Descending 1,885 miles straight down the center of the United States from Westhope, North Dakota, to Brownsville, Texas, is U.S. 83, one of the oldest and longest of the federal highways that hasn’t been replaced by an Interstate.

Magnuson takes listeners on a trip down the road and through the history of the Northern Great Plains. The famous and the forgotten are found in stories he discovers.

The presentation features a sample of Magnuson’s collection of more than 5,000 U.S. Route 83 historic and present-day images and ephemera. Explorers Pierre de la Vérendrye, Lewis & Clark, Jedediah Smith, are all encountered along with Chief Spotted Tail of the Brulé Lakotas, TV sensation Lawrence Welk and rodeo superstar Casey Tibbs. Cold-blooded killers, homesteaders, ballplayers and rail barons from yesteryear meet today’s truckers, oil rig workers and ghost towns inhabitants as Magnuson launches his own Voyage of Discovery in a beat-up 1999 Mazda Protégé through the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

“The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83: The Dakotas,” is a love poem to the natural beauty of the prairie and the fascinating people—both past and present—found along the road.