Who look more white. Right. But i suppose all of you have choctaw or nativeamerican blood in you. Well, im actually choctaw and chickasaw myself, and, for the most part, i figure were more mixed because we accepted the different folks that migrated round us, and thats what helped us develop into such a big tribe and to be strong. The choctaw were removed from alabama and mississippi. The creek from georgia. The seminole from florida. The cherokee from North Carolina and the chickasaws from tennessee. All roads eventually leading west to oklahoma indian territory. While i check out a game of ishlatubby ishtaboli , a kind of ancient stickball, i talk with joe watkins, the director of the nativeamerican studies program at the university of oklahoma. Andrew jackson was saying the only way we can protect you from the states of georgia, alabama, tennessee is to move you away from that european influence. Well move you to oklahoma. Well never let anyone be there. Itll always be indian territory. How would you describe what if felt like for the native americans to be on the trail of tears . It was hardship. They were able to, basically, take what they could carry on their back. If they were lucky enough to have a wagon, they filled that with whatever they could. Most of the time, the elderly and the very young rode on the wagon, but beyond that, everyone walked, anywhere from 30 to 40 miles a day. They were like forced marches. They had a schedule to meet. They were illprepared for travel. They were illprovisioned. Ill health, but sometimes it was in rain, sleet, snow, extremes of weather. A good 10,000 to2,000 people died along the way because the care just wasnt there. So it wasit was grueling. 1, 2, 3. Choctaw rule [all howl] in the end, promises were broken, hopes of a better life were dashed, but the original 5 indian nations live on, many settling in their new land and thriving there. The historic route 66, one of americas original interstate highways, first opened in 1926. It was famous for connecting chicago to los angeles by linking up one small town to another, thereby earning its nicknameamericas main street. Im picking up the route 66 in miama miami , oklahoma, and heading west all the way to Oklahoma City. These days, route 66 is like a phantom road. You wont even find many signs for it. It was officially decommissioned in 1985. In fact, they even bulldozed over some of the older parts to build bigger freeways. But here in oklahoma, the locals like to boast that this is the largest strip of route 66 thats still intact, just like it used to be, 2 lanes running straight through oldfashioned main streets like here in miama miami . Its like traveling back in time. Hello, justine. Hi, dave. How are you today . Good. This is such a treat. Wow. I just close it like this . Yes, maam. Lets hit the route 66. Ready to go, huh . David cane loves tracking the old route 66 almost as much as he loves his vintage car collection. Driving in his 1936 packard, we talk about the grapesofwrath era, when writer John Steinbeck described route 66 as the mother road that led so many impoverished people west in hopes of finding work. Imagine this in the 30s, the dust bowl days. People from missouri and oklahoma with no place to stay, no food, in a model t ford truck, get on this road to go to california. Was it almost like a convoy of people leaving here . Oh, absolutely. A continuous stream, and, to me, this old piece of highway brings that whole history of the United States right back to you. You see the concrete on the sides . Yes. Those are the curbs. This is the width of route 66. Wow. Very narrow. This is it. So if you met that old mack truck coming the other way, you would do this. So you had 2 wheels of the car on the pavement and the other two in the gravel. Route 66 takes us right through the center of afton, where an old 1930s gas station has been transformed into a museum for daves antique cars and route 66 memorabilia. [horn honks] my route 66 time travel continues into the 1950s, when the road evolved into a top vacation route for a more prosperous postwar america. Then on to the 60s, the heyday for kooky attractions, souvenir shops, and driveins. The road can be a lonely place. One way to make new friends on the route 66 is to join the oklahoma mustang club. [revs engine] bye. Bye. Bye. Byebye. The final stop on todays road trip is pops just outside of Oklahoma City. A brandnew diner that sprang up on the old 66, proving that a new generation of travelers are rediscovering the joys of this classic journey. I havent had a cherry soda in, i dont know, 20 years. This is the perfect ending to a Beautiful Day on route 66. [burps] Oklahoma City conjures up images from the movies of cowboys and ranchers and cattle drives. Today, Oklahoma City is a pretty modern place, but on the outskirts, theres a neighborhood called