Welcome to my website
My aim as a freelance journalist is to improve your companies’ readership and profitability with well-written and researched magazine and newspaper articles.
I specialize in travel writing (focus on Route 66) but as a versatile generalist, like to write about people (profiles), veterans and military (a retiree himself), festivals, manmade and natural wonders, religion, and history (military, social, American Indian, etc.) throughout the Southern Plains (OK, TX, KS, MO, AR).
Please see reels, photos and event posts on my Rich Travel Niche Facebook and Instagram pages and on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/richard-stephens-jr)
The photo of Tanner Usrey’s band comes from “Rock the Route,” a street music festival held every year in August on Route 66 in Yukon.
In 2025, Caroline Grace, 22, opened the night with catchy country songs often built around storytelling. Them Dirty Roses band then took and moved around the stage performing high-energy, southern rock-country music.
Finally, Tanner Usrey took the stage and sang straight from the heart. He swung from slow, heartbreaking love letters like “Josephine” to driving, angry songs such as “Gasoline and Adderall.”
The Yukon Progress published my coverage of it on Sept 3 at www.yukonprogress.com. Route 66 remains relevant!
Products
People
We all enjoy reading stories about interesting people: what they are doing (or did) and understanding the significance and their contributions. WWII veteran James Ferguson is one. He deployed to Bari, Italy, in 1944, surviving the war’s biggest munition explosion in the harbor in April 1945. Later, he served in the Korean War, Air Force Reserve and 31 yeas in civil service. His story is in the January 2026 edition of Oklahoma Veteran News Magazine, https://okveterannews.com.
I cover the Southern Plains (OK, KS, TX, NM) and sometimes overseas by getting out there and describing and explaining in word, photograph and video the world around us.
Travelogues
Read “Central Crete’s Ancient Treasures and Hidden Villages are Worth Leaving the Beach For,” in Go World Travel Magazine, October 3, 2025. https://www.goworldtravel.com/central-crete-ancient-treasures-and-villages/
I wrote the article after visiting Greece with a group of Rose State College students and alumni. Central Crete is the geographical heart of Greece’s largest island and was also the cultural and historical epicenter of Europe’s first advanced civilization.
You’ll visit Iraklio (Heraklion), Palace of Knossos, CretAquarium, wineries, Lasithi Plateau, Arkadi Monestary and Matala and learn why Greek culture and food are unforgetable. Kaliméra (good day).
History
Boom! Boom! Union and Confederate howitzers fired at each other. Amidst the smoke, Confederate cavalry flanked left. “Yee-haw! “Yip-Yip!,” Johnny Reb yelled, firing at two Union infantry squares.
Oklahoma’s Honey Springs Reenactment of the July 1863 battle brought 5,000 spectators watching 300 reenactors in November 2025. Read about it in the December 2025 edition of Oklahoma Veteran News Magazine, https://okveterannews.com.
Route 66 – 100 years old in 2026
Car enthusiasts displayed 76 cars and trucks and drove on a poker run at the 5th Southern Plains Mopar Fest on Route 66, October 3-4, 2025.
Paul Rossi helped judge vehicles. $1,000 was donated to rebuild a locally famous 102-foot high Crysler Plymouth Tower. You can read the Bristow News article posted October 8, 2025.https://www.bristownews.com/news/southern-plains-fest-its-mopar-or-no-car. See the Gallery for more Route 66 photos.