In my nearly 30 years co-hosting Fox & Friends, I’ve met countless great Americans from sea to shining sea.
About 10 years ago we launched Breakfast with Friends, where we traveled the country meeting people in diners — the beating heart of any town.
People sit at the counter, watch what’s happening on TV, and it sparks a conversation. It’s great.
But it’s been with my road trip across the country for the past few months that I learned what this country’s 250th anniversary really means to Americans — civilians and service members alike. It feels like the ultimate victory lap, like, “Hey, we made it to 250.”
For the 2,400-mile journey for Fox & Friends’ “For All America” RV Trip, I traveled from Tulsa, Okla., to Baxter Springs, Kan., and wrapped the tour of Route 66 in Springfield, Mo.
Touring the country with this unbelievably awesome RV, it’s like rediscovering America. It’s appropriately called the “Freedom Traveler” and it’s like a $170,000 vacation on wheels.
I’ve met political leaders and city residents vying for the chance to win the fully outfitted motorhome. But most of them really just come out to talk. They reminisce and reflect, but also look ahead.
Growing up in Iowa, adventure meant being a boy scout and camping in tents with my friends. I never dreamed of having an RV. If we had an RV, we could have gone any place.
The country is like a road trip itself — there are inevitably a couple of bumps, some twists and turns, but it’s always thrilling when you reach places you couldn’t imagine.
The best part about crisscrossing the country for our RV trip, is the excitement for this national moment.
There’s so much news right now — a lot of it good, a lot of it bad. But running up to the 4th of July, I hear a lot of people talk about America for a change.
I’ll ask, “What is it about America that makes you proud to be an American?”
The number one answer is freedom. Freedom in every sense. People say, “We can just do stuff here you just can’t do in other places.”
That’s what makes the US the greatest country on earth.
People don’t take for granted what kind of a great deal we’ve got.
I see it with new Americans, who are just so happy to be part of the club, the new club.
When they were growing up in their native countries, they’d think how great it would be to be an American.
And that’s why it’s such a celebration of America to say, “OK, thank you. Been so far so good.”
The mood now is one of optimism — the spirit of the country itself.
As we celebrate the 250th and look ahead to the future, the feeling I see is, “This is about as good as it gets. And we’re lucky to be here.”
It’s people calling it the greatest country on earth and speaking from the heart. A lot of people say that — but they mean it.
And the optimism is still thriving coast to coast, at the grassroots level. There’s excitement about the future. I think sometimes you watch TV and there are a lot of people who are terrified of what might be around the corner. But, it’s around the corner. Let’s celebrate today, today.
We announce the winner of the RV contest on July 3, and when I ask people how winning would change their lives, it’s their answers that most touch me.
Sure, it’s on people’s bucket list to see all 50 states — and the RV can deliver all but one of those.
But it’s more than that: it comes back to the freedom part. People say they can just gas up the RV and take off. “Who knows where we’re going to land?”
That’s freedom.
They can gather their loved ones and travel the country. I don’t know that there is a destination other than the open road. Maybe the destination is family togetherness.
Now, as the country looks forward, I fondly look back.
I look back on my own childhood — and appreciate those summer road trips through Oklahoma and Texas with my dad who was a salesman. It wasn’t very glamorous, but it was very memorable.
My happiest memories were just being in the car with my family and my mom reading us stories. It’s where memories are born when the family is together. And what’s better than a great memory?
The lure of the open road is that we don’t know what’s around the corner.
It’s a metaphor for the country itself after 250 years. Who knows where we’re going?
That’s the great thing about America. We’ve got a great future – we just don’t know what it looks like yet. But we are optimistic that it’s going to be as good as the last 250.
After so many memorable stops around the country for the RV trip, I’m reminded that some people in the big towns forget about the little towns that make America great. Winning the RV isthe icing on the cake because what they really wanted was just to be part of a conversation and part of the TV show and part of America.
Winning is just a bonus. Of course they’ll have to build a bigger garage.