Cities from San Fran to New York City	Miles	Volunteers or Event	Stops
May 23 – July 26, 2023
May 23  – Depart San Francisco to Tracy, CA	120		1
May 24  – Tracy, CA to Sacramento, CA	80		2
May 25  – Sacramento, CA to Chico, CA                          CA Auto Museum	90	CA Auto	3
May 26-  Chico, CA to Redding, CA	85		4
May 27 – Redding, CA to Alturas, CA	144		5
May 28 – Alturas, CA to Lakeview, OR	55		6
May 29 – Lakeview, OR to Burns, OR	139		7
May 30 – Burns, OR to Nampa, ID	172		8
May 31 – Nampa Boise area	0		—
June 1 – Nampa/Boise  to Glenns Ferry	90		9
June 2 –  Glenns Ferry, ID to Hailey, ID	92		10
June 3 – Hailey, ID	0		—-
June 4 –  At Hailey, ID to Paul	103		11
June 5 –  Paul, ID   to Pocatello	82		12
June 6 –  Pocatello, ID to Lava Host Springs, ID	34		13
June 7 –  Lava Hot Springs, ID to Montpeilier, ID	54		14
June 8 –  Montpelier, ID to Diamondville, WY	86		15
June 9 – Diamondville, Kemmerer, WY to Ft. Bridger	41		16
June 10 – Ft. Bridger, WY to Green River.	72		17
June 11-Green River, WY to Rock Springs	20		18
June 12-Rock Springs, WY  to Bitter Creek	50		19
June 13-Bitter Creek to Wamsutter, WY	50
June 14-Wamsutter, WY  to Rawlings, WY.	60		21
June 15-Rawlings, WY to Medicine Bow, WY	50		22
June 16-Medicine Bow, WY to Laramnie, WY	56		23
June 17-Laramie, WY to Cheyenne, Wy	50		24
June 18-Cheynne,WY	0		—–
June 19-Cheyenne, WY to Sidney, NE	100		25
June 20- Sidney, NE to Ogalala, NE	70		26
June 21-Ogalala, NE to North Platte, NE	60		27
June22-North Platte to Kearney, NE	95		28
June 23-Kearney to Columbus, NEB34	106		29
June 24-Columbus, NE to Omaha, NE      CAF Council Bluffs visit with members?	86		30
June 25-Omaha, NE to Winterset, IA	108		31
June 26-Winterset to Winterset, IA	0		32
June 27-Winterset to Oskaloosa, IA	75		33
June28-Oscaloosa to Rock Island, ILL  & Davenport area	144		34
June 29-Rock Island  ILL to Ottawa, ILL  or straight to Crown Point, IN	110/200		35
June 30-Ottawa, ILL to Crown Point  or Crown Point to La Porte, IN   Amercian Legion #33	90/200		—-
July 1 -Crown Pont, IN to La Porte, IN	40		36
July 2 –  La Porte, IN to Goshen, IN	50		37
July 3 – Goshen, IN to Toledo, OH  * Possible tow to Troy, MI show  tow 80 miles	125		38
July 4 – Toledo, OH  or Troy, MI for 4th	0		39
July 5 – @Toledo after transit back from Tory *@ Toledo one day.  Towed 80	80	Fed Aerospace /CAF Toledo	40
July 6 – Toledo to Cleveland, OH	125		41/42
July 7 – Cleveland to Erie, OH	110		41
July 8 – Erie to Buffalo, NY              Lakwana VFW	100		42
July 9 – @Buffalo, NY	0		—–
July 10 –  Buffalo, NY to Geneseo	75		43
July 11 – @Geneseo, NY	0		—–
July 12 – Geneseo, NY to Skaneateles, NY	85		44
July 13 – Skaneateles, NY to Little Falls, NY	100		45
July 14 – Little Falls, NY to Albany, NY	70		46
July 15 – At Albany, NY	0		—-
July 16 – Albany, NY  to Hudson, NY	50		47
July 17 – Hudson, NY to Poughkeepsie, NY	50		48
July 18 – Poughkeepsie, NY to Cold Spring, NY	25		49
July 19 – Cold Spring to West Point, NY	20		50
July 20 – West Point, NY  or Cold Spring	20		51
July 21 -Cold Spring to NYC	60		52
July 22  – July 26 Run to NY or (6 Days to spare or use along the way)
July 26 – New York City arrive	4163
New York City McSorley’s Wednesday July 26th day of arrival
New York City O’Hara’s Pub Thursday July 27th & Ground Zero display Jeep day time
Friday July 28th Day of rest transport to Long Island or other?
Saturday July 29th Long Island Hometown VFW Final event carshow Auction end or other??

What started all this? Do you love history? Do you like challenges and adventure? Do you enjoy meeting people and helping others? Do you enjoy seeing new things in our country? How about road trips have you taken one lately? I will answer those questions for myself here, but I hope you too can be inspired do things you want to do and perhaps meet and help me help others along the way.

