Beyond Hot Dogs and Fireworks

The radical thinking of America's Founding Fathers gave us the idea that we can reinvent ourselves as we see fit. That's pretty powerful stuff!

These ruts on the Oregon Trail, outside Guernsey, Wyoming, attest to that power.

The rock you see is hard to the touch, but even with something as simple as a key, you can scratch the rock away. Little wonder, then, that these ruts gradually appeared, carved by 25 years of wagon wheels bringing over half a million people westward as they sought a new life.