About Us

To many, our modern world has become a monolithic place, dominated by mass media, fast foods, big box stores and seemingly endless sprawl.

Eric Model is out to show that there is more; that even in the face of a trend towards increasing uniformity, there remains a wonderful variety of people, place, and stories to be experienced and celebrated.

For almost 25 years, Eric has been chronicling places beyond the interstate (& Trans-Canada). He is founder of “Journeys into” which is dedicated to “exploring the offbeat, off the beaten path, overlooked and forgotten”.

Eric created Journeys Into based on a journey of his own.

Long a fan of Charles Kuralt and Lake Wobegon, Model wanted to embark on journeys of discovery, but found resources lacking to help plan “his kind of trip”. What eventually resulted was a series of vast data-base offerings: festivals/events, “Accommodations with a personal touch” (quaint B&B’s & Inns), roadside food, other places to see nearby, and background readings to enhance the trip.

Over time these resources were adapted into multi-media presentations including a book (Beyond the Interstate: Discovering the Hidden America), a syndicated column (“Around America”), radio (Evenstamerica Calendar and Weekends on the Road shorts), online services, travel clubs and partnerships with businesses (i.e. Dodge, Chevrolet, American Airlines, Winnebago, Sesame Street Productions and USA Today) & communities.

The common thread over all these years has been the compelling nature of his community narratives that reflect the diversity of America (& Canada) – stories worth telling. Stories that have potency.

These days , Eric is the “on the road" correspondent for a weekly “Journeys into Hidden America” on SIRIUS-XM’s weekly program “Left Jab” (SIRIUS-146;XM-167) . He is also host of “Journeys into Hockey”, a retro-hockey segment that can be heard on SIRIUS-XM’s Hockey Channel. His content also is available on the web, and via blog and podcast.

Moreover, he is working with communities and businesses – using these narratives as tools for community sustainability in these tough times, and as a catalyst in making community and empowering communities for the 21st century.

Eric lives where he was raised, River Edge, New Jersey (along the banks of the Hackensack River), with his wife, their three children and a dog named Murray.