Local StoriesDecember 2, 2025

Meet Bill Clevlen of St. Louis

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bill Clevlen.

Bill, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
At the age of 20, I started my career in St. Louis radio on a popular program called “Frank O Pinion and The Large Morning Show in the Afternoon”. By 2013, I had started a travel blog called “Bill On The Road” to do fun stories about road trips. Little did I know that you could have an actual career as a travel writer and decided to jump in and go for it.

I started doing travel stories for my website but also on the radio and then on TV and for print outlets as a freelance writer. I wrote my first book in 2016 called 100 Things To Do in America Before You Die which wound up all over the country – in museums, airport gift shops, and so on. My 7th published book was just released called Presidential Road Trips – 100 Places To Explore And Experience The History of American Presidents.

2026 will be my 13th year as a travel journalist and it’s pretty wild to look back and reflect on all of the amazing experiences I’ve been fortunate enough to have.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Before I decided to make the leap to being a full-time travel writer and my own boss – I reached out to several successful people in the industry. One writer in particular told me that I should prepare to simply break even for a few years before I’d start making real money. I didn’t really believe her.

Turns out she was almost exactly dead-on. There were times early on where I really should have said – “ok, this is probably not the best investment of my time” and found a “real job”. However, once things started to hit on all cylinders – well, let’s just say, I’d be an idiot to give it up.

One question I’m asked regularly is “do you get lonely while you travel?” The short answer is yes – and no. There are times where it would be really great to have someone to share these amazing sights and experiences with. However, the truth is I was way more lonely before I became a travel writer. Almost every day I’m meeting new people from all walks of life and enjoying great conversations and fellowship with total strangers. Some of those strangers become lifelong friends.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
People are always curious to know how in the world I’m able to do what I do for a living and it’s almost impossible to explain unless you work in the travel and tourism industry.

How do I survive and pay the bills? I earn money from writing articles about travel and through advertising revenue on my website and social media posts. (People have no clue how important it is for freelancers survival to hit “like” and share content if you really like the person you’re following.)

I also produce a lot of video content for tourism organizations and write books. I’m also a frequent guest speaker – which is probably my favorite thing about the job.

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
People can always purchase one of my travel books and follow me on social media. It’s a huge help when people share content.

Though I’m only in St. Louis one or two months out of the year – I’m usually available for paid speaking opportunities for companies or organizations looking for a keynote speaker or a good storyteller.

People can always look me up at billontheroad.com

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