2004-11-14
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VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA. I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Shirley Griffith. This week: the story of a family that
went for a drive. A very long drive.
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VOICE ONE:
The United States is a big
country. Most people travel coast-to-coast by airplane. The flight
from Washington, D.C., to Seattle, Washington, for example, is less
than six hours.
The Beardsley family usually flew to Seattle. This year, however,
they decided to drive.
You might recognize the family name. Frank Beardsley is a retired
chief of Special English. Nancy Beardsley is VOA's book editor.
Their son, Tommy, is a student at The Evergreen State College in
Olympia, Washington, south of Seattle. His parents decided to give
him their car, then fly back to their home near Washington, D.C.
They expected to do the trip in ten days. That would give them time
to see some of the country along the way.
VOICE TWO:
On the first day, the Beardsleys traveled through five states.
They passed through the green mountains and hills of Virginia,
Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia and the flat farmlands of
Ohio.
The high-speed road, Interstate Seventy, took them through cities
and small towns. They spent the first night at a hotel in
Springfield, Ohio.
VOICE ONE:
From Ohio, they drove across other Midwestern states. They
traveled through Indiana, then Illinois. That is where Abraham
Lincoln lived until he became president.
The Beardsleys crossed the great Mississippi River at Saint
Louis, Missouri. Near the river, the Gateway Arch welcomed them to
the city. The arch rises almost two hundred meters. It was built as
a monument to the spirit of the pioneers who traveled West. It was
the place where the explorers Merriwether Lewis and William Clark
began their trip across the western territories in eighteen-oh-four.
VOICE TWO:
From Saint Louis, the Beardsleys drove on Interstate Forty into
central Missouri. Interstate Forty replaced an earlier road across
the country, Route Sixty-Six.
Many Americans remember stories, a television show and a song
about Route Sixty-Six. In some places, the new interstate took a
different path. Today, near Devil's Elbow, Missouri, a part of the
old road seemed small. It had many holes. Tall grass grew at the
edges. It was hard to imagine how important this road once was.
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VOICE ONE:
The next day, the Beardsleys drove to Kansas City on the western
border of Missouri. It was another stop for Lewis and Clark.
President Harry Truman grew up nearby, in the town of
Independence. The home where he lived is open to visitors.
Kansas City is a famous place in the history of jazz music. It
also has sister-city ties with Seville, in Spain. One part of Kansas
City has buildings that look Spanish.
VOICE TWO:
The Beardsleys turned north at Kansas City, onto Interstate
Twenty-Nine, to Saint Joseph, Missouri. The Pony Express started
there almost one hundred fifty years ago. A museum tells the story
of this mail system that carried letters between Saint Joseph and
San Francisco, California.
Riders carried the mail on horseback from one station to another,
up to thirty-two kilometers apart. A letter from Saint Joseph could
get to San Francisco in ten days.
VOICE ONE:
Farther north, along the Missouri River in the state of Iowa, is
the burial place of Sergeant Charles Floyd. He was the only man to
die during the three-year trip by Lewis and Clark. A tall monument
honors him in Sioux City, on a hill above the river. It is shaped
like the Washington Monument, back in America's capital city.
In Iowa, the land becomes flat, with many large cornfields.
Drivers can see for long distances. The sky looks bigger, filled
with clouds of different shapes and colors.
VOICE TWO:
In South Dakota, the land looks
even emptier and the sky larger. Along Interstate Ninety, there are
fewer places to get fuel for the car or something to eat. Sometimes,
places to stop are a half-hour or more apart. There are, however,
many interesting places to visit. If the Beardsleys had more time,
they would have liked to see where "Dances With Wolves" was filmed.
Travelers driving from the east also begin to see more and more
casinos. Such gambling places are against the law in many parts of
the United States. But American Indians can operate them on lands
that belong to them. Casinos have become an important way for many
tribes to earn money.
VOICE ONE:
For hundreds of kilometers, travelers see signs for the Corn
Palace, in Mitchell, South Dakota. It is a big museum built of
concrete and covered with maize. The museum honors South Dakota
agriculture, especially corn. The Beardsleys visit the Corn Palace.
They, and a lot of other people. It was crowded.
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| George Washington on Mt. Rushmore. (VOA Photo - Steve Ember) |
But farther west, near Rapid City,
South Dakota, is one of America's most popular places for travelers,
Mount Rushmore. The faces of four presidents have been cut into the
rock on the side of the mountain. They are George Washington, Thomas
Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. The stone faces
are eighteen meters high.
People can vote at Mount Rushmore for their favorite president.
George Washington, America's first president, still wins the most
votes.
VOICE TWO:
A few kilometers away, on another mountain, another statue is
being made. This one will be more than one hundred seventy meters
high. It will show Chief Crazy Horse, a Native American hero.
An American sculptor born in Poland began the statue in nineteen
forty-five. He died in nineteen eighty-two, but his family continues
the work. The statue will show the chief on his horse, pointing to
the lands the Indians have lost.
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VOICE ONE:
When you cross the state line into Wyoming, you know you are in
the American West. People wear cowboy hats and boots. There are
buffalo and cows along the side of the road.
One of the best places to learn about the West is in Cody,
Wyoming. The town is named for Buffalo Bill Cody, a cowboy and
showman.
Cody is the home of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Its five
museums are filled with objects that show the culture, history and
older ways of life in the West.
Visitors can stay in the Irma Hotel, built by Buffalo Bill in
nineteen-oh-two.
VOICE TWO:
Cody, Wyoming, is also one of the four entrances to Yellowstone,
the oldest national park in America. Visitors can spend many days
exploring Yellowstone. It is home to bears, elk, antelope and other
animals. It is also known for its geysers, holes in the ground that
blow boiling water and steam into the air.
Many visitors to Yellowstone sleep in tents or cabins, or stay in
hotels built many years ago.
VOICE ONE:
Just south of Yellowstone is the Grand Teton National Park, known
for its beautiful mountains topped by snow. Vice President Dick
Cheney, actor Harrison Ford and other famous people have homes near
the Grand Tetons.
Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park are both very popular.
From June to August, during the summer months, the roads are filled
with people. Visitors need to request a hotel room months before
they arrive.
The Beardsleys were there in September. The crowds in the parks
were not as large, but the weather was a lot colder. They went
through a snowstorm as they drove farther north and west, through
the mountains of Montana and Idaho.
VOICE TWO:
On the tenth day of their trip, they crossed from Idaho into
Washington State. The eastern part is flat and dry. But as they
traveled west, they saw more mountains and trees that stay green all
year. Washington, in the Pacific Northwest, is called "the Evergreen
State."
They knew the trip was almost over when they saw Mount Rainer in
the distance. Mount Ranier is four thousand four hundred meters
high, and a popular place to camp, climb and take walks. It is
southeast of Seattle.
Late that afternoon the Beardsleys arrived in Olympia, the state
capital. The city is at the south end of Puget Sound, which flows
into the Pacific Ocean. Frank and Nancy dropped off their son, and
their car, at his college.
VOICE ONE:
The Beardsleys had driven almost six thousand kilometers. It was
a ten-day drive across a country that seemed a lot bigger than the
one they crossed in five hours on the flight home.
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VOICE TWO:
We thank the Beardlseys for writing our story today. Our program
was produced by Caty Weaver. And our studio engineer was Kelvin
Fowler. This is Shirley Griffith.
VOICE ONE:
And this is Steve Ember. Before we go...our election report last
week said thirteen states now have constitutional bans against
same-sex marriage. Dexter Massoletti in San Francisco corrects us:
the number is at least seventeen. And, he notes that most other
states have also passed laws with a similar aim.
Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special
English.