Welcome to Road Lore Stories

Pull up a seat. Name's Miles, and I've spent more time in the front seat than most folks spend in their living rooms. Over the years, I've learned something: every exit, every rest stop, every patch of asphalt you're rolling over right now has a story worth telling.

The thing is, most of those stories never make it onto the roadside plaques. They're tucked into local newspapers from decades back, whispered around small-town diners, or buried in county archives that nobody but the town historian has touched since 1974. That's where RoadLore comes in — we dig up those stories and hand them to you, right when you need them most.

Maybe it's the bridge you just crossed that was built by a carnival of characters in the 1930s. Maybe it's the unassuming field you're passing that once hosted the world's largest watermelon festival (and the subsequent watermelon riot — long story). Or maybe it's the story of how that sleepy little town got its name from a traveling salesman's pet raccoon.

This blog is where we pull back the curtain on how RoadLore works, share the stranger-than-fiction stories that don't quite fit into a three-minute audio tale, and explore the forgotten corners of American history that somehow ended up next to a Dairy Queen off Highway 40.

We'll talk about the historians and archivists who help us track down these tales, the technology that lets us whisper them into your ear at exactly the right moment, and the beautiful, bizarre tapestry of stories that make up this country's back roads.

Every mile has a memory. Every town has a tale. And if you know where to look — or who to ask — the highway becomes a whole lot more interesting than the GPS ever let on.

Buckle up. There's a story coming up on your right.