Wayward Stories

Exploring the Wild, Wild West - Hell on the Border

In tonight’s show we pick back up on a little “series within a series” I started a couple of years ago entitled “Exploring the Wild, Wild West.” We previously explored Coffeyville and Dodge City, KS as well as the Santa Fe Trail. In tonight’s episode, we’re going to explore one of the very earliest Wild West towns in America…Fort Smith, Arkansas,  home to “Hell on the Border” - one of the nastiest jails ever to house a baddie. We also happen to be the only place I’ve ever heard of that someone brought a cannon to a fist fight…so if you enjoy a road trip to a place with a long and colorful history, a weekend adventure to Fort Smith might be right up your alley!
 
Luckily for me, this is an easy episode…as I am currently a park ranger at Fort Smith National Historic Site…and tonight’s episode is sort of just another day at work!
 
I hope you’ll join me tonight to hear all about it!
 
If you’d like to get in touch with me, just shoot an email to
 
mywaywardstory@gmail.com
 
-or-
 
Head on over to
 
www.waywardstories.com
 
 

Here’s to you, my gearest friend…

In tonight’s show, we’re going to talk about long-lived pieces of gear in our kit and the role they can play in the story-arc of our lives. As I prepare to retire a backpack that has accompanied me across tens of thousands of miles or roads, rivers, and wildernesses, it only seems fitting to look back on the adventures it enabled me to take. And as is our custom here at Wayward Stories, we shall wax philosophical about archetypes, story-arcs, and the paths we take in following our personal journeys!
 
I hope you’ll join me tonight to hear all about it!
 
If you’d like to get in touch with me, just shoot an email to
 
mywaywardstory@gmail.com
 
-or-
 
Head on over to
 
www.waywardstories.com
 
 

Turn the Page…

Tonight we’re taking a deep dive into the biggest road trip I’ve ever made in my life. It is that time of year again, with Thanksgiving and my birthday upon us, but this year there’s a wild card in the mix…. my commencement and the conferral of my degree in Manchester New Hampshire.
 
We’re going to explore Salem, Boston, Lexington, Concord, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Kittery, ME, the Mohawk River Valley, the Catskill Mountains, and oh so much more! Also there’s a big announcement in tonight’s show as well…
 
I hope you’ll join me tonight to hear all about it!
 
If you’d like to get in touch with me, just shoot an email to
 
mywaywardstory@gmail.com
 
-or-
 
Head on over to
 
www.waywardstories.com
 
 

Road Trip Therapy - Calico Rock, AR.

Welcome Back to Wayward Stories!
 
Who’s in the mood for a little day trip into the soul? Tonight’s show finds us taking a little bit of a philosophical journey into the value of roadtrips as little mini-therapy sessions for the good of the soul. Fear not intrepid wayfarers…we will indeed explore a little day trip to tiny town of Calico Rock here in Arkansas.
 
We definitely stray into “wondering” territory tonight alongside our “wandering”…but that’s what this show has been about all along, right?
 
I hope you’ll join me tonight to hear all about it!
 
If you’d like to get in touch with me, just shoot an email to
 
mywaywardstory@gmail.com
 
-or-
 
Head on over to
 
www.waywardstories.com
 
Thanks for listening!

Spooky Season 2025 - Arkansas H’aints

Welcome Back to Wayward Stories!
 
WHAT’S UP WITCHES?!?!?
 
It’s spooky season once again, baby! My favorite time of year!
 
For our 2025 installment, we’re going to take some legend tripping adventures through the Arkansas hills and hollers. From creepy cryptids to inexplicable spooky lights, and from haunted hotels to the last vestiges of hill country folk magic, tonight’s show promises to excite your interests in the legends and lore of my home state. You’ll hear about one famous frontiersman’s alleged encounter with a beast of the night in an ozark holler, a headless brakeman wandering about in search of his gourd, and even some unexplained spooklights that your humble host has observed with my own eyes!
 
I hope you’ll join me tonight to hear all about it!
 
If you’d like to get in touch with me, just shoot an email to
 
mywaywardstory@gmail.com
 
-or-
 
Head on over to
 
www.waywardstories.com
 
Thanks for listening!

Route 66 - Texola to Tucumcari

Welcome Back to Wayward Stories!
 
This week we are once again going to explore America’s Mother Road, Route 66. This iteration takes us from from Texola to Tucumcari. This little adventure qualifies as Baby Bear’s Birthday Bash - 2025 edition.   
 
This stretch of 66 plays host to multiple iconic sites that inspired scenes in the Pixar movies “Cars”, as well as icons such as the Cadillac Ranch, the Big Texan Steak Ranch, the world famous Blue Swallow Motel, and much, much more. Join us tonight as I line out the many highlights of this very special section of original Route 66!
 
Listen in tonight to hear all about it!
 
If you’d like to get in touch with me, just shoot an email to
 
mywaywardstory@gmail.com
 
-or-
 
Head on over to
 
www.waywardstories.com
 
Thanks for listening!

Route 66 - Tulsa to Texola

Welcome Back to Wayward Stories!
 
This week we’re going to explore America’s Mother Road, Route 66, from Tulsa to Texola, the little town that sends Oklahoma’s portion of 66 on into Texas.
Oklahoma hosts not only its own state museum for 66, but also the National Route 66 museum, as well as numerous Route 66 icons. From ruins to neon and from greasy spoons to vintage service stations, Oklahoma’s 430-some-odd miles of the Mother Road has a little bit of everything!
 
Listen in tonight to hear all about it!
 
If you’d like to get in touch with me, just shoot an email to
 
mywaywardstory@gmail.com
 
-or-
 
Head on over to
 
www.waywardstories.com
 
Thanks for listening!

Route 66 - Springfield, MO. To Baxter Springs, KS.

Welcome Back to Wayward Stories!
 
Tonight we explore an often overlooked section of America’s iconic Route 66 - Southeast Kansas. Kansas hosts only 13.2 miles of Route 66, but that 13.2 miles is all original and hosts one of the most widely recognized service stations and characters in all of Route Sixty Six-dom.
 
Listen in tonight to hear all about it!
 
If you’d like to get in touch with me, just shoot an email to
 
mywaywardstory@gmail.com
 
-or-
 
Head on over to
 
www.waywardstories.com
 
Thanks for listening!

Towards a Philosophy of Wilderness

Welcome Back to Wayward Stories!
 
This week we finally find ourself at the oft-mentioned episode “that was coming eventually”. For our 100th episode and belated 4 year anniversary, it seems fitting to look back at how far we’ve come and where we’re heading next!
 
Listen in now to hear all about it!
 
If you’d like to get in touch with me, just shoot an email to
 
mywaywardstory@gmail.com
 
-or-
 
Head on over to
 
www.waywardstories.com
 
Thanks for listening!

Exploring Where the Red Fern Grows

This week we explore northeastern Oklahoma’s “green country”…the Ozark foothills where Wilson Rawl’s classic work is set. Science folks might try to convince you there’s no such thing as a red fern in the American interior highlands, but we natives know better than that…
 
Join us tonight as we recount my daughter and I’s adventure introducing her to the real world locations of her latest favorite book!
 
If you’d like to get in touch send me an email at
mywaywardstory@gmail.com
 
or visit
 
www.waywardstories.com