Great American Railroad Journeys

Michael Portillo continues his 1,500-mile journey through the American Wild West armed with his Appleton's Guide. In Lawrence, Kansas, he joins the Jayhawks basketball team before travelling through 'tornado alley' to Topeka to meet one of the first storm chasers in America. Driving out on the Great Plains, Michael comes face to face with a herd of wild buffalo. Following the Santa Fe trail, Michael's first stop is Dodge City, queen of the cow towns, where he is caught up in a gunfight at the notorious Long Branch saloon. He finds the Dodge City Cowboy Band performing at the city depot and breaks bread with a descendant of a railroad land agent who sold thousands of acres of land to 19th-century European settlers. Near Lamar, Michael visits the scene of a terrible massacre of Native American Indians, who found themselves in the way of white settlement of the Great Plains.