1 00:00:01,440 --> 00:00:11,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey, 2 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: I'm welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh and there's Chuck 3 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:16,319 Speaker 1: and it's just the two of us. But we're gonna 4 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: make it just fine. We're gonna make it if you try. 5 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: As I like to say, sometimes when it's just the 6 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:25,439 Speaker 1: two of us and it's sufficient. I'm excited about this 7 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: episode because this is a really, really great story that 8 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: doesn't have Like I was, I kept waiting for something 9 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 1: either bad to happen or someone to be exposed as awful, 10 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 1: and it's just a really fun, feel good story. I 11 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:44,760 Speaker 1: would go so far as to call it a hum dinger. 12 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 1: It's a hum dinger. And we gotta give a huge 13 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 1: credit to Ed who helps us with this, and also 14 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 1: because he helped Ed, who helped us ken Burns, Yeah, 15 00:00:56,320 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 1: ken Burns has a great documentary about this topic, which 16 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 1: is the first cross country automobile road trip. It's called 17 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: Horatio's Drive. It's a wonderful story and you can find 18 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: it on PBS. Hopefully if you're a streamer, you pay 19 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 1: for and subscribe to the PBS app because it's a 20 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:18,880 Speaker 1: very worthwhile and great channel to subscribe to. Narrated by 21 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:22,800 Speaker 1: the great Keith David, one of the great great voices, 22 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 1: just amazing and such a great actor too, and everything 23 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: from They Live Too Minute work there's something about Mary. Yeah, 24 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:34,120 Speaker 1: he was in Platoon too. He's like just such a 25 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: great actor. I love that guy. And because our protagonists 26 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: in this story, who will introduce you to in a second, 27 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 1: is such an affable, seemingly really good guy, they got 28 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: none other than Tom Hanks to recreate his voice for 29 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: his diary letters and stuff like that. We should also 30 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: give a hat tip to Dayton Duncan, who's interviewed extensively 31 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:00,080 Speaker 1: in that that documentary, because he wrote a book on 32 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: on the Drive. I would argue the book, Yeah, let's 33 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:10,640 Speaker 1: just call it that, the book on Horatio Nelson Jackson. Right, Yeah, 34 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 1: that's his name. Great name. So we're gonna talk a 35 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 1: lot more about him later, but we really kind of 36 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:19,919 Speaker 1: want to like lay the groundwork, bring the context, as 37 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:24,799 Speaker 1: Flavor Flavor would put it, and just kind of give 38 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: you an idea of what the times were like when 39 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: Horatio Nelson Jackson decided to become the first person to 40 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 1: travel cross country in a car. Right, so, nineteen oh three, 41 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 1: nine one one was a joke. I like that one. Yes, okay, 42 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: all right, just a medium okay on that one, I'll 43 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 1: take it. Nineteen o three is when this happened. But 44 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: to put this in context, like you said, the first 45 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:56,519 Speaker 1: transcontinental railroad was built and completed or not built but 46 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: completed in eighteen sixty nine, and it was eighteen seventy 47 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: six when you got your first cross country train trip 48 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:10,080 Speaker 1: that happened. So this was what like twenty five ish 49 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:14,240 Speaker 1: years roughly after that, and people were still kind of 50 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:19,520 Speaker 1: only traveling by train because cars were pretty new, and 51 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 1: they were only for richies, because I believe in the 52 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:26,519 Speaker 1: documentary they said, like the cheapest car you could get 53 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:29,679 Speaker 1: will cost more than the average American made in a year. 54 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 1: So in the early nineteen hundreds, it was rich people 55 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 1: who wanted to buy a super expensive, unique toy that 56 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: and we'll hammer this home a lot. But they didn't 57 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 1: even know was gonna end up being a real thing. Yeah, 58 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 1: it could have turned out like the se totally right. 59 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: I mean this is kind of a kin to somebody 60 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: taking a trek across America on a segue back in 61 00:03:56,600 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: like nineteen ninety five. Yeah, they did not know car 62 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: like a lot of people thought, these cars will never 63 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:07,560 Speaker 1: amount to anything. You're silly, It'll always be trains and horses, right, 64 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: So to kind of get across why people thought it 65 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: was just going to be nothing but trains and horses. 