're opening windows and going places. This week we have stories of people who, for reasons that they can't always explain, feel compelled to get out and go somewhere. Including the story of one man who decides to take a trip from Philadelphia to San Francisco — by foot.

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  Andrew Fosthoefel sets out to do something that usually doesn't work as a radio story. After losing a job, he decided to try walking across America from his home in Philadelphia all the way to the Pacific. And he made it. 4,000 miles, talking to people he met along the way.

  He produced the radio story with Jay Alison. Thanks to Viki Merrick. An hour-long version of the story and photos from the trip are at Transom.org, a nonprofit website that explains how to record and produce your own stories.

  Andrew Fosthoefel’s story features interviews with the following people:

  Bill Guy, Shady Grove, AL
  Therese Jornlin, Chadds Ford, PA
  Hacky Pitts, High Point, NC
  Ollie Ware, Franklin, LA
  Karie Fugett, Foley, AL
  Emma Lou Dailey, Beatrice, AL
  Otho Rogers, Melrose, NM
  Chris and James Paisano, Fort Defiance, AZ

  • Jay Allison

  SONG: "THE STREETS ARE OURS TONIGHT", RICHARD HAWLEY