We're Filming Our 100th Episode - And We're Hitting the Road That Built America to Do It
Some milestones sneak up on you. Others feel like they were written in the stars — or, in this case, painted on a highway stretching 2,400 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica. This spring, we are hitting the road to film our 100th episode of Travels with Darley — and we are doing it on Route 66, in the very year the Mother Road turns 100. Two sort of centennials. One unforgettable season. It doesn't get more poetic than that.
Celebrating 100 Episodes of Travels with Darley
We’re hitting the road and getting ready to film our 100th episode. Stay tune for more travel. More stories. And more open road.
100 Episodes. 13+ Seasons. A Whole Lot of Road.
When Travels with Darley debuted on PBS in 2016, the mission was simple and deeply personal: travel with locals, tell their stories, and show the world how much there is to discover when you stop being a tourist and start being curious. What we didn't fully anticipate was just how far that mission would take us — or how many lives, including our own, would be changed along the way.
Thirteen seasons later, we've taken viewers from Macao to Mississippi and from South Korea to South Carolina. And, yes, we’ve even included the state that is most people’s 50th, North Dakota, on multiple road trips! You’ve seen me free-dive with the Haenyeo sea women of South Korea — a UNESCO World Heritage community of female divers who have worked the sea for centuries. I’ve bungee-jumped from the world's highest commercial jump in Macau. One of my favorites, I’ve gotten to cook with some of the world’s best chefs, including in the kitchen of a two-star Michelin restaurant in Belgium.
Many of you have written to me about all of the beer I’ve tasted around the world! There were cocktails, too! I’ve sipped sake at the world's largest fish market in Tokyo, and traced World War I history by cycling along the Western Front in France, ending in champagne sellers with WWI graffiti art. Post off-roading in West Virginia, I found the best brewery at Snowshoe nearby, tried local wine after hot air ballooning over the rock formations of Cappadocia in Türkiye, and even enjoyed whisky tasting for breakfast in Scotland…. because sometimes we have to film segments before the places even open to other travelers!
We've explored the American story in ways that textbooks rarely capture — from the music soul of Muscle Shoals, Alabama to the Creole culture of Martinique. From the cobblestone streets of Quebec City to the neon-lit diners of the American Midwest. Along the way we've met James Beard Award winners cooking over with heirloom ingredients in Charleston, Paralympic cyclists in Huntsville, women changemakers rewriting the story of New Orleans, pitmaster legends in St. Louis, and an 80-year-old log roller in Wisconsin who had more energy than most of us do at thirty. These are the people who make this show worth making. Every single episode.
The Honors Have Meant Everything — And None of Them Would Exist Without the Stories
We are proud to share that Travels with Darley has evolved from its start in 2016 into not just a lot of episodes filled with local and community stories from all over the world but into a multi-platform storytelling ecosystem. The series has received many awards and nominations over the years, which makes us proud, but we are most proud to be able to continue to tell great stories and to now do so on multiple platforms amid a constantly changing world and media landscape.
Some highlights over the years came over time, but one recent award win meant probably the most. Our director of photographer, Greg Barna, who has been working with me on PBS series and content since 2007 with my original series Equitrekking, just last year received the Silver Circle Emmy Award for a lifetime of achievement in photography. We think his 3 Emmy wins across Equitrekking, and his many nominations for Look Up with Darley had something to do with this honor! We couldn’t be prouder. So many of you who know us know that Greg and our small team are super talented, but this honor is huge… and well deserved.
That moment last fall on the red carpet, surrounded by our tight-knit team with Chad Davis and Evelyn Kwan Green, represented more than 15 years of showing up for the stories that matter. None of that happens without the people in front of and behind the camera — and none of it happens without you, the viewers who keep showing up and keep traveling in our footsteps.
The Travels with Darley series has also been featured in Forbes, The Washington Post, TODAY, NPR and USA Today, and earned the Caribbean Tourism Organization Award for Best Travel Broadcast and the Inspiring Woman Award from Women in Philanthropy and Leadership. The content has transcended TV to be broadcast on networks in 85 nations around the world., fly along on the friendly skies as in-flight programming on Korean Air, Starlux, WestJet, EVA Air and more.
We’ve reached a global audience of travelers and cultural explorers on iHeart, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon through the Travels with Darley podcast. We’ve told stories in a minute or less through social media, including a recent viral TikTok reaching 1.2M viewers with Hezekiah Watkins story from the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. Our sold-out theatre and museum events from Morris Museum to the Smithsonian related to our Revolutionary Road Trip episodes combining history and travel in the lead up to America’s 250th made us think that the untold stories we’ve captured should be available in other formats, too. This summer, we launch a print component with the “Revolutionary Road Trip” book, debuting June 30th in time for America’s 250th birthday.
So where do we go from here?
Episode 100: Route 66 at 100
We keep going—toward new stories, new places, and new ways to connect. This May, we are packing up the cameras and hitting the open road for the most symbolically charged shoot of our careers. Route 66 is a legendary highway stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles that became the gateway to adventure, guiding early travelers through breathtaking landscapes and untamed beauty. Route 66 Centennial On November 11, 1926, US Highway 66 was established — and in 2026, the entire country is celebrating its centennial, with events, monument unveilings, and community celebrations happening in all eight states along the route. The timing of our 100th episode filming here, this year, is not lost on us for a single second, especially as we’ll be traveling along Route 66 in Illinois from Chicago and traversing that first 100 miles of Route 66 through places like Joliet, Wilmington, Pontiac and beyond.
Route 66 has always been about more than a road. It's about the mom-and-pop motels that survived the interstate era. The neon signs that still flicker at dusk. The diners where three generations of the same family have been serving the same pie recipe since 1952. The artists, the dreamers, the roadside philosophers, and the communities that held on — and held together — when the rest of the world drove past.
That's our show. That's always been our show. We'll be traveling with locals — the real keepers of the road — to uncover the food, culture, history, and human stories that make Route 66 what it is at 100 years old. And we'll be doing it as we mark a milestone of our own. We can’t be more excited that the stretch of this iconic highway that we’ll be covering for our 100th episode is in Illinois, stretching between Chicago and St. Louis and including that first 100 miles of The Mother Road. We’ve filmed along Illinois Route 66 before, so we know that this is one of the most iconic road trips we can capture and share.
What This Season Is Really About
We've filmed all of these episodes because we believe that travel changes lives. That when you sit at someone else's table, walk through their neighborhood, listen to the music they grew up with, and hear the story of how their grandmother survived something that should have broken her — something shifts. You see the world differently. You see people differently. You see yourself differently. That's what 100 episodes of Travels with Darley has been about. Because when we listen to other people’s stories, we learn, grow and have empathy. We also see things differently. Traveling can make us better people and that makes the world a better place!
We can't wait for you to see more as we travel along filming this new, iconic season!
Keep Exploring with Travels with Darley
Stay connected. Subscribe to our newsletter below so you're the first to know when this milestone season airs. And if you want to catch up before we hit the road, every season is available now on PBS, Amazon Prime, Tubi, and beyond.
A few photos from over the years filming in Little Rock. Costa Mesa, Metz, the Adirondacks, West Virginia, Tokyo, Fargo and beyond for Travels with Darley over the years! If you’ve missed any of these episodes, head to our YouTube to watch back content. Find episodes, too, on Tubi, Great Courses, Amazon, in-flight and on your Smart TV!
Have new places we should cover this year or next? Let us know!
