My car won an Emmy. She let me ride along…

I’m John Robinson and this is my fellow traveler, Erifnus Caitnop. Together we have traveled more than 300,000 miles covering every mile of every road on the Missouri highway map. Along the way we’ve seen hidden gems that you won’t … Read More

The Marshfield Tornado

One catastrophic event affected 16-year-old John Boone so deeply he recounted the vivid story in nearly every concert until he died. Around suppertime on Sunday, April 18, 1880, a tornado with winds topping 200 miles per hour leveled much of … Read More

Fighting, healing and music.

We passed Cedar Springs and stopped in El Dorado Springs, where the Osage Tribe used to bring their sick to heal in the mineral springs. When Europeans settled the area, the Osage left for their own safety, and the springs … Read More

Spinal Flap.

Two agonizing pages into The House of the Seven Gables, the spine on my book fell off. Should I keep reading? The book itself was old and brittle, stiff as its author’s language. But I kept reading, whereupon from the … Read More

Raising Money for Highways

Breakfast of Champions

State highway departments are running out of money. One potential source of funding borrows from a local government trick that’s been paying big dividends for decades: Naming rights for sports stadiums and bowl games. You know, the Edward D. Jones … Read More

River Art

Sycamores mostly, some a hundred years old, peeled off the banks and sent like torpedoes downriver to collect together as Mother Nature’s art.

Devils and Elbows

I found a hideaway. When I rolled to its door, a thundershower was beating down on the low slung structure made mostly of logs with mud chinks, its back wall standing just a couple of feet above the swollen Big … Read More

On A Pedestal

Sometimes a photo jumps at you. This one had my name on it.

Look Up

Every old water tower anchors a town’s character, its history, and sense of community. This one is in Linn, Missouri, America’s longest small town.