Correspondent Tom Wilmer visits Elkhart Lake , Wisconsin, exploring the Road America racetrack and the lakefront Victorian Village Resort , dating from the 1880s. You are invited to subscribe to the Lowell Thomas Award-winning travel show podcast, Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer, featured on the NPR Podcast Directory , Apple Podcast , the ...…

Correspondent Tom Wilmer visits with Jamie Cyphers, the great-great-granddaughter of Kingsport, Tennessee moonshiner Charles “Old Man" Bishop, who reportedly first concocted Long Island Iced Tea back in the 1920s. Wilmer also stops in for a visit with two Kingsport professional bartenders , Shane Winegar and Randy Ashens, who challenged New Yor ...…

Correspondent Tom Wilmer continues his reporting from Bristol, Tennessee. He visits with Tim Nichols , whose family has been making Appalachian moonshine for more than six generations. At Bristol Motor Speedway , General Manager Jerry Caldwell tells the story of how the competitive spirit of bootlegger delivery drivers eventually led to the cre ...…

Correspondent Tom Wilmer reports from eastern Tennessee, where he explores Roan Mountain and Rocky Fork State Parks. He then visits with innkeepers at the state’s oldest inn in historic Jonesborough, and discovers how community engagement drives business at Jiggy Rays Pizza Parlor in the Appalachian village of Elizabethton. You are invited to s ...…

Join correspondent Tom Wilmer reporting from Kingsport, Tennessee —in the shadows of the Great Smokey Mountains—for an exploration of the town’s vibrant economy and fascinating educational opportunities for the upcoming generation. Back in the latter 1990s, manufacturing jobs were disappearing at a frightening rate across America’s Rust Belt. K ...…

The United States Army’s Fort Hunter Liggett in Monterey County is larger than all of the other Army Reserve’s training installations combined, and the U.S. Army’s seventh largest training facility in geographic area.By tomwilmer@aol.com (Tom Wilmer).

Country music leapt from the front porches of Appalachia to the living rooms of the world back in 1927. The Victor Talking Machine Company’s producer Ralph Peer came to Bristol, Tennessee in the summer of 1927 to record regional Appalachian balladeers, gospel singers, blues artists—performers like Jimmy Rodgers and the Carter Family. Peer’s 192 ...…

Correspondent Tom Wilmer traverses the Great River Road in Wisconsin—from Praire du Chien in the southwest to the hip university town of La Crosse .By tomwilmer@aol.com (Tom Wilmer).

Correspondent Katya Cengel reports from Rockford, Illinois, where she visits with two women who played baseball for the Rockford Peaches during WW II—chronicled in the Hollywood hit "A League of Their Own."By tomwilmer@aol.com (Tom Wilmer).

Correspondent Tom Wilmer explores Eau Claire , Wisconsin, a city of 68,000 that has rapidly evolved to become a trend-setting cultural attraction.By tomwilmer@aol.com (Tom Wilmer).

Correspondent Tom Wilmer visits with locals, discussing life in Wisconsin ’s historic villages dotting the Great River Road , a network of state and local byways following the route of the mighty Mississippi for over 2,000 miles.By tomwilmer@aol.com (Tom Wilmer).

There are two standard options for dogs and cats that arrive at shelters and pounds: adoption or euthanasia. Lisa LaVerdia decided to create another option that she dubbed The Third Door, providing a home for unadoptable dogs and cats.By tomwilmer@aol.com (Tom Wilmer).

Correspondent Tom Wilmer visits with Cal Poly journalism lecturer Katya Cengel to talk about her new book, “Exiled: From the Killing Fields of Cambodia to California and Back. " Cengel shares the stories of four Cambodian families as they "confront criminal deportation forty years after their resettlement in the United States." You are invited ...…

Join correspondent Tom Wilmer in China for an exploration of the northwest province of Shaanxi , and the numerous benefits of traveling to Tibet by automobile versus aircraft or train.By tomwilmer@aol.com (Tom Wilmer).

Morro Bay resident Chris Christensen will be in Nashville, the Ryman Auditorium on Aug. 22 to receive the Academy of Country Music Founders Award. Christensen’s mother and father started the Country Music Awards back in 1964 at the family owned Red Barrel nightclub in the Los Angeles community of Hawaiian Gardens.…

Correspondent Tom Wilmer reports from Shaanxi Province in Northwestern China, just south of Inner Mongolia. Wilmer visits with Paul Su and Simon Zhang, talking about China’s relationship with countries around the world; the quest to mitigate pollution via solar, wind, and nuclear power; and the country’s mandate to transition to hybrid and elec ...…

Correspondent Tom Wilmer visits with Annette McGivney , author of " Pure Land: A True Story of Three Lives, Three Cultures, and the Search for Heaven on Earth ." McGivney is Southwest Editor for Backpacker Magazine and professor of journalism at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona.By tomwilmer@aol.com (Tom Wilmer).

Recently, correspondent Tom Wilmer covered a combat training exercise at an Army base in Monterey County. In this segment, Wilmer visits with Brigadier General Shane Buzza, commander of the 91 st Training Division at Fort Hunter Liggett, followed by insights from two of the troops.By tomwilmer@aol.com (Tom Wilmer).

Correspondent Tom Wilmer reports from Shaanxi Province , China and visits with 24-year-old Dan Wang, a graduate student at Xi’an International Studies University.By tomwilmer@aol.com (Tom Wilmer).

Join correspondent Tom Wilmer as he embeds with Army Reserve troops during a training exercise at Fort Hunter Liggett in Monterey County. Wilmer observes and visits with soldiers during training operations to clear a minefield, remove an anti-tank ditch and build a bridge, with Stryker combat vehicles providing cover.…