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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 thatwent for a drive. A very long drive.
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VOICE ONE:
The United States is a bigcountry. Most people travel coast-to-coast by airplane. The flightfrom Washington, D.C., to Seattle, Washington, for example, is lessthan 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 retiredchief of Special English. Nancy Beardsley is VOA's book editor.
Their son, Tommy, is a student at The Evergreen State College inOlympia, Washington, south of Seattle. His parents decided to givehim 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 timeto 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 ofOhio.
The high-speed road, Interstate Seventy, took them through citiesand small towns. They spent the first night at a hotel inSpringfield, Ohio.
VOICE ONE:
From Ohio, they drove across other Midwestern states. Theytraveled through Indiana, then Illinois. That is where AbrahamLincoln lived until he became president.
The Beardsleys crossed the great Mississippi River at SaintLouis, Missouri. Near the river, the Gateway Arch welcomed them tothe city. The arch rises almost two hundred meters. It was built asa monument to the spirit of the pioneers who traveled West. It wasthe place where the explorers Merriwether Lewis and William Clarkbegan their trip across the western territories in eighteen-oh-four.
VOICE TWO:
From Saint Louis, the Beardsleys drove on Interstate Forty intocentral Missouri. Interstate Forty replaced an earlier road acrossthe country, Route Sixty-Six.
Many Americans remember stories, a television show and a songabout Route Sixty-Six. In some places, the new interstate took adifferent path. Today, near Devil's Elbow, Missouri, a part of theold road seemed small. It had many holes. Tall grass grew at theedges. 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 westernborder of Missouri. It was another stop for Lewis and Clark.
President Harry Truman grew up nearby, in the town ofIndependence. The home where he lived is open to visitors.
Kansas City is a famous place in the history of jazz music. Italso has sister-city ties with Seville, in Spain. One part of KansasCity has buildings that look Spanish.
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The Beardsleys turned north at Kansas City, onto InterstateTwenty-Nine, to Saint Joseph, Missouri. The Pony Express startedthere almost one hundred fifty years ago. A museum tells the storyof this mail system that carried letters between Saint Joseph andSan Francisco, California.
Riders carried the mail on horseback from one station to another,up to thirty-two kilometers apart. A letter from Saint Joseph couldget to San Francisco in ten days.
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Farther north, along the Missouri River in the state of Iowa, isthe burial place of Sergeant Charles Floyd. He was the only man todie during the three-year trip by Lewis and Clark. A tall monumenthonors him in Sioux City, on a hill above the river. It is shapedlike 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, filledwith clouds of different shapes and colors.
VOICE TWO:
In South Dakota, the land lookseven emptier and the sky larger. Along Interstate Ninety, there arefewer 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 morecasinos. Such gambling places are against the law in many parts ofthe United States. But American Indians can operate them on landsthat belong to them. Casinos have become an important way for manytribes to earn money.
VOICE ONE:
For hundreds of kilometers, travelers see signs for the CornPalace, in Mitchell, South Dakota. It is a big museum built ofconcrete and covered with maize. The museum honors South Dakotaagriculture, especially corn. The Beardsleys visit the Corn Palace.They, and a lot of other people. It was crowded.
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 therock on the side of the mountain. They are George Washington, ThomasJefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. The stone facesare eighteen meters high.
People can vote at Mount Rushmore for their favorite president.George Washington, America's first president, still wins the mostvotes.
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A few kilometers away, on another mountain, another statue isbeing made. This one will be more than one hundred seventy metershigh. It will show Chief Crazy Horse, a Native American hero.
An American sculptor born in Poland began the statue in nineteenforty-five. He died in nineteen eighty-two, but his family continuesthe work. The statue will show the chief on his horse, pointing tothe lands the Indians have lost.
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VOICE ONE:
When you cross the state line into Wyoming, you know you are inthe American West. People wear cowboy hats and boots. There arebuffalo 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 andshowman.
Cody is the home of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Its fivemuseums are filled with objects that show the culture, history andolder ways of life in the West.
Visitors can stay in the Irma Hotel, built by Buffalo Bill innineteen-oh-two.
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Cody, Wyoming, is also one of the four entrances to Yellowstone,the oldest national park in America. Visitors can spend many daysexploring Yellowstone. It is home to bears, elk, antelope and otheranimals. It is also known for its geysers, holes in the ground thatblow boiling water and steam into the air.
Many visitors to Yellowstone sleep in tents or cabins, or stay inhotels built many years ago.
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Just south of Yellowstone is the Grand Teton National Park, knownfor its beautiful mountains topped by snow. Vice President DickCheney, actor Harrison Ford and other famous people have homes nearthe Grand Tetons.
Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park are both very popular.From June to August, during the summer months, the roads are filledwith people. Visitors need to request a hotel room months beforethey arrive.
The Beardsleys were there in September. The crowds in the parkswere not as large, but the weather was a lot colder. They wentthrough a snowstorm as they drove farther north and west, throughthe mountains of Montana and Idaho.
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On the tenth day of their trip, they crossed from Idaho intoWashington State. The eastern part is flat and dry. But as theytraveled west, they saw more mountains and trees that stay green allyear. Washington, in the Pacific Northwest, is called "the EvergreenState."
They knew the trip was almost over when they saw Mount Rainer inthe distance. Mount Ranier is four thousand four hundred metershigh, and a popular place to camp, climb and take walks. It issoutheast of Seattle.
Late that afternoon the Beardsleys arrived in Olympia, the statecapital. The city is at the south end of Puget Sound, which flowsinto the Pacific Ocean. Frank and Nancy dropped off their son, andtheir car, at his college.
VOICE ONE:
The Beardsleys had driven almost six thousand kilometers. It wasa ten-day drive across a country that seemed a lot bigger than theone 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 programwas produced by Caty Weaver. And our studio engineer was KelvinFowler. This is Shirley Griffith.
VOICE ONE:
And this is Steve Ember. Before we go...our election report lastweek said thirteen states now have constitutional bans againstsame-sex marriage. Dexter Massoletti in San Francisco corrects us:the number is at least seventeen. And, he notes that most otherstates have also passed laws with a similar aim.
Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA SpecialEnglish.