Original host and co-creator/co-producer Ben Hollis will again don his trademark pith helmet and khaki suit as intrepid explorer and video navigator for a wide-ranging journey beyond the urban jungle and into the wilds of Illinois. In the spontaneous, free-wheeling spirit of WTTW11's long-running series that spawned it, Wild Chicago Illinois Road Trip will explore the surprising, the eccentric, the offbeat. Learn why there's a Hard Day's Nite Bed and Breakfast in Benton, a wildlife park in Peoria, a dinosaur in Rockford, and much more. This series of lively half-hour programs, made possible in part by the Illinois Bureau of Tourism, will be offered to public television stations across the state.
Northern, Southern, Central, Western, Southwestern, Chicago, and Chicagoland regions will all be featured. As this program will demonstrate, no matter what you seek in Illinois you can find something to suit your style — from outdoor activities, vineyards and historical and cultural offerings to one-of-a-kind tourist attractions.
From the Interstate to Main Street, Ben Hollis, co-producer and editor Tom Siegel, and his Road Trip crew will comb the prairie and peek between the cornstalks, finding those unexpected destinations, undiscovered treasures, and fascinating people that make Illinois what it is today.