Highway 83 Expert Magnuson Embarks on Texas Book Tour

Stew Magnuson, author of The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83 in Texas, will be loading up a car with a trunk full of books, and a digital projector to embark on a barnstorming book tour of the communities found along what was once called the Great Plains Highway.

The journey begins at the top of Texas in the panhandle Sunday, Oct. 21 and ends 450 miles later at the foot of Hill Country in Junction on Oct. 27.

“A book is never truly finished until I have a chance to present it to the communities in which it took place. I’m really excited to talk about the joys of traveling Highway 83 in these small towns I have grown to love,” Magnuson says.

His multi-media lecture draws upon his extensive collection of historic and present day photos of life along the road, which extends more than 2,000 miles from Canada to Mexico.

Attendees will be amazed by how much there is to see and do on Highway 83 in Texas, and beyond. 

The tour dates are:

Saturday, Oct. 21

West Texas Trails Meeting

(registration required)

Snyder, Texas

Sunday, Oct. 22

Fall Foliage Festival (signing only)

Canadian, Texas

11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Monday. Oct. 23

Perry Memorial Library

Perryton, Texas

Noon

Tuesday, Oct. 24

Collingsworth County Public Library

Wellington, Texas

7 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 25

Anson Public Library

Noon

Hardin-Simmons University Campus

Skiles Building, Room 131

Abilene, Texas

8 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 26

Carnegie Library of Ballinger
Ballinger, Texas

Noon

Menard Public Library

6 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 27

Kimble County Library

Junction, Texas

Noon

Award-winning author Magnuson set out in 2009 to chronicle the past and present along this historically rich highway, traveling its length over the course of a two trips. Over the past eight years, Magnuson has carved out a place as the foremost expert on the fifth longest federal highway. He founded and administers the Fans of Route 83 — The Great Plains Highway page on Facebook, which now has more than 3,600 members. His usroute83.com website serves as a place for travel tips for those who want to explore the road. He writes the Highway 83 Chronicles blog about current events.

He successfully published two previous books about the road, The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83: The Dakotas and; The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83: Nebraska-Kansas-Oklahoma. He has appeared on South Dakota Public Television and Nebraska Public Television, and done dozens of book talks and radio spots extolling the pleasures of traveling what was once called the Great Plains Highway.

Magnuson is also the author of The Death of Raymond Yellow Thunder: And Other True Stories from the Nebraska-Pine Ridge Border Towns. Published by Texas Tech University Press, it was named the 2009 Nebraska Nonfiction book of the year, a finalist for the Center of Great Plains Studies book of the year, and was recently named one of the Nebraska’s 150 most important literary works to mark the state’s sesquicentennial this year. He also penned Wounded Knee 1973: Still Bleeding, a brief account of the Wounded Knee occupation.  

Join the Fans of U.S. Route 83 Facebook page HERE.

Stew Magnuson is the author of the Highway 83 Chronicles, a series of three books about history and life found along U.S. Route 83. The final book, The Last American Highway: A Journey Through Time Down U.S. Route 83 in Texas was released in March 2017 and follows The Last American Highway: The Dakotas, and The Last American Highway: Nebraska-Kansas-Oklahoma, edition.

All three are available ONLINE or in bookstores and gift shops along Highway 83.

For signed copies or retail opportunities contact him HERE