stockyard city where shops have sprung up that cater to reallive cowboys and cowgirls and the cattle industry. You cant really see the wild west today, but you sure can smell it. Why, i think i smell the wild west right over there. [mooing] since 1910, the Oklahoma City stockyards have ranked as one of the biggest cattletrading markets in the world. If youre a vegetarian, the Oklahoma City stockyards may not be the place for you. [calling auction, indistinct] Bailey Ballou is one of the auctioneers for the stockyards. [calling, indistinct] number 65. So how do you do that thing where you talk so fast and yet everybody can understand what youre saying . Its mostly just a magical illusion. The biggest thing that we want to convey are the numbers. Were relating what we have bid on the cattle and what wed like to have bid on the cattle. You want your numbers to be understandable, and everything in between is what we call a filler. It might be word. It might be some words or a phrase that you use. Like, if were asking a dollar a pound, were gonna be asking a dollar one. A dollar one . Ok. Hundred, hundred and one, [indistinct chatter] one, one, one. Now two, hundred and two, two, two, two, one on one, one on two, now three, hundred and three, three and four. [indistinct chatter] i like that. [imitates auctioneering]. You do. Thats good. One, one, drr, drr, two, two. Thats the filler, and its really not a word. Like i said, its just a filler. Something that you try to do with your tongue or your mouth, and a lot of times, youre gonna cut down what youre saying. You know, say, would you bid . Would you bid . You say, whadya bid . Whadya bid . It pops a little easy. Right. Whadya bid . Whadya bid, whadya bid, whadya bid . [tries imitating, gibberish] or you can say, what do ya give . [imitating badly] then say, one. One. What do ya give two . One, what do ya give two . One, what do ya give two . One, what do ya give two . [overlapping chatter] now three. Now three. Now three. Now three. Now four. What do ya bid four . [gibberish] ha ha. There you go. So beef is big business in the United States of america, huh . Beef is very Large Business here. Yes, yes. Were in the heart of beef country as well, you know. Id say the majority ofnot the majority, but a large percentage of beef is grown in texas and oklahoma. So, you know, were being right here in the center of oklahoma, we see a lot of travel and a lot of trade right here through where were standing. Will all these cows eventually become hamburger meat . Yes. Yes. Yeah, these cattle here, all today, you know, barring just a few of the heifers maybe, may go back to the country and become cows again, but im going to say 99 of everything that were gonna sell today will eventually end up on feed and into the freezer some way. Im leaving Oklahoma City and continuing west on route 66. From Oklahoma City, i cut right through the texas panhandle and head on to albuquerque, new mexico. Im craving some authentic southwest flavor, so just north of downtown albuquerque, along an original stretch of the old 66, i head for the el pinto restaurant. Red chilecheese enchilada, yeah. I bumped into dave dewitt, a food writer who has been dubbed the pope of peppers. Southwest is famous for growing chili peppers. New mexico grows more chili peppers than any other state, has for a long time, and we have festivals devoted to chili peppers, and so there is a complete culture just devoted to chili peppers, and theres books and clubs and organizations. And people are hotsauce collectors, salsa collectors, and that sort of thing, and its what we do here. Youve come to the right place if you like spicy food. Theres a certain salsa thats made here called the scorpion salsa thats not on the menu. Its not on the menu . Its not on the menu. Its rareits the hottest salsa in the world. They make it here, but they dont tell everybody, because as soon as they make a batch, it sells out within hours. But whats the point of making a salsa so spicy that you cant eat it . The scorpion salsas very flavorful. Its just super hot, because the scorpion peppers the hottest pepper in the world, and thats what makes it so hot, and they have to, of course, tone it down a bit, because its over a million scoville heat units when whats a scoville heat unit . Thats the measurement of chili peppers. They have a measurement for chili peppers . Yeah. It was invented in 1912 by a guy named wilbur scoville, and we call it the scoville scale for chili peppers. They go all the way from zero to way over a million. Whats, like, tabasco sauce . Tabasco sauce is about 3,000 or 4,000. Scoville units . Yes. And this scorpion one that youre telling me about is . 1. 