“Download on stitcher, iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts...”

The rolling credits of some podcast cuts out abruptly as I instinctively pushed play for the next episode. For the last six hours, my hands have been doing three things: selecting podcasts, scrolling through podcasts, and feeding snacks to Sam. Sam is not my cat. He is my boyfriend who is driving us across America.

As the next episode begins, I stare out the window of endless Missouri, Oklahoma, or Nebraska, I could be in any one of those three places right now- the Great Plains keep rolling on- nothing more than expansive views of low-level plains and a seemingly endless grey-blue sky above us.

Sam and I are podcast obsessed. On our first date, we spent probably four of the six our chat talking about podcasts. Together we dissect plots, characters, themes, genre, hosts, and sound design. We love it but since we have been only talking to each other for 365+ days in quarantine, we are probably insufferable to other people. But it is an eternal love that we have found in each other, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

To be honest, I was thinking of giving up podcasting before we connected. Being with Sam rekindled my love for the first artistic medium I found and cultivated on my own. I didn’t go to school for journalism or audio engineering. I have never worked in a professional podcast establishment. But when traveling through Latin America, I did have a broken Ipad in my backpack and a desire to create. I remember feeling self-conscious in front of Sam when talking about podcasting because he has worked at the big establishments and has a hard following on his podcast Family Ghosts. I know I’m supposed to give you podcasting recommendations, I’ll get there but let me feel my feelings first.

But when we talked about my apprehension to get back into podcasting, no part of him made me feel insecure or shy about it. He made me feel safe to talk about all that I was feeling. Cut to a year later and we are willingly driving across America for four days, locked in a car together with an abundance of podcasts to entertain us. It was kind of a dream to be honest.

Now that mask mandates are being lifted, vaccines are available, and the earth is warming, many of us are planning some type of long-term escape from our apartments that we have been stuck inside for longer than we could have ever imagined. PLEASE go travel but do so safely.

Since we have already shleped out and back and listened to days worth of podcasts, here are our top podcast recommendations for you to binge through on your next road trip ( or whenever really. I’m just writing road trip for SEO).

I love reading and learning about the place I’m about to explore. It gives me so much context for what I’m seeing and feeling about a new space I’m visiting. Why not listen to a podcast about it? You have more than enough time.

Here are the best podcasts to listen to based on different regions of America. They oscillate between investigative journalism podcasts, narrative storytelling, or talk shows. These are the best podcasts to binge listen to on your 12-hour drive across four states. If you would like more podcast recommendations, you can visit my other list of the best podcasts to listen to here.

Heads up, a lot of these are true crime/ murder/ serial killer podcasts. But you could be murdered in any state, so the more you know!

The Best Podcast Apps to Listen to During a Road Trip

The best apps to listen to podcasts are Apple Podcasts or Spotify. However, I like the Stitcher app to listen to podcasts on because it doesn’t take up that much storage on your phone. It automatically updates to the most recent episode and you can save whichever episode you want to listen to later.

Top Podcast List for Your Epic Road Trip

We like to think of ourselves as an adventure travel couple ( but only for the SEO).
*These are mine and Sam’s favs ( with the occasional self-promo podcast thrown in there).*

Podcasts of the Great Northeast

Deadeyes: Conner Ratliff please let us hunt down Tom Hanks for you! Deadeyes is a hilarious, if not obsessive, podcast about one man’s journey to find out why Tom Hanks fired him from being cast in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. Apparently, it was because he had “dead eyes.” Connor talks to all kinds of famous folks about their deadeyes moments and how god damn brutal the entertainment industry is. Deadeyes is by far mine and Sam’s favorite comedy podcast of 2020.
Blindspot: The Road to 9/11: Host and fellow New Yorker Jim O'Grady trace back the steps that lead to 9/11. It adds in details rarely discussed, layered with appropriate humor, and walks us up to how the American government dropped the ball on our worst tragedy. This is a well-done storytelling podcast set in New York City.
Family Ghosts: A Crane in the Bay: Kate Crane wakes up one morning and her father is missing. No one will tell her what happened. But the story is a regional mystery. The question of what happened to him haunts her for the rest of her life. This Family Ghosts three-part series takes place in Baltimore, New York, and the suburbs of Washington D.C.

Podcast of the Deep South

In the Dark: Season 2 Host Madeleine Baran goes down to Mississippi to discover why Curtis Flowers has been put on trial six times for a crime he says he didn’t commit: shooting four people in a furniture store. Curtis Flowers has been relentlessly persecuted by a white officer determined to execute him. This podcast is an award-winning investigative journalism podcast.

