We use cookies and other tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience. If you continue to use our site, you agree to the use of such cookies. For more info, see our privacy policy.
Skip to main content

Hi. We love you. Be our Life Partner.

Support the show to get ad-free listening, bonus content, and our new Greatest Hits Archive.

Learn more
This American Life Partners logo
00:00
00:00
  • Transcript
  • Share
This American Life
  • Life Partners
  • How to Listen
  • Episodes
  • Recommended
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Announcements
    • Fellowships
    • Jobs
    • Music
    • Make Radio
    • On The Road
    • FAQ
    • Submissions
    • Merch
    • Contact Us
    • Our Other Shows
  • Merch
  • Follow Us
  • Life Partners
102
May 22, 1998

Road Trip!

With so many songs, movies, and books about the joy of the open road, it's hard to take just a normal road trip without huge expectations.

  • Download
    Control-click (or right-click) Tap and hold to download
  • Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe in Apple Podcasts Subscribe
  • Transcript
Prologue

Prologue

Host Ira Glass talks with a guy who hit the road after his mother's death, hoping for some experience that would change him and shed light on what just happened. This never happens to him, or to most of us. (4 minutes)

By

Ira Glass
Act One

Road Trip in a Tuxedo

What happens when being on the road is your job, and has been your job for decades? Reporter Margy Rochlin recalls a trip she took with 92-year-old George Burns and his tiny entourage. (17 minutes)

By

Margy Rochlin
Act Two

Merci

A road trip can be a profound test of any relationship. It can save a marriage or destroy it. We have this example of a road trip in Europe. Playwrights Candido Tirado and Carmen Rivera told the story at the Nuyorican Cafe in New York City as part of an evening of "traveling stories" organized by The Moth. (14 minutes)

By

The Moth
Carmen Rivera
Candido Tirado
Act Three

Busman's Holiday

Dishwasher Pete, an itinerant dishwasher and author of the book Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States, loves taking the bus as he moves from city to city every few weeks. In this act, he takes a tape recorder with him, hoping to capture the stories he always hears from his fellow passengers. It completely ruins his feelings about the bus. (16 minutes)

By

Dishwasher Pete

Song:

“Greyhound Theme in E-Minor” by Ian Lynam and Paul Iannott (Podcast Only)
Act Four

Paw Paw for Jesus

What we want on the road — many of us — is adventure. And what is adventure but a moment you never could've predicted before you left home? Chicago writer Cheryl Trykv tells the story of one such moment. (7 minutes)

Songs: "Happy Trails" and "One More Mile," Dave Dudley

By

Cheryl Trykv

Related

If you enjoyed this episode, you may like these
172: 24 Hours at the Golden Apple
Nov. 17, 2000

Act Two: Night

In this act, we hear from the rowdier, drunker late-night patrons of the Golden Apple.
542: Wait—Do You Have The Map?
Dec. 12, 2014

Act One: A Marriage of Inconvenience

This next story is about a couple in a relationship that’s unlike the homes either of them grew up in.
362: Got You Pegged
Aug. 22, 2008

Act Four: Paradise Lost

Shalom Auslander tells the story of the time he went on vacation, pegged the guest in the room next door as an impostor and devoted his holiday to trying to prove it.

Staff Recommendations

View all
77
Sept. 26, 1997

Pray

Can the secular world and the religious world understand each other?

513
Dec. 13, 2013

129 Cars

One car dealership tries to make its monthly quota: 129 cars. It is way more chaotic than we expected.

This American Life

This American Life is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange.

  • How to Listen
  • Episodes
  • Recommended
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Announcements
    • Fellowships
    • Jobs
    • Music
    • Make Radio
    • On The Road
    • FAQ
    • Submissions
    • Merch
    • Contact Us
    • Our Other Shows
  • Merch
  • Contact
  • Life Partners
  • Serial
  • S-Town
© 1995 - 2025 This American Life Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Subscribe

  • on Spotify
  • in Apple Podcasts

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email