The Podcast
Edna and Charlotte get their first look at the place they’ve been trying to see for over a year. Standing high above the valley floor, overlooking Death Valley for the first time – do you think they were happy they were there or nah?
Continue reading “S3:E5 – Backtracks, Chapter 5: Entering Death Valley”
Why we’re still sticking around Florida: featuring delicious raw bars, freezing iguanas, the new worst smell I’ve ever experienced, miles of serene beaches, and all kinds of sea specimens.
Edna and Charlotte decide that they can’t drive into Death Valley – a more traditional, formal expedition will need to be mounted if they are going to reach their goal. So they go back home, back east, and wait for the hot desert summer to pass. In January, they return to Silver Lake and to their guide, the sheriff. The trio travel by railroad to Beatty, NV, where they rent a cart, a burro, and a horse, stock up on a month’s worth of supplies, and head west towards the valley.
Continue reading “S3:E4 – Backtracks, Chapter 4: The Outfit”
Edna and Charlotte bum around Silver Lake, chasing mirages back and forth across the dry lake bed, then take a treacherous drive to Saratoga Springs with the town’s sheriff. They get tantalizingly close to their goal in Death Valley, walking when they can drive no further and learning firsthand how the heat, light, and distance of Death Valley gave the place its name.
Continue reading “S3:E3 – Backtracks, Chapter 3: The White Heart”
Edna and Charlotte try to get their Death Valley trip underway but face plenty of obstacles. They visit the Imperial Valley and the Salton Sea and gain some healthy respect for the desert. Armed with new determination, they finally arrive on the doorstep of Death Valley in Silver Lake, CA. Will they finally find what they are looking for, or will they give up and head back home?
Continue reading “S3:E2 – Backtracks, Chapter 2: How We Found Mojave”
First, we talk about how this podcast is going to work. Then, Edna takes over and reveals why she and Charlotte decided to go to Death Valley for a lighthearted break from raising children and fighting for women’s rights in the 1920s. Why are two wealthy women from Cleveland so obsessed with going to Death Valley? Let’s find out!
Continue reading “S3:E1 – Backtracks, Chapter 1: The Feel of the Outdoors”
A hundred years ago, it was considered by most to be foolish, absurd, unthinkable for two women to travel on their own, especially to an undeveloped place like Death Valley. A hundred years later, anyone who thinks that idea is foolish – well, they are the ones considered absurd now.
A hundred years ago, in the early 1920s, Edna Brush Perkins and Charlotte Hannahs Jordan, both in their early 40s, went to find the heart of the desert in Death Valley. A hundred years later, in the early 2020s, I, on the verge of 40, found the book Edna wrote about the experience, The White Heart of Mojave. As I devoured it, I wondered why it didn’t have a more prominent spot on the shelf of adventure classics. This is my attempt to make that book and these two women more widely known and to modernize this classic adventure narrative on the centennial of its publication.
Continue reading “S3:E0 – Backtracks Trailer: The White Heart of Mojave”
Road Tripping in America is a podcast about life on the road, brought to you by two restless souls, Lisa and Paul. We’re exploring the US in a pickup truck with a camper – we named our setup The Bobs.
If you daydream about long-term travel or overlanding or #vanlife – or maybe you’re already on your own adventure – join us for some entertainment from the road. We’re in search of off-the-beaten-path adventures and new experiences. You can also read and see more on our blog, Driving Inertia, where we post photos from our journeys.
We release new episodes every two weeks, usually on Mondays or Tuesdays.
If there’s anything you’re curious about, you’re looking for road life advice, or you have suggestions for places we need to visit, we’d love to hear from you – email us at info(at)roadtrippinginamerica.com.
After five months on the road, we share a budget update, answer some unanswered questions from previous episodes, and find out what each other’s “ests” were (the bests, worsts, scariests).
In canyon country, we force our bodies through cracks in the ground in places like Buckskin Gulch and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, send the Bobs down tough roads, and struggle with some big questions about land use. After 35 days of this, after enjoying endless canyons, gorgeous dispersed camping spots, carefully timed resupply runs, and achieving furnace temperature perfection, we finally feel like we have hit our stride with road life – just in time to pause for a few weeks.