Dolly Parton's America: Created by the people who brought you Radiolab, Dolly Parton’s America explores Dolly Parton’s life, legend, genius, and how she is a mirror to the greater issues, ideals, and spirit of America. This was one of my favorite storytelling podcasts of 2019.

Fiasco: Bush V Gore: Why was the 2000 election such a battle? Host Leon Neyfakh untangles the web of confusion and takes listeners through every detail of that election, what happened leading up to it, and the decision’s repercussions. We can all agree Florida is to blame. This is a great investigative journalism podcast.

The Great Plains Audio Stories

Tulsa Burning: In 1921, a black shoemaker in Tulsa was stuck in an elevator with a white woman. Minutes later he was accused of assaulting her and arrested. Days later, the wealthy black neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa was set on fire, people pushed from their homes and killed by white police officers and Tulsa residents. That story has largely been forgotten but comes alive in this podcast, a product of WNYC and the History Channel. This is a painfully beautiful storytelling podcast.

Podcasts Set in the Midwest

In the Dark: Season 1: For 27 years, the Jacob Wetterling case has remained unsolved and haunted rural Minnesota. Host Madeleine Baran goes deep into the story to find out that the abductor and subsequent killer were right in front of the police the whole time. It deeply questions how many police departments never solve so many heartbreaking and often preventable crimes. This podcast is set in Minnesota and an award-winning investigative journalism podcast.

Southwest Podcasts

Unfinished Short Creek: On the edge of the Utah/ Arizona border is the largest fundamentalist, polygamist Mormon community, who ran away from Salt Lake City a hundred years ago to practice their religious beliefs. Since then, they have been raided by the government and taken over by a zealous man claiming to be their profit. Hosts Ash Sanders and Sarah Ventre walk us through how this once peaceful community slowly turned into a cult and broke the foundations of the town at large. Sam and I LOVE a cult story, and this is undoubtedly one of the best investigative journalism and storytelling podcasts.

The Pacific Northwest

Tanis and the Black Tapes are fiction podcasts created by Pacific Northwest Studios. Tanis is one man's exploration of a lost, moving city/underworld/nightmare that seems to be growing larger by the day and might threaten to take over or destroy our current world. Host Nick Silver hunts for answers in the woods of the Pacific Northwest and around the world to discover what this mysterious Tanis is. The Black Tapes is one woman’s exploration into the supernatural world. Host Alex Regan follows a man Dr. Richard Strand who is on the hunt to prove that ghosts don’t exist and to find his wife. This is by far my favorite fiction podcast, and I’m not that into fiction podcasts.

Podcasts of the West

Lost Hills is an investigative journalist podcast looking into the mysterious shootings that have happened in the last few years in Malibu Creek state park. One-shot horrifically murdered Tristan Beaudette as he was sleeping in a tent with his two young daughters. Host Dana Goodyear interviews locals, police officers, and suspects to figure out who has been shooting in the night at cars and people in Malibu. Dana asks, could all of this have been prevented in the first place? Pushkin does an awesome first crack at investigative journalism podcasts.

RFK Tapes: In 1965 RFK was running to be president of the United States, four years after his brother, JFK was shot in Texas. At a political convention in Los Angeles, RFK was shot in a kitchen by a man named Sirhan Sirhan. But was it Surhan that actually shot RFK? Was he just a mad man or hypnotized by groups that didn’t want RFK to become president? Hosts Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier go through tapes that have never been heard before to discover who really shot RFK. One of the best investigative journalism podcasts.

Podcasts Across America

Slow Burn Season 3: Biggie and Tupac: Both Notorious B.I.G, birth name Christopher Wallace, and Tupac Shakur were shot in Los Angeles within three years of each other. These rap juggernauts were taken down but by who? Gang rivalry? West coast vs east coast? Puff Daddy or Suga Night? Host Joel Anderson analyzes the situations, lives, and moments leading up to these big unsolved murders. This podcast takes place in New York and Los Angeles. This is a great investigative journalism podcast.

Radio Rental: Creepy stories told by the people who lived them. Radio Rental is a storytelling podcast that interviews Americans from all over the country. This podcast is a great, low stake, storytelling podcast.

This American Life: The OG of documenting life in America and all of our complexities. Need I say more?

If you want to listen to my podcast series about road tripping through America during a global pandemic check out Strangers Abroad Podcasts on Stitcher, Itunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Best Podcasts to Binge while Going on a Road Trip