66 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:17,600 Speaker 1: Like that's how the American infrastructure was built. Like, if 67 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: you went any any kind of lengthy distance, you took 68 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,719 Speaker 1: a train. If you were moving around luckily, you took 69 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 1: a horse, maybe a horse and a buggy or a 70 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: horse and carriage or something like that. You kind of drive, 71 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:32,279 Speaker 1: I'm sure if you wanted to be super wild west 72 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:35,400 Speaker 1: about it. But there were at the time, say around 73 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:39,000 Speaker 1: nineteen hundred, the United States had two point three million 74 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:43,760 Speaker 1: miles of roads. Sounds pretty impressive. One hundred and fifty 75 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:48,040 Speaker 1: miles were paved, right, and all of those were within 76 00:04:48,240 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: big cities, right, So the vast, vast, vast majority of 77 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: roads in the United States were rough, rutted, dusty or 78 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 1: muddy or somehow both at the same time, roads that 79 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,240 Speaker 1: you would not want to walk over really, let alone 80 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: ride a car over. Yeah, they were in bad shape. Generally, 81 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: about fourteen million horses in the United States to about 82 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 1: eight thousand cars. And like you said, people traveled locally, 83 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: I think the average was like people generally didn't go 84 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 1: more than twelve miles from their house, and that even 85 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: feels like the high end. I don't think that's an average. 86 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:31,480 Speaker 1: I think people probably didn't go within a few miles 87 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 1: of their house. Yeah, I mean today, unless I'm traveling. Right. 88 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: At the time, there were and you still take trains 89 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: for a long distance travel sometimes I try to. At 90 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 1: the time, also, like you you didn't really steer away 91 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:48,920 Speaker 1: from home because it took you so long to go 92 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: anywhere on horse right, I think at the time it 93 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: was still a two day journey basically from New York 94 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:58,800 Speaker 1: to Philadelphia by horse. So this is like a this 95 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:01,080 Speaker 1: is a this is a big deal for somebody to 96 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:03,280 Speaker 1: be like, no, I'm going to try this. The other 97 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: thing was the roads themselves weren't mapped. Yeah, I mean 98 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:10,040 Speaker 1: east of the Mississippi, there were maps and guide books 99 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 1: that you could get pretty good directions from. Right, And 100 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,719 Speaker 1: it's it's funny in the documentary they kind of show 101 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,920 Speaker 1: what the directions were, like one of those like turn 102 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:26,480 Speaker 1: right at the old Stone horse Trough. Yeah, like those 103 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: were the kind of directions and because that's what a 104 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: local would tell you to do. So somebody had the 105 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: bright idea to print those and put them down in 106 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: book form and transmit that information that way, and it's 107 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: still held up because there were no road names, there 108 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: were no route numbers, there was nothing like that, because 109 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:45,799 Speaker 1: there was no reason for anything like that to exist. Yeah, 110 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:49,159 Speaker 1: and funny enough, that's how I prefer directions now, because 111 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: I'm very directionally challenged and famously so. And I also 112 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:59,000 Speaker 1: never know the names of roads, so I always ask 113 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:01,920 Speaker 1: people like, tell me, you know, go to that diner 114 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:03,480 Speaker 1: that you know and take a left and then go 115 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 1: to that car wash and veer right. And that's how 116 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 1: I prefer to get directions. I tend to zone out 117 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:14,200 Speaker 1: when people give me directions too, but I've asked for 118 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:16,840 Speaker 1: and uh, you can just kind of see it on 119 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:19,440 Speaker 1: their face. Can tell I'm gonna get lost because it's 120 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:21,840 Speaker 1: just not sinking in well, all the fun of that. 121 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:23,520 Speaker 1: It's gone now because you just punch it into your 122 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:26,320 Speaker 1: app or whatever. But totally, I'm basically talking about pre 123 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:31,240 Speaker 1: GPS stuff. I remember, I remember, I remember that. I 124 