Rage and Resentment Are Killing the Great American Road Trip

Reveal

The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

News

4.7 • 8K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A record 45 million Americans were expected to travel this Memorial Day weekend, long considered the unofficial kickoff to summer. And most of them were hitting the road. Sarah Kendzior is no stranger to the family road trip. Her family, in fact, has visited 38 states—and counting. These trips were born out of a love and curiosity for America and a desire to explore small towns, vast National Parks, and the unexpected oddities along the way. And when money was tight, the best way for her family to see the country was simply to jump in the car and go.

In her new book, The Last American Road Trip: A Memoir, Sarah chronicles those family trips while grappling with a country she believes is failing to uphold its own ideals. Sarah says she feels an urgency to share the country she loves with her children but often wonders if these travels—and the version of America she knows—might be coming to an end.“Every trip I describe in that book,” Sarah says, “I set off wondering: Is this the last time the four of us will get to be together exploring America with the freedom that we have now?”

On this week’s More To The Story, Sarah chats with host Al Letson about trying to show her children the America she adores while holding a light to its flaws, her concerns for the nation’s future, and why hitting the road is often the best way to understand yourself—and your country.

Donate today at Revealnews.org/more
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at Revealnews.org/weekly
Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky

Listen: Black in the Sunshine State (Reveal)

Read: Republicans Aim to Generate Support for Selling Off America’s Public Lands (Mother Jones)

Read: How to Travel Abroad as the World’s Most Toxic Brand: American (Mother Jones)

Read: The Last American Road Trip: A Memoir, by Sarah Kendzior

Note: If you buy a book using our Bookshop link, a small share of the proceeds supports our journalism.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I worried that this would be the last one.
0:04.5	Every trip I describe in that book, I set off wondering, you know, is this the last time the four of us will get to be together exploring America with the freedom that we have now?
0:14.5	It's my homeland. It's a part of me.
0:17.2	If I had to leave, there will never be another country where I feel at home.
0:20.7	And I think a lot of
0:21.7	folks feel this way. It's that time a year where families are making plans for long weekends
0:27.7	and hot summer days. Author Sarah Kensior is a total road trip pro. She's road tripped to 38 states.
0:36.1	But lately, the country outside her car window feels like it's deteriorating fast into rage, dissolution, and mutual misunderstanding.
0:46.0	The fate of the Great American Road Trip.
0:48.4	Coming up on more to the story. This is more to the story. This is more to the story. I'm out Ledson.
1:15.6	Author Sarah Kensior is no stranger to traversing the country with kids in tow.
1:21.0	Her latest book, The Last American Road Trip, is a memoir of exploring the country by car
1:26.8	during some really tough times.
1:29.4	The Joy in and Love for the Journey, tainted by the fear that someday all of this could be lost.
1:36.6	Sarah, I'm so glad you're here. How you doing?
1:39.1	I'm good doing well. How are you?
1:40.9	I'm good because I am such a huge fan of yours. I've been a fan of yours for many, many, many years.
1:47.3	Well, thank you. I read, I think it was your first book, View from Flyover Country. Yes.
1:53.3	It's been years since I read that book, but I remember reading it and feeling like the book was a warning. Like, hey, this is the path that we're on, and if we don't make
2:04.4	some corrections, this is where we could go. And your new book, The Last American Road Trip,
2:12.2	it almost feels like that path forward that you were worried about is the path that we have as a country
2:19.7	fully embraced. And what the book felt like to me was it felt a little sad like this is where
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.