In the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic, most of the places we love to visit are off limits. It is an especially painful time for those of us who depend on immersing in to distinctive travel destinations. What gives my life meaning more than anything else as a travel journalist is helping to shine a light on deserving communities. Personally, a cherished experience was being invited by the Hopi Nation back in 2012 to do a series of radio shows about their plans to start a Hopi Arts Trail .

COVID-19 has brought day-to-day interactions and retail commerce to a virtual standstill around the world. The Hopi and Navajo reservations have been particularly hard hit, with tribal villages and businesses shuttered. The world keeps spinning and the tribal communities continue to function and interact via online and remote vehicles of communications. Hopefully before too long the tribal communities will return to normal and once again welcome visitors and tourists from around the world.

Join correspondent Tom Wilmer for a fascinating conversation with Mike Wolfe, host of American Pickers on the History Channel. Wilmer met up with Wolfe at his home in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee. Wolfe shares engaging tales of growing up in Eau Claire, Iowa where he started picking treasures found in dumpsters as a six year-old, his quest to create the television show and how the proud denizens of the heartland of America continue to touch his heart. You are invited to subscribe to the Lowell

Correspondent Tom Wilmer visits with Rob Robinson, musician and owner of Puckett’s Grocery & Restaurant in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee. Puckett’s has been a community center of sorts in town since 1953. It’s much more than a grocery and eatery—it’s also a rocking live music venue. Come along and join Robinson for the rest of the story and learn why Puckett’s is an anchor in the Nashville’s Big Back Yard economic, tourism destination initiative—the brainchild of Leiper’s Fork based visionary,

Principal Dr. Ryan Jackson shares with correspondent Tom Wilmer how Tennessee’s Mt Pleasant Arts Innovation Zone preK-12 educational model benefits student’s educational goals by infusing Art into S.T.E.M. Learning comes alive, as students passionately work on curricular projects ranging from creating NASA-mentored self-sustaining habitats on Mars, to building/selling tiny houses that can result in various trade certifications at completion. Gone is the “sit and listen” drudgery, replaced by the

Correspondent Tom Wilmer reports from Edinburgh, Scotland where he visits with Richard Paterson , regarded as one of the world’s foremost blenders of Scotch Whisky. Afterwards Wilmer talks with Daryl McNally at Old Bushmills Distillery , the world’s oldest licensed distillery, located along Northern Ireland ’s Antrim Coast, just a wee drive from Belfast. This show is a repost “best-of-the-best” travel show in celebration of Journeys of Discovery’s 31st anniversary producing on-air and digital

Tom Reed came to Hohenwald, Tennessee back in 1971 as a vanguard member of a commune dubbed "The Farm” . Hundreds of hippies arrived in their vans and more than 80 school busses adorned with banners proclaiming “Out to Save the World”. They purchased 1,750 acres and settled in, and the Farm is still thriving in the Hohenwald, Tennessee countryside. Reed eventually left the commune but he and his wife returned to Hohenwald toward the end of their careers in the health care field. Today they are

Join correspondent Tom Wilmer for a visit with Lee Kennedy, owner of Leiper’s Fork Distillery located on the outskirts of uptown Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee. Kennedy shares insights about producing Tennessee whiskey and bourbon, events at the distillery and the process of growing his elixir’s market distribution. Kennedy noted that his philosophy is predicated on honoring the spirit of pioneer regional whisky-distillers and utilizing locally grown ingredients. The Leiper’s Fork Distillery show is

Join correspondent Tom Wilmer in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee where he visits with two artists, Lisa Fox and D avid Arms who own galleries in the heart of uptown Leiper’s Fork. The rural community is less than 40 miles from Nashville, but it’s a world apart. The Art of Leiper’s Fork is the ninth in a series showcasing the Nashville’s Big Back Yard economic initiative—a showcase of rural destinations along the Natchez Trace National Parkway from Leiper’s Fork, down along the Parkway route to Northern

Amber Falls Winery and Cellars , situated close to the Natchez Trace National Parkway , is just 17 minutes away from the town of Hohenwald and an hour and a quarter to downtown Nashville. In addition to a tasting room with retail sales and outdoor live-music events scheduled throughout the year, cottages adjacent to the winery are available for overnight stays. Join correspondent Tom Wilmer for a visit with the owner of Amber Falls Winery, Tim Zaunbrecher. If you can’t make it out to the winery,