Program 542b: Wild West Ghost Towns; Heroes of Ireland; Savage Harvest

American road-trip aficionado Jim Hinckley recommends Old West ghost towns to visit before they fade away. Then Irish singer Cathie Ryan explains — and demonstrates — how Ireland remembers its heroes in song. And journalist Carl Hoffman lets us in on what he's concluded after researching the disappearance of banking scion Michael Rockefeller, who vanished in 1961 while on an art-buying expedition in the jungles of New Guinea.

• Jim Hinckley, co-author of "Ghost Towns of the West" (Voyageur Press)
• Singer Cathie Ryan
• Reporter Carl Hoffman, author of "Savage Harvest" (William Morrow-Harper Collins)

• Jim Hinckley compiled the guide to "Ghost Towns of the West" with Philip Varney.
• Jim also wrote "Ghost Towns of Route 66" and "America's Longest Small Town" (Voyageur Press) as guides to the region of the old US Route 66. Jim also spoke with Rick on Travel with Rick Steves program #530 in July 2018 about his work promoting historical tourism along the former US Route 66.
• Jim also hosts a weekly podcast from Arizona, called Wake Up with Jim.
• Cathie Ryan's website includes lyrics to many of the traditional Irish songs she's recorded.
• The collection of "National Historical Ballads, Songs and Poems," compiled by Thomas Davis in 1869, is available to view online.
• Carl Hoffman researched the disappearance of Michael Rockefeller among the Asmat people of southwestern New Guinea, in his book "Savage Harvest."
• Nelson Rockefeller's Museum of Primitive Art was incorporated into the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 1969.
• Carl Hoffman was previously on Travel with Rick Steves to talk about his books "The Last Wild Men of Borneo" in March 2018, and "The Lunatic Express" in 2011.

Pgm #542 Haiku awards

Ohio River
bratwurst mustard on my nose
scenic Roebling bridge

— Jim Snyder, Chuluota, Florida

Mist over the moors
Daylight goes gray yearning for
fall to turn hopeful

— Roy Barnes, Cheyenne, Wyoming

Puppets reenact
Pulp Fiction with tiny guns
Strings tangle, limbs fly

— Jorie Slodki, Raleigh, North Carolina