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: am also smart enough to really appreciate ways though, too. 125 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:36,400 Speaker 1: You know, do you remember the fun of a road 126 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 1: trip of opening that Rand McNally atlas and saying like, 127 00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 1: I think we can go this way to get to 128 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:46,400 Speaker 1: this town, or it looks like this other road we 129 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: can go around. That was like, and I'm not like, oh, 130 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:50,480 Speaker 1: things were so much better when it was harder, but 131 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: it was a really had a fun, sort of magical 132 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: adventuresome quality to it. I think, yeah, I um spent 133 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: five weeks in a van driving around the western United 134 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 1: States doing that same thing. It was very cool and 135 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,720 Speaker 1: like the amount of freedom is really hard to get 136 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 1: across of like, yeah, not having anywhere you had to 137 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:14,880 Speaker 1: be at any particular time and saying like, oh, that 138 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: that landmark sounds pretty cool. I'm gonna go see that. 139 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:20,000 Speaker 1: It's pretty neat. You know what words you don't hear 140 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 1: anymore is let's go here instead. It's true, everything seems 141 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: so locked down, you know. It's like, I don't know, 142 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: people don't say, oh no, let's just let's decide to 143 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,040 Speaker 1: go to this town instead of this town. I feel 144 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 1: like we've entered the disgrunt old aged old man because 145 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:44,120 Speaker 1: it seems like we do this almost every episode. Dude, Yeah, 146 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:46,040 Speaker 1: maybe we're gonna have to pay more attention to that 147 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:48,200 Speaker 1: or else we're gonna lose all the youngsters and just 148 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,560 Speaker 1: attract all the oldsters and who cares. Well, Hey, youngster, 149 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:53,240 Speaker 1: I encourage you to set out on a road trip 150 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:56,559 Speaker 1: with a map and and enjoy it. Okay, there you go, 151 00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:59,720 Speaker 1: I'm way to save it. I don't think I saved anything. 152 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:03,120 Speaker 1: So I think we've gotten across that it would be 153 00:09:03,160 --> 00:09:06,120 Speaker 1: really hard to drive a car, right, yeah, across the 154 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: United States at the time. Yeah, hard to drive a car. 155 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,520 Speaker 1: But because cars were becoming a little more popular, they 156 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:15,320 Speaker 1: were trying to get a more positive publicity going for 157 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:19,360 Speaker 1: their cars and their companies, and so they said, hey, 158 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: what a great way to do this then, like kind 159 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:25,280 Speaker 1: of sponsor across country Carr trip. That'll get a lot 160 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: of press. And so they tried this with John and 161 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:34,680 Speaker 1: Louise Davis from the how do you pronounce that? Deria? 162 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 1: It sounds like something you contract that you'd be really 163 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: unhappy about. Okay, the Daria I couldn't quite tell, but yeah, 164 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 1: it does sound like a disease of some sort. Do 165 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:48,880 Speaker 1: you are yea, yeah, the Daria car company gave them 166 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: a national or I'm sorry they weren't a car company. 167 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 1: That was the car The company was the National Motor 168 00:09:54,000 --> 00:10:00,560 Speaker 1: Carriage Company, Yeah, known today as the NMCC. Really kidding out, 169 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,920 Speaker 1: I thought you're gonna say as Portia. No, I would 170 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: like to think that, but no, I don't think so. No, 171 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:08,400 Speaker 1: I don't think so either. So they sponsored this couple. 172 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:11,360 Speaker 1: This was an eighteen ninety nine. It did not work out. 173 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:14,840 Speaker 1: They very famously got beaten to They started from New 174 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: York and they got beaten to Syracuse by a one 175 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:21,240 Speaker 1: armed bicyclist who gave them a ten day head start. 