What started all this: Anyone who knows the Captain for more than five minutes, knows I’m passionate about history. All history, but American history can not be ignored if we are to be a healthy country. My personal feeling is the less we look back and appreciate where we came from, the further we get off course. If we don’t learn from the past, see and appreciate the good, the bad and the ugly from where we came. Then how can we improve the future and move forward with confidence?

So history is what inspired my desire to make this trip. It is through this trip that I will satisfy and answer those qustions for myself and maybe inspire you to do the same. My passion is defined, but you could substitute your own interests and passions to do the same if you stop and take time to think about it.

So who was Horatio Nelson Jackson? Well, I will tell you. He was an inspiration to many in our country. He was a man of adventure who liked a good challenge. He enjoyed helping others as he was once a physician. He certainly liked road trips. He was a man of history and in fact made history. This is how the Captain came to meet him long after he passed away in 1955. Yes, through history, the Captain met Dr. Nelson without meeting him in person.

Horatio Nelson Jackson was born in Toronto, Canada in 1872. He and his family immgrated to the United States where he earned an MD degree from the University of Vermont. He later practiced as a physician and lived in Burlington, Vermont. In 1899, Nelson married Bertha Richarson Wells, the daughter of William Wells, a Medal of Honor recipient and one of the wealthiest men in Vermont. Dr. Jackson later served in the US Army during WW1 and was highly decorated for his service under fire. After the war he became a Colonel and was one of the founding fathers of the American Legion one of the largest veteran’s organizations today. More about his family and service later, as they too inspired him. You see, inspiration comes from many people and experiences.

 

Think about this. When you look back upon history today, you must look at history in the context of the time the history was being made. The date was May 18, 1903, when Dr. Nelson was just 31 years old. He and his wife Bertha were in San Francisco on their way home to Burlington, VT, after visiting Alaska. Now that was an adventure and challenge. In 1903, the only way to travel outside vermont was on foot, by horse, or steam locomotive train. Now a trip to Alaska would essentially require an adventurous train trip across the entire United States on a trancontinetal train trip. This crossing would be made just 30 years after the construction of the transcontinental rail was completed, making the trip possible. It would be a long and expensive trip for two people to make. Once in San Francisco, it would require a second mode of transporation on a steam ship north to reach the great frontier of Alaska. This would be another long expensive and somewhat risky and adventurous trip. So consider the time once again. It is 1903, electricity as we know it was just coming to be. Many modern luxaries were not available yet.

Let us return now to that day May 18, 1903. Dr. Jackson was alone at the San Francisco University Club where he was meeting several local men. Dr. Jackson then became engaged in a lively discussion about the coming of the auto-car and the future usefulness of the horse for travel. This is where inspiration, history, adventure and challenge all came together. Dr. Nelson and his wife had entertained themselves while in San Francisco by taking an auto-car lesson. Dr. Nelson and his wife did not own an auto-car, and neither of them had ever driven one before. Inspired by this experience and his own sense of adventure, Dr. Nelson weighed into the conversation now playing out at the University Club. The men argued whether the horse was going to be replaced by the auto-car. This is when Dr. Jackson announced that the auto-car would replace the horse, and that he could in fact drive an auto-car from San Francisco to New York City. All the men took that bet and Dr. Nelson wagered $50 ($1500 in 2021) with all of them. Again, let us put history in context. There are no roads, no auto parts stores, regular gasoline stations, hotels, even traveling maps outside of the established towns. Not to mention Dr. Nelson doesn’t own an auto-car, has no experience driving one, and knows little or nothing about the mechanics of this new machine. The only knowledge of the land for most to incude Dr. Nelson, was from reading books or from the view of the train and his recent trip from Vermont. Yet none of this dashed Dr. Nelson’s passion to make history while taking on an adventure which he saw as the ultimate challenge to be the first person to cross the country in an auto-car.

Lucky for Dr. Nelson, his wife was confident in her husbands health and ability and well aware of his passion for history, adventure and challenge.

This is when history in the making began. On May 23, (remember this day) 1903, Dr. Nelson after securing a used 1903 Winton auto-car filled with camping gear and a local mechanic named Sewall K. Crocker started out.

 

I hate to ruin a good story, but I have to tell you that they made it! They completed their trip to New York City on July 26, (remember this day) 1903, just 63 days later.

 

 

I would never ruin a good story by trying to tell it myself. So if you want to know the entire story as documented by one of our greatest history documentarians of our time, Ken Burns then check this out.

 

Ken Burns produced this in 2003, for the 100th anniversary of Colonel Jackson’s trip in 1903. The documentary is guided by the actual daily diaries of Dr. Jackson during his trip. The documentary also uses photos taken on the trip along with Dr. Jackson’s personal letters written home between his wife and he. The story is narrated by Tom Hanks, who reads many of Dr. Jackson’s actual words from his daily diary produced during his trip.

Here is a link to much information regarding this great story told by Ken Burns. Enjoy this history, I know I did, for it inspired me to act!

Good stuff

https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/horatios-drive/

Ken Burns says it better than I:

https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/horatios-drive/note-from-ken-burns/