This is Part Three of a Four Part Series over the Explorer and Spy Zebulon Montgomery Pike.

In this episode, Pike and his men get escorted from their stockade on the Conejo River down to Santa Fe where they meet the governor. Along the way they stop at many a pueblo and town which Pike describes in detail. From Santa Fe, the group rendezvous with Robinson before heading to Old Mexico. There’s intrigue, political discussions, Apaches, and more as they travel on the Royal Road.

In this episode, Pike and his men leave the Pawnee village and traipse through the Great Plains until they reach the Arkansas River where Lt. Wilkinson and a few other soldiers will take canoes down to Louisiana. Meanwhile, Pike will reach the Mexican (Rocky) Mountains where he will attempt to climb Pike’s Peak before finding the headwaters of the Arkansas and Platte Rivers. But as winter settles in and his men’s strength weakens, he fatefully decides to cross the Sangre de Cristos in an attempt to find the “Red River”. We know though, that he was headed for the the Rio del Norte (Rio Grande) the entire time in an effort to get captured by the Spanish and escorted through New Mexico and New Spain.

In this episode I cover the rising tensions between the United States and Spain after Jefferson’s acquisition of the Louisiana Territory which nearly brought us to war with the Catholic Kingdom.

Zebulon Montgomery Pike is selected by the Governor of Upper Louisiana Territory, US General, and Spanish spy James Wilkinson to explore the Great Plains & find the headwaters of the Arkansas River. This mission is a ruse though, and the real plan was for Zeb to get captured by the Spanish and be given a tour of the province of New Spain before being escorted back to Louisiana.

This episode covers the first leg of this journey as Pike and his men escort Osage Indians from St. Louis to their lands in Kansas via various rivers. Pike will then head north towards the Pawnee where high tensions between the White and the Red man almost reach a deadly crescendo.

New Interview Episode is out! Bandy and I talk about his awesome novella Rumorosa, a must read. We also discuss the American Southwest in writings and art. We talk about Apaches, California, the Vietnam War, Cormac McCarthy, King of Dogs, our glorious Public Lands and how we must protect them, the Civil War in the Southwest, and everyone’s favorite topic: Man Corn.

Rambo & I discuss his new book Hollywood Samizdat, a collection of stories from his time in Hollywood. We also discuss fly fishing, the decline of LA & the business, the managerial elite, winter sports, New Mexico and the Mountain West, Mormons, helicopter rides, movies, rock climbing, and more.

The incredible author George R Matthews and I discuss his most recent book over Billy the Kid. He clears up some things, corrects some of my series, and we have a great conversation.

This is the eleventh and final episode over Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War.

In this Episode, Billy travels from Mesilla to Lincoln before being put up in the Lincoln County House’s Jail. He’s not there long though, before he makes his most famous jailbreak. After returning to Fort Sumner, Billy is eventually hunted down by Pat Garrett yet again.

I finish the episode with the rest of Pat Garrett’s life, as well as the remaining living participants of the story I’ve told thus far.

Stay tuned for my interview with author George R Matthews who wrote the greatest book over Billy and the war that has yet been published.

This is the tenth episode of eleven that will discuss Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War that took place in New Mexico.

In this episode, Billy the Kid, Billy Wilson, Rudabaugh, and Tom Pickett are taken from Stinking Springs to Fort Sumner before heading to Las Vegas and then to Santa Fe. There is a tense moment on the train platform in Las Vegas. The men are interviewed by various newspapers. The Governor still ignores Billy & his pardon as the men sit in the Santa Fe jail. Finally, Billy’s taken to Mesilla to sit in the corrupt Judge Bristol’s court.

I end the episode with the court hearing, the verdict, and the sealing of Billy the Kid’s fate.

This is the ninth episode of eleven that will discuss Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War that took place in the 1870s in New Mexico.

I open the episode with Pat Garrett’s life and background before catching up to the story of Billy the Kid. A Secret Service agent is sent at the behest of Dolan and the House to New Mexico to investigate Billy’s new friends and the noose around our hero’s neck tightens.

Billy does ultimately break bad when he murders a man in cold blood which results in two ex-Regulators dying, and eventually, Billy getting arrested by Pat Garrett.

This is the eighth episode of eleven that will discuss Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War that took place in the 1870s in New Mexico.

In this episode, what’s left of the Regulators get in a shootout with the Apache as they attempt to steal horses which will result in the death of an Indian Agent, although, not at the hands of the Regulators. The Regulators eventually flee Lincoln for Fort Sumner and elsewhere. And they do so just in the nick of time as Lincoln County once again erupts into chaos from Selman’s Scouts.

Also in this episode, a new Governor arrives in New Mexico with the intent of quelling the unrest in the nation’s largest county. Billy buries the hatchet with the House mere moments before an egregious murder which forces Billy to flee yet again. Court comes back into session. Promises will be broken. Billy flees yet again. And Billy kills a drifter in self defense.

It’s a packed and frustrating episode. If things had gone as planned, Billy the Kid would have probably been writing his own dime novels or tell all books at a ripe old age.