2 million. Wow. Yeah. I cant resist trying to get a taste of this, so i head off in search of the el pinto ownersjim and john thomas. Jim and john are down to their last few jars of the salsa. I am about to eat the worlds spiciest salsa. Thats a lot. Isnt that too much . Thats too much. Ok. Im about to eat the hottest salsa on planet earth. Is the backup all ready to go . Yeah, its ready. We got the backup, right . The sour cream and the milk and the guacamole. Ok. All right, i am a chilihead, and i am about to eat the spiciest salsa known to man. [whispers] yeah. Watch me. Now. Ill do it now. Go ahead. Chomp down on it. [laughter] i am about to eat the spiciest salsa known to man and womankind that was designed to be edible. Here you go. I cant say that word on tv. The word i want to say, im not allowed to say it, but what i will say is that it is tasty. I will say it is flavorful. It is very spicy. The heat is now traveling down my throat, up into my lips, and i am so grateful for the sour cream. [laughter] she did it. And wow. And the milk. And the guacamole. Yeah. Thanks. From albuquerque, i take a detour south to the desert near magdalena, new mexico. This is the land where the first atomic bomb was tested and where some believe the government has hidden ufos and aliens, among other conspiracy theories. Those giant radio antennas that suddenly appear off the road look suspiciously like an alien invasion, but the very large array welcomes visitors to see for themselves that this is not run by little green men. Dave finley from the Research Center says many other important observations have been made here to do with black holes, galaxy clusters and starbursts. Do you think that extraterrestrial intelligence exists . Well, i think the chances are very good that theres extraterrestrial life. We see the precursors to life out there, even before the stars and planets come along. The chances are pretty good that life will somehow form, but we dont have any confirmation of that yet. I head back up north to pick up the route 66 again, traveling west into arizona for the last stop of my road trip near winslow. Im meeting up with geoff notkin, who has a special interest in my next destination, a 50,000yearold natural wonder. So why do people call you the meteorite man . I am a meteorite specialist. Im a science writer. I travel the world searching for meteorites. Im involved in recovery and research and, for me, meteorites are the most Amazing Things on earth. Theyre genuine visitors from outer space, and not only are they wondrous and elusive objects, but they give us a glimpse into the history of the solar system in which we all live. I love this site. This is where an enormous chunk of iron that was once part of the core of an asteroid slammed into our planet with such force that it threw this ridge up and excavated a giant crater. Although it looks like this might just be a ridge or some low hills, this is actually the exterior of the crater. You cannot see the crater from here. The Meteor Crater is privately owned and can only be viewed by passing through a Visitor Center that charges an admission fee. We have a verticular gale for you today. What do you think . Whoo. This is as windy as it gets up here. Oh, wow. Thats incredible. How big was the meteor that made that big hole . Much smaller than you would think. Its thought to have been about the size of a small apartment building, possibly 4 or 5 stories, which would be a big meteorite if you looked at it, but when you place that meteorite into the crater, in comparison, it seems tiny. Its its density and the speed at which it hits our planet that generates the enormous explosion, that forms a crater that seems much larger than it should be. The incoming meteorites that we see in hollywood movies are burning, and theres smoke everywhere, and there are tremendous explosions, and most meteorites are actually not burning when they hit the earth. As they enter the atmosphere, the denser the atmosphere becomes, and so they slow down. If, say, a softballsized meteorite landed on the earth, it would probably just land on the surface, might make a small indentation. Its only the largest and densest meteorites, traveling at sufficient velocity, that can hammer their way through the atmosphere and make these craters. In other words, at any time, a meteorite could hit l. A. , new york, chicago, san francisco, boom, no warning, everyones dead. Exactly. Sorry to worry you. The good news is what is the good news . Is there any good news . There is excellent news and that is that impacts of this size are extremely rare. Safe travels. Thank you, geoff. Take care. Bye. Watch out for falling rocks. For over 20 years, ive traveled to over 40 countries around the globe, and while the world is getting smaller, the wonder of travel remains large. Travel is magical. It transports me to other places and into other peoples lives, and whats been most remarkable about this particular journey is that this time, i didnt have to travel very far at