Steve Shaw, owner of Great American Adventures, has had a passion for the Old West and travel since he was a small boy.  Every summer he’d travel with his parents from their home in California to Texas and Oklahoma to visit family, always wearing his Western clothes, his beloved cowboy hat, and buscadero holster rig and play-guns from his favorite TV Westerns.

Embarrassingly as it sounds, during his last year in college and having been accepted to the United States Air Forces’ Officer Training School, he and his best friend, another OTS candidate, traveled the country looking for “background” for their homemade, thirty-minute, 8-millimeter Western called “Butch and the Kid,” patterned after Paul Newman’s and Robert Redford’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”  You can imagine what his Air Force recruiter thought when he saw this film at Steve’s going away party!

In fact, while in the military, after having earned his wings and was graduating from B-52 Navigator/Bombardier School, Steve chose, of all USAF bases, the one in Rapid City, South Dakota … Ellsworth Air Force Base.  Why?  Because of the surrounding area’s history: Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and the Sioux Nation, Gold Rush, Deadwood, Wild Bill Hickok, General Custer, Wounded Knee and much more.

His love of the Old West was rekindled when, around the mid-1990s, he discovered the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS), a competitive shooting organization based on shooting guns of the Old West, in Southern California.   Steve's SASS alias was easy - Ellsworth!

Steve soon gravitated to writing short stories about the Old West.  In a few short years, Steve has written over 250 articles published in various magazines, including Old West history, Western celebrity interviews, Western lifestyle events, book reviews, and fiction and nonfiction short stories.  Accepted to Western Writers of America, Inc., Steve's first novel, Beyond the Rio Grande, was honored as a Finalist in the 2007 New Mexico Book Award program.  As a result of his writing, Steve was featured as a historian on the A&E Biography channel's "Doc Holliday" episode and has gone on to appear on the History Channel's "Wild West Tech," HBO's Deadwood series, and other numerous television and film productions.  More recently, Steve was the Grand Prize Winner in the 2010 Short Story Fiction Competition held in New Mexico.

Wanting to do more than just write about Old West adventures, he soon was traveling to be part of the action … such as riding in Wyoming at the Hole-in-the-Wall location where Butch, Sundance and their Wild Bunch hid out.

Steve’s wife, Marcie, was childhood friends of the Captain of the Delta Queen Steamboat and she mentioned it would be fun traveling the Mississippi River on a steamboat (after all, Steve owed her since she rode in Wyoming for five days with him, camping out each night).  Cruising on this historic paddlewheel and wearing period correct clothing, Steve had a brainstorm … if they were having this much fun, why wouldn’t others?

Thus began Steve’s “Greatest Adventure” … he acquired his travel agents credentials and began offering Old West and Victorian-type adventures on bus tours, steamboats, trains, and horseback.

Since 1998 Great American Adventures has offered steamboat cruises on the Mississippi, Ohio and Cumberland Rivers (think riverboat gambler and Civil War), the Columbia River in the Northwest (think Lewis & Clark and the Fur Trade), and in Alaska (heck, even Wyatt Earp went there).  His train trip to the Canadian Rockies has become a favorite and his horseback rides are historical in every detail.  His "Custer's Ride to Glory" offers cavalry training school, riding with Custer and fighting Indians on Crow Indian Reservation, riding the Crow’s Nest and, on occasion, staying at the 7^th Cavalry’s barracks at Fort Abraham Lincoln (a 1^st in 130 years).  The list goes on, including his "Butch Cassidy's Hole-in-the-Wall Ride," his South Pass, Wyoming rides (horsemanship and cowboy clinics) and "Wyatt Earp's Vendetta Ride" (sold out early its first year).  He has future plans for tours and rides regarding Billy the Kid and Jesse James.

At a Western Writer's of America convention Steve met up with Bob Boze Bell, editor-in-chief of True West magazine (which happens to be one of Steve’s favorite mags).  After explaining his newly grown beard and long hair (Steve rides as one of Custer’s favorite scouts, clad in buckskin), Bob and he had a brainstorm … True West readers may love to do more than just read about the history of the Old West … they may want to experience it atop a trusty steed or visit historic areas with a knowledgeable historian … thus True West’s Great American Adventures was created … a winning hand in any Old West game of chance.

Although not mandatory, some of Steve’s passengers may dress in Victorian clothing during the bus tours, cruises and train trips that are now offered.  Old West cowboy period clothing, gun leather and firearms are certainly welcome on his horseback rides. 

Want a memorable vacation of a lifetime?  Take a Great American Adventure!

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