176 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:24,200 Speaker 1: So press it went opposite of how they wanted to. 177 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 1: That was sort of they lost track or lost interest 178 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:30,880 Speaker 1: very early on in this sort of doomed thing. And 179 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:34,240 Speaker 1: I don't think they even know if they succeeded in 180 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:36,800 Speaker 1: getting to San Francisco. Well, I think they know they didn't, 181 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:39,880 Speaker 1: but they basically didn't really cover the story after that. No, 182 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:44,680 Speaker 1: they dropped off the map after about Chicago. They dropped 183 00:10:44,679 --> 00:10:51,440 Speaker 1: off the GPS app. Sorry, so no, it's good. It 184 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:54,120 Speaker 1: just took me a second to for it to sink in. 185 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:55,559 Speaker 1: I thought that was pretty good. I'm trying to get 186 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:59,240 Speaker 1: our younger listeners back, so well, we should make a 187 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: TikTok of all this. Then, Okay, didn't know what people do, 188 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:09,560 Speaker 1: sure for now, so it was wonderful you just saved me. Um. 189 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:12,680 Speaker 1: So it was established though, even though the Davises didn't 190 00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 1: make it that like this is actually a really good 191 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 1: way to to to promote a car brand is to 192 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: be the first to make it across the country. I mean, 193 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:23,960 Speaker 1: then everyone will know that's a good car, because it's 194 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:26,319 Speaker 1: just so ridiculous to even think a car could do that. 195 00:11:26,679 --> 00:11:28,480 Speaker 1: So a couple of years after the davis Is, I 196 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:32,920 Speaker 1: guess nineteen o one, a carmaker named Alexander Winton M 197 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:39,800 Speaker 1: who had a Winton Car Company, handmade cars, beautiful cars. Yeah. Uh, 198 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:44,640 Speaker 1: he tried it himself, I believe, with this publicist. Very smartly, 199 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:48,880 Speaker 1: he and his publicist hit the road. Um, the acid 200 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:52,600 Speaker 1: hit them around Barstow. I think, well that showed up 201 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:57,120 Speaker 1: and they ended up getting trapped in a dune in Nevada. Yeah. 202 00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 1: But you you bring up a thing that might be overlooked. 203 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,680 Speaker 1: Is they very smartly started from west to east because, 204 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:07,920 Speaker 1: as we mentioned, the west was untamed land and bad, 205 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:10,760 Speaker 1: bad bad roads if there weren't at all, So getting 206 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:13,160 Speaker 1: that hard part over first, when the car was brand 207 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:16,240 Speaker 1: spanking new, was really really smart. But what they didn't 208 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 1: count on was and we'll see what Jackson learned was 209 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:22,600 Speaker 1: driving through the desert in an old car like that 210 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 1: is not good. Sand is not good for getting stuck, 211 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:30,600 Speaker 1: or it's great for getting stuck. It's not good for 212 00:12:30,679 --> 00:12:33,120 Speaker 1: making good time. Sand is not good for getting in 213 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,840 Speaker 1: carburetors and in oil and gas. And you know, these 214 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 1: engines weren't these big closed systems like they are today. 215 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:44,160 Speaker 1: So sand no good. But Winton got this press right, 216 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:48,000 Speaker 1: like like he helped I think, still publicize his car 217 00:12:48,080 --> 00:12:51,800 Speaker 1: company regardless and again the fact that no one had 218 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:53,840 Speaker 1: done this, but people were starting to try it. It 219 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:55,960 Speaker 1: kept being a thing. It was going to be a 220 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:58,760 Speaker 1: thing until somebody did it. And so a couple of 221 00:12:58,800 --> 00:13:02,720 Speaker 1: years after Winton try, a guy named Horatio Nelson Jackson, 222 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:05,760 Speaker 1: who's the star of our story, was hanging out at 223 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:09,559 Speaker 1: the University Club of San Francisco, and apparently a couple 224 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:13,280 Speaker 1: of fellow club members were saying that cars were basically 225 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:16,920 Speaker 1: useless and that they would never really go anywhere, and 226 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:20,120 Speaker 1: there's no reason for anybody to have one. Jackson, by 227 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:23,600 Speaker 1: this time had really developed a real love of cars, 228 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:26,960 Speaker 1: had started collecting them even yeah, and I guess to 229 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:31,920 Speaker 1: defend cars honor, he slapped down a fifty wager that 230 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,880 Speaker 1: he could make it across the United States from San 231 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: Francisco to New York in less than ninety days. Ninety 232 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: days or less. I'm sorry. And that was about fifteen 233 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:43,800 Speaker 1: hundred dollars that he threw down on the table right then, 234 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:47,520 Speaker 1: and the people took it. They accepted his wager, and 235 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:51,079 Speaker 1: four days later he set out for New York from 236 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:55,600 Speaker 1: San Francisco. It is madness to think about that he 237 00:13:55,679 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: did this with that little planning. He didn't have a 238 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:01,840 Speaker 1: car to do it. I mean he had cars, but 239 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:05,520 Speaker 1: not one to go across country at the time. Just 240 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:09,960 Speaker 1: quickly about Jackson. He was a doctor who got tuberculosis 241 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 1: and quit his practice kind of at the same time 242 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:17,680 Speaker 1: that he married a very wealthy woman named Bertha Richardson Wells, 243 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:22,320 Speaker 1: very wealthy