all to find the magic, because its all right here in my very own backyard. Next on globe trekker round the world, we cross the border into mexico and join judith jones as we continue our journey south and west to latin america the land of conquistadors, aztecs, and the incas. Stay tuned for a special globe trekker extra. [captioning made possible by friends of nci] funding for this program is provided by subaru. At subaru, we build vehicles like the rugged outback, with symmetrical allwheel drive standard and plenty of cargo space for those who pack even more adventure into life. Subaru, a proud sponsor of globe trekker. You can find more about the series on our websites. Programs from the globe trekker series are available on dvd, or visit globetrekkerchannel. Tv to find out where you can watch us online. Music from the series is available on cd. You can also order globe trekker books, featuring information on festivals, events, and outdoor activities. To order globe trekker products, call 8885650361 or visit globetrekkertv. Com. The early days of making this show were really so different than how it feels making the show in the 21st century. Because the office couldnt reach us, there were 5 of us, and there stillusually just 5 or 6 people on the crew the presenter, the director, the producer, the camera, the sound, and then a driver who, in many instances, also can serve as the translator, and it was just us out on the road, and, you know, the initial itinerary would say, oh, you got to shoot the blah, blah, blah, and then wed meet someone at a little restaurant whod say, ah, dont bother with the blah, blah, blah. You should go to the. And so we just kept changing things around. Wed go where people told us to go, and the otherthe great thing about globe trekker is that its unscripted. And that is really unusual. It is so unusual to be on camera in a Television Program and not have someone telling you what youre supposed to say. And i think thats why globe trekker really caught the imagination of so many people around the world, because it felt like real backpacker travel, and itbecause it was. It was a lowbudget, offthebeaten track backpacker show, and it really was. It was really very much about, you know, how do you see the world on a budget with a backpack on your back . And that was really exciting, because what we were demonstrating was that you didnt have to have a lot of money to see the world. And i think that was very important for people to see that, you know, this is our world, and this is your world, and go for it. You know, beyond paying for the plane ticket, you can make a dollar go a really long way. These days, globe trekker isnt so focused around this idea of making a dollar go a long way and the sort of lowbudget backpack travel experience. And im not sure why. Maybe the world is, you know, i dont know, i guess the world is a more accessible place now. I mean, planes fly to places now that werent flying to place when i was doing the show. When i started globe trekker, we were going places where really travelers werent going. We went to visit hill tribes in the mountain regions of vietnam in 94, and a huge part of vietnam is in the mountainous regions. Those people didnt know there had been a war. Theyd heard the planes and theyd heard the bombings, they knew something was going on, but they had no direct experience with the war, and we got to this village. It was the most beautiful thing id ever seen. The entire irrigation system were bamboo stems. Theyd been cut in half, and the water was dripping from one bamboo to the other. It was just beautiful, and the people there didnt speak vietnamese, so we had to have a translator from english to vietnamese and vietnamese to their language and then back again. And no one in that village, except for the chief, who had met a russian, no one else in that village had ever seen a foreigner. Maybe you have some Energy Saving appliances, like an Energy Starrated washer and dryer. But what about your tv . Chances are its on more than your washer, dryer, and Kitchen Appliances combined. Did you know that if half of us in the u. S. Replaced our regular tvs with an energy star model, the change would be like shutting down a power plant . You can find the energy star on everything from standard to high def to the largest flatscreen your heart desires. Ow that makes sense. Ow that makes sense. Diversity is healthy. I mean when you have all this biodiversity, it generally indicates resiliency and that, thats the key to good conservation planning. The question is how do we foster resiliency, how do you keep all this biodiversity around, how do you generate it . Well, we may find the answer right here. Join me on todays expedition as we explore a land that has been the last refuge for so many, a land that in many respects really is an island california. Music