A travel journalist, radio broadcaster, author, and Smithsonian Associates lecturer, Clevlen frequently speaks to audiences on a wide variety of travel topics, such as America’s best roadside attractions and most beautiful waterfalls.

He is the author of six travel books for adult readers, including “100 Things to Do in America Before You Die” and “The Ultimate American Music Bucket List.” He has also published two children’s books, “Funny Presidents” and “An American Road Trip for Kids.”

In his most recent book, “Presidential Road Trips,” he chronicles his visits to the homes and libraries of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, and many other former presidents.

“The book is basically a travel guide that tells people how to find and see all of these presidential homes, museums, libraries, graves, and other related historic sites all over the country,” he said.

-Submitted photo
Bill Clevlen poses behind the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles. Clevlen will discuss his latest book, “Presidential Road Trip: 100 Places to Explore and Experience in the History of American Presidents,” at noon on May 21 at the Fort Dodge Public Library, 424 Central Ave.

Each section of the book includes information about presidential buildings and stories about the artifacts found within them.

The book describes, for example, the birthplace of George Washington, the library in which James Madison wrote the U.S. Constitution, the favorite TV trays of Dwight Eisenhower, the Air Force One jet that transported John F. Kennedy’s body from Dallas to Washington, D.C., and the helicopter that transported Richard Nixon from the White House after he resigned from office.

The 46-year-old Clevlen, originally from St. Louis, Missouri, did not travel much beyond his home state until the past decade. After working for several years as a radio host and comedy writer in St. Louis, he discovered that his position was about to be phased out. This led him to explore other occupational options involving travel.

“To be honest with you, if you had told me back then that I would be covering travel for a living, I would have said you’re crazy because I didn’t even like to drive,” he said.

In 2013, he established the website, BillClevlenontheRoad.com, as a way to promote positive travel stories and highlight unique and unusual experiences for travelers. At first, the website was simply a “fun little side-hobby” focusing on short road trips, he says, but he soon discovered that he could make some real money as a travel writer and broadcaster.

As a result, Clevlen began traveling across the country, and writing about his adventures. He even sold his St. Louis home and almost everything inside of it in 2022. As a lifelong bachelor without any children, he was able to more easily become a permanent traveler, though he occasionally returns to St. Louis to visit his parents.

Like a modern Jack Kerouac living full-time on the road, Clevlen has traveled, explored, and documented hundreds of sites in 49 states and several foreign countries. He will soon be traveling to his 50th destination state of Hawaii.

“I get to go all over the country; I’ve already put around 260,000 miles on my car.” he said. “It’s been a blast. I’ve gotten to meet amazing people and see incredible things. I’ve been to more museums than you can even imagine.”

When asked where he lives when not working, he remarks that hotels and resorts provide him with extended stays.

“As a travel writer, I work with a lot of tourism destinations,” he said. “So, when I visit a state or county or town, they generally cover my lodging costs.”

In the past two years, Clevlen has become well-known for his radio report, “Bill on the Road,” which airs weekly on Westwood One’s nationally syndicated radio show – America at Night. The show is broadcast by over 300 radio stations in most every major American media market.

“Once a week I do a travel segment discussing where I’ve been,” Clevlen said. “Last night, for example, I talked about visiting Lucille Ball’s hometown of Jamestown, New York, including the Lucy Museum, the National Comedy Center, and other things that people can see and do when they go there.”

After visiting hundreds of towns and cities, people often ask him about his favorite place.

“My politically correct or diplomatic answer is that it’s always the place where I happen to be at that moment,” he said. “It seems like kind of a cop-out answer, but I’m being honest. I’m a pretty optimistic person; so, it’s pretty rare that I go to someplace that I don’t like.”

In his upcoming Fort Dodge presentation, Clevlen will focus on his recent road trips and visits to numerous historic sites of U.S. presidents, including presidential libraries, museums, monuments, memorials and grave sites.

He will be sharing presidential stories, historical accounts, political trivia, and behind-the-scenes insights, based on his recent road-trip experiences, while encouraging travelers to visit the sites in which presidents have lived and worked.

Clevlen said that the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum is the only presidential library in Iowa. It is located near both the birthplace and burial place of Hoover in West Branch. However, it is currently closed for renovation, and set to reopen in July.

He explains that his presentation will highlight not only the homes and other historic sites of the presidents, but also their life experiences, both before and after they served in the White House.

“I want to humanize these guys, which maybe sounds a little ridiculous,” he said. “But when you’re standing in their living room or their bedroom, and you’re hearing stories about their life, you remember that they were human beings.”

He might recount, for example, touching the stairway banister in Lincoln’s home. Or he might describe seeing the master bedroom of Eisenhower’s home, which is completely pink in color. Or he might recall viewing the burglary tools that were used in the Watergate break-in, on display today in Nixon’s presidential museum. Or he might mention seeing the pen that Ford used to pardon Nixon, housed today in the Gerald Ford museum.

Clevlen emphasizes that he plans to keep his presentation entertaining.

“I like to share fun, quirky, silly stories,” he said. “Even though it’s really lighthearted, you can learn a lot from it. I pack in a lot of fun facts and interesting stories and history.”

He often tells a humorous story about an amphibious automobile owned by Lyndon Johnson, for example, which is housed today at the presidential museum in Austin, Texas. Johnson would often invite visitors to his ranch, including journalists, government officials, and foreign dignitaries, to take a ride with him in his car without telling them that it was amphibious.

Johnson had his own regular, deceptive routine involving Secret Service agents, who were in on the joke, Clevlen said. While his visitors were riding with him, Johnson would ask his Secret Service agent if they had recently checked the brakes in the car. The agent would respond, “No, Mr. President, we’ve not had a chance to do so.”

The next thing you know, Johnson is driving the car towards a lake, Clevlen said. He would pretend that the brakes were not working and go right into the water, shocking his guests.

Clevlen emphasized that his presentation in Fort Dodge will be nonpartisan and avoid divisive political issues.

“I’m very careful not to express any political views because quite frankly, I meet people from all walks of life,” he said. “I want to emphasize that all of us have more in common.”

Asked if he foresees settling down in the future, Clevlen was noncommittal.

“I don’t know how long I’ll continue traveling, but my friends say that I’d be an idiot to stop,” he said. “My job affords me some amazing experiences and a really fun quality of life. I’m running out of places in the United States to cover, so it’s time to start doing more international travel.”