New England family from Vermont. Her family made 244 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:25,000 Speaker 1: their money in salary compounds. I it was like a 245 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 1: tonic yeah, basically, so he as Ed Putt, did rich 246 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:34,880 Speaker 1: guy things, capital R, capital G. And his wife was 247 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:37,400 Speaker 1: super supportive, like everyone was on board. He was like, 248 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 1: that's awesome. I'll take a train to Burlington. I'll meet 249 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:43,640 Speaker 1: you over there, honey, you have my blessing. And it 250 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:46,320 Speaker 1: seems like they had a really like judging from the 251 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:49,040 Speaker 1: letters that of course it was voiced by Tom Hanks too, 252 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:52,480 Speaker 1: so you're endeared immediately. But judging from the letters, it 253 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 1: seems like they were just a great couple, a very 254 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:59,680 Speaker 1: loving family. He called her Swipes, and no one knows 255 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:02,000 Speaker 1: why that nickname was there, but he, you know, he 256 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:05,520 Speaker 1: signed it as Nelson and the year years forever Nelson 257 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: and my dearest Swipes. And it was really really sort 258 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:12,880 Speaker 1: of a beautiful story of this couple. And he knew 259 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:14,360 Speaker 1: he had to get a guy to go with him, 260 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: and so he picked a great traveling partner. He was 261 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 1: a small engine mechanic and a factory named Sewell Crocker, 262 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:25,520 Speaker 1: who was about ten years younger. He's twenty two years old. 263 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 1: I think, um, what was Horatio? Was like, okay, so 264 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:34,160 Speaker 1: this guy could fix cars, he knew cars, and apparently 265 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:37,440 Speaker 1: like they really liked each other and were which was 266 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:39,080 Speaker 1: a big deal. You know, you've been on road trips 267 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:42,760 Speaker 1: in regular cars and that's a key factor. But especially 268 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: back then with all the troubles they were going to have, 269 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:46,360 Speaker 1: he had to have someone that you could get along with. 270 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:51,880 Speaker 1: That's a big one for sure. So he asked Crocker, hey, man, 271 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:54,520 Speaker 1: what car should we get for this? And Crocker said, well, 272 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:58,520 Speaker 1: you have basically limitless fun, get the best, buy yourself. 273 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:01,320 Speaker 1: In nineteen oh three went in touring car and end 274 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,680 Speaker 1: points something out that I think is very astute. The 275 00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:07,120 Speaker 1: reason why, probably Suel Crocker said get a Winton was 276 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:10,600 Speaker 1: because Winton had already shown that they were making really 277 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 1: good cars enough so that they were willing to try 278 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:16,280 Speaker 1: to make it across country in one of them. So 279 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 1: that's exactly what Jackson did. Horatio did. He's the kind 280 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:21,720 Speaker 1: of guy you call him by his first name because 281 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:24,000 Speaker 1: it's got a great first name, and he's Tom Hanks, 282 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: like affable. Right. Yeah, So Horatio bought himself a Winton 283 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:33,200 Speaker 1: touring car nineteen o three. Apparently he paid essentially one 284 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:36,840 Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars for it, and it was used, Yeah, 285 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:39,880 Speaker 1: it was used, but it was the only one available, 286 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:42,800 Speaker 1: so he just paid whatever the person wanted for it, 287 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:48,120 Speaker 1: and so I think in nineteen oh three dollars he 288 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:50,440 Speaker 1: paid three thousand dollars. But he named it the Vermont 289 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: because that's where he and his wife Bertha lived. But 290 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:56,600 Speaker 1: a little bit about this car there was. It was 291 00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:59,480 Speaker 1: an It was open in every sense of the word. 292 00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 1: It's like if you took a tub and put wheels 293 00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:08,280 Speaker 1: on it and then had a steering will sticking out 294 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:11,000 Speaker 1: of it. That that was the car. There was no windshield, 295 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:13,880 Speaker 1: there was no roof, there was no back windshield, there 296 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:17,480 Speaker 1: were no doors, there was no nothing. It was like 297 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:22,400 Speaker 1: a giant riding lawnmower with like wagon wheels. Well, it's 298 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:26,199 Speaker 1: funny that you bring up riding lawnmowers, Chuck, because the 299 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:30,600 Speaker 1: two cylinder chain drive engine had twenty horsepower, and my 300 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:33,600 Speaker 1: friend a John Deere X three hundred series riding mower 301 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:39,000