Program 803: Ohio's Ancient Trails; Safeguarding Heritage Sites; How to Land a Plane

Learn about the Ancient Ohio Trail and its cluster of mysterious geometric earthworks left behind by pre-Columbian mound-builder cultures. Then get an inside look at the World Monuments Fund's biennial selection of endangered archaeological and cultural sites, whose preservation is vital to our heritage. And what goes up, must come down: Pilot Mark Vanhoenacker shares the physics, and the magic, of landing an airplane.

• Lori Erickson, author of "Every Step is Home" and "Soul of the Family Tree" (Westminster John Knox Press)
• Bénédicte de Montlaur, President & CEO of World Monuments Fund
• Pilot Mark Vanhoenacker, author of "How to Land a Plane" (The Experiment Publishing)

• Lori Erickson writes about important prehistoric mound builders sites along the Ancient Ohio Trail on her SpiritualTravels.info website.
• National Geographic writes about the significance of the new UNESCO World Heritage sites in Ohio.
• The Ohio History Museum offers biweekly archeological tours of Serpent Mound.
• You can search our show archives for Lori's earlier appearances about death rituals around the world on program #581 in October 2019, on the value of travel for deepening spiritual understanding on program #600 in May 2020, on her book "Soul of the Family Tree" on program #651 in September 2021, and more about researching her own Nordic roots on program #679 from June 2022. Lori also describes the purpose of the prayer flags of Tibet in a short feature on program #711 in April 2023.
• 2025 is the 60th anniversary of the World Monuments Fund. WMF is based in New York City, with affiliate offices in London, Mumbai, Lima, Lisbon, and Madrid. Bénédicte de Montlaur is President & CEO.
• The complete 2025 Watch lists endangered cultural sites, issued in January by WMF.
• You can hear more from Bénédicte on the latest work of World Monuments Fund on Travel with Rick Steves program #784 from March 2025.
• Pilot Mark Vanhoenacker is the author of "How to Land a Plane."
• You can listen to earlier interviews with Mark Vanhoenacker from the Travel with Rick Steves archives. Look for his interviews on what it feels like to pilot a jet aircraft and his book "Skyfaring" on program #426a from April 2018 and #460a from October 2018, on his favorite destinations from his "Imagine a City" book on program #715 in May 2023, and "A Pilot's View" on program #729 in September 2023.