AbleGuy
Officious Intermeddler
Today overlanders might want to pause and take a moment to celebrate the 120 year anniversary of the first successful cross country 4 wheeler drive, from San Francisco to New York,…an unbelievably difficult often unmapped ramble across America through many wild areas with no developed roads!
This OG guy..,Horatio Jackson…arguably was the first true vehicle overlander and his bold exploits should inspire us all.
The incredible details of his unbelievably challenging adventure provide an amazing story to read. The incredible bad luck and unrelenting set backs he and his copilot faced and overcame will blow your mind and perhaps make you ponder how ‘spoiled’ and privileged we 21st century overland recreational explorers are today.
(From Wikipedia)
Jackson was an auto enthusiast who differed with the then-prevailing wisdom that the automobile was a passing fad and a recreational plaything.
While in San Francisco's University Club as a guest on May 18, 1903, he agreed to a $50 wager (equivalent to $1,629 in 2022) to prove that a four-wheeled machine could be driven across the country.
He accepted, even though at age 31 he did not own a car, had practically no experience driving, and had no maps to follow. Jackson and his wife planned to return to their Vermont, home in a few days, and both had been taking automobile driving lessons while in San Francisco.
His wife returned home by train, allowing him to take his adventure by automobile.
Jackson made this first successful North American transcontinental automobile trip in a 1903 Winton touring car.
Having no mechanical experience Jackson convinced a young mechanic and chauffeur, Sewall K. Crocker, to serve as his travel companion, mechanic, and backup driver. Crocker suggested that Jackson buy a Winton car.
He bought a slightly used, two-cylinder,20 hp Winton, which he named the Vermont, after his home state, bade his wife goodbye, and left San Francisco on May 23, carrying coats, rubber protective suits, sleeping bags, blankets, canteens, a water bag, an axe, a shovel, a telescope, tools, spare parts, a block and tackle, cans for extra gasoline and oil, a Kodak camera, a rifle, a shotgun, and pistols.
His 4 legged travel companion Bud (who needed to wear goggles to protect his eyes from irritation caused by the constant fine dust they encountered)
Heeding the failed attempt by automobile pioneer Alexander Winton(founder of the Winton Motor Carriage Company, which manufactured Jackson's car) to cross the deserts of Nevada and Utah, Jackson decided to take a more northerly route through the Sacramento Valleyand along the Oregon Trail. This allowed them to avoid the higher passes in the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains.
(For the rest of the amazing story, please go here:
This OG guy..,Horatio Jackson…arguably was the first true vehicle overlander and his bold exploits should inspire us all.
The incredible details of his unbelievably challenging adventure provide an amazing story to read. The incredible bad luck and unrelenting set backs he and his copilot faced and overcame will blow your mind and perhaps make you ponder how ‘spoiled’ and privileged we 21st century overland recreational explorers are today.
(From Wikipedia)
Jackson was an auto enthusiast who differed with the then-prevailing wisdom that the automobile was a passing fad and a recreational plaything.
While in San Francisco's University Club as a guest on May 18, 1903, he agreed to a $50 wager (equivalent to $1,629 in 2022) to prove that a four-wheeled machine could be driven across the country.
He accepted, even though at age 31 he did not own a car, had practically no experience driving, and had no maps to follow. Jackson and his wife planned to return to their Vermont, home in a few days, and both had been taking automobile driving lessons while in San Francisco.
His wife returned home by train, allowing him to take his adventure by automobile.
Jackson made this first successful North American transcontinental automobile trip in a 1903 Winton touring car.Having no mechanical experience Jackson convinced a young mechanic and chauffeur, Sewall K. Crocker, to serve as his travel companion, mechanic, and backup driver. Crocker suggested that Jackson buy a Winton car.
He bought a slightly used, two-cylinder,20 hp Winton, which he named the Vermont, after his home state, bade his wife goodbye, and left San Francisco on May 23, carrying coats, rubber protective suits, sleeping bags, blankets, canteens, a water bag, an axe, a shovel, a telescope, tools, spare parts, a block and tackle, cans for extra gasoline and oil, a Kodak camera, a rifle, a shotgun, and pistols.
His 4 legged travel companion Bud (who needed to wear goggles to protect his eyes from irritation caused by the constant fine dust they encountered)
Heeding the failed attempt by automobile pioneer Alexander Winton(founder of the Winton Motor Carriage Company, which manufactured Jackson's car) to cross the deserts of Nevada and Utah, Jackson decided to take a more northerly route through the Sacramento Valleyand along the Oregon Trail. This allowed them to avoid the higher passes in the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains.
(For the rest of the amazing story, please go here:
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