The Great Buffalo Roundup
Tuesday, October 17 2023
On September 29th over 1,400 bison were rounded up at Custer State Park in western South Dakota. The remarkable event, now in its 58th year, drew over 20,000 visitors from around the world
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
A Trek to the Summit of Black Elk Peak, South Dakota — Video Dispatch
Monday, October 09 2023
Clay hikes to the top of Black Elk Peak in South Dakota and shares a bit of its history. At 7,242 feet the summit is the highest point between the Rocky Mountains in the western U.S. and the Pyrenees Mountains in France.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Sancho Panza and Rocinante Ride Again! Video Dispatch
Wednesday, September 27 2023
Next spring Clay will begin a two-year journey following John Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley trek across America.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
A Visit to the Center(s) of the Nation
Tuesday, September 26 2023
Clay files a video report from the geographic center of the USA on the wind-swept plains outside of Belle Fourche, South Dakota.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
At Gate A6 on 22nd Anniversary of September 11
Monday, September 11 2023
I’m sitting at gate A6 at Jacksonville International Airport in Florida. Today is the 22nd anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The American Buffalo: Past and Future — Video Dispatch
Monday, September 11 2023
A video dispatch from my visit to Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s North Unit, where buffalo roam the Great Plains today.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Labor Day on the Glorious Little Missouri River — Video Dispatch
Tuesday, September 05 2023
I visited the Little Missouri River in the Badlands of North Dakota over the Labor Day weekend. Of all the rivers I know, the Little Missouri is the most sacred to me.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Long Dreamed Airstream Joins the Listening to America Team
Monday, August 28 2023
A new chapter in my life begins. For the next several years, I plan to spend about half of the year on the road with my new Airstream trailer for our big humanities initiative, Listening to America. My plan is to get out on the open road, see the vastness of America and report my findings to you.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
Nuking the Rocky Mountains
Tuesday, August 22 2023
Clay and two colleagues met near the town of Rifle in western Colorado to visit the spot where the federal government set off a nuclear device in 1969 to test the feasibility of using atomic bombs in oil “fracking.”
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Tragic History of Sand Creek, Colorado
Sunday, August 20 2023
Clay drives into eastern Colorado to spend time at the site of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre and then to Denver to see an exhibit on the tragic event at the History Colorado Center. .
- Published in Dispatches from the Road