Sharing America’s story can be challenging, especially in an era when history is being sanitized. But this as well as what I have been told is a God given gift for telling people where to go are the foundation for Jim Hinckley’s America.

Professionally this adventure kicked off in 1990. That was the year Myloe’s Marvelous Mechanical Menagerie was published in Special interest Autos.

This was the first time that I traded my talents for storytelling for a check. And it was the first time that I shared America’s story and my passion for road trips with an audience.

That story proved to be surprisingly popular. But what motorhead wouldn’t be fascinated by the story of an eighty year old wrecking yard that had been closed for decades?

To be honest that story almost wrote itself as I had let Myloe do most of the talking. And he was a colorful character.

Publication of the story was an honor. But that paled with the opportunity to share the story of a decorated WWII fighter pilot that bought a remote desert wrecking yard after the war.

And for added flavor I had some very colorful stories to share. As an example, there was the time that Myloe was stopped by the highway patrol during his drive to the liquor store at the bottom of the hill. At the time he was driving an unlicensed 1918 Oldsmobile. This was in 1988. And the car hadn’t been licensed since before the war!

But my favorite tale was the one about helping to recover brand new Chevy trucks from a train wreck in 1955. Photographing the carcasses of the damaged trucks were still in his yard enhanced the story.

Sharing America’s Story

Since publication of that first feature article, opportunities to share America’s unique, fascinating, tragic, and inspirational story with an international audience have been diverse. To date I have written hundreds of feature articles for an array of publications. And I have taken to the stage at festivals in Zlin, Czechia, Ofterdingen, Germany, Utrecht, Netherlands, Jackson, Michigan, Los Angeles, and countless other locations.

I have shared stories and inspired road trips with the publishing of books. Release of Route 66: 100 Years this fall (now available for preorder) is a milestone in this journey. First, this is my 23rd book. But what sets this anthology apart from previous work is that it was written in partnership with some very talented friends including Greg Hasman, Rhys Martin, Joe Sonderman, Cheryl Eichar Jett and Dries Bessels.

Sharing America’s story begins with learning about America’s story. At Jim Hinckley’s America one manifestation of this is Coffee With Jim, our weekly podcast on Podbean.

The program guest list that has included Richard Lentinello of Crankshaft magazine, Scott Dahl, CVB Directorr in Springfield, Illinois, Elizabeth Olwig of the Missouri Route 66 Association, and Kathleen Hendrickson that shared the history of the original Las Vegas in New Mexico, has helped transform the podcast into a community of folks passionate about road trips and the American story.

The popularity of the podcast, website, YouTube channel and Instagram posts is fueling growth of the Jim Hinckley’s America Facebook page. Currently the reach of our community of passionate road trip enthusiasts is pushng beyond 300,000 people every month.

Detours and Side Trips

As every road trip enthusiast knows, detours and side trips are all part of the adventure. For Jim Hinckley’s America blog writing for clients is one of those side trips. This has proven to be a rather fascinating endeavor. It also provides opportunity for this old dog to learn new tricks. And it provides opportunities for sharing what I am passionate about.

Currently travel centric blogs and newsletter features are provided to Two Lane America as well as RouteTrip USA. I also write similar content for The Bee, the Colorado River Valley’s largest media outlet.

Linked with this is meet and greet sessions with tour groups. These are wonderful venues for the sharing of America’s story. I am now a regular feature on Gilligan’s Route 66 Tours, Two Lane America’s Route 66 tours, and a few others.

And I also write a regular blog about regional events as well as local history for the Kingman Tours website. This is the portal for the innovative QR code based self guided historic district walking tour launched by Kingman Main Street. In addition to the blogs I also provided the narration for the points of interest.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Many people associate Jim Hinckley’s America with Route 66 and road trips. So, they might be surprised to find that for one of our clients we write on a wide array of topics. But even in these diverse blog posts there is opportunity to share America’s story and inspire a road trip or two.

A good friend of mine owns Talisman Magic Marketing. Many of his clients rely on my blog posts to boost SEO, and to help build an identity. I have been providing this service for years. The research needed to ensure relevancy is an adventure of another kind. It also provides me with an opportunity to learn about new technologies.

Currently I am writing blog posts for Baron Services, a pest control company in Bullhead City, Arizona, and the restaurants under the umbrella of Lake Havasu City based Shugrue’s Restaurant and Brewery Group. I also write posts for Crazy Horse Campgrounds that is also in Lake Havasu City.

I am learning how to use to ChatGPT and Notebook LM as a research assistant. Considering that when I started this adventure in 1990 snail mail, the county library, and my personal library were available research tools this is a rather amazing transition.

Now, I am writing blogs for another one of my friend’s clients. I won’t claim to understand how it works. But I am seeing the results. And the research needed to write theese blog posts sets the gears to turning as thoughts turn toward how Yodel can be put to work.

A Brave New World

In a nutshell Yodel is an AI solution for aggregating your community events based on the parameters you set. It then gathers all local or regional events from websites, social media, and public calendars. Then it automatically updates your event calendar.

The result is a robust and accurate events calendar that is updated without consuming your staffs valuable time. This also opens the doors to monetizing the calendar. So, Yodel should be viewed as an investment that transforms your website into a destination.

Yodel was reccently added to the Kingman Tours website. The increase in traffic was an eye opening revelation. More importantly the website now hosts the largest and most up to date events calendar in the region.

Telling People Where to Go

To be honest when that first article was published, I thought my childhood dream of being a writer was about to become a reality. But in my wildest imagination I never envisioned Jim Hinckley’s America. And I never thought that I would find so many different ways to share America’s stroy and to inspire road trips. .

But when my dearest friend and I launched Jim Hinckley’s America one thng was certain. I wanted it to be a shared adventure. So, come along for the road.

Become a follower of our Facebook page. Join us on Sunday mornings for Coffee With Jim. Then become a subscriber. And sign up for blog posts notifications. Then share a comment or two so we can share your adventure. And let us know if you would like us to tell you where to go.