America's Historic Trails with Tom Bodett: Companion to the Public Television Series Paperback - 1997

From the publisher

This companion book to the 13-part PBS series leads travelers and history buffs along the wilderness trails and wagon roads that helped make American history
-- Covers ten still-existing routes in all regions of the United States.-- Includes additional historical background, maps, and practical travel information not given in the TV series.Since the days of its earliest explorers, America has always had people set out in search of new territories and a better way of life. This companion guide to a new PBS series traces the footsteps and wagon wheels of the explorers, patriots, slaves, and gold seekers that make up some of the most exciting chapters of America's history. The series and the book follow ten actual routes that still exist and tell the stories of each route's historical places and colorful personalities. But unlike the series, the book also contains travel information and maps for sightseers and adventurers who want to trace the paths of their forebears. Routes include:
-- The El Camino Real, the 16th-century trail taken by Spanish soldiers marching north from Mexico-- The Wilderness Road from Virginia to Kentucky, which includes the secret routes and stopovers of the Underground Railroad
-- The Mormon Trail over the plains and deserts of Nebraska and Wyoming that led Mormons along their 20-year search for religious liberty-- The California and Gold Rush trails, which brought fortune seekers to the Mother Lode and to Alaska during the gold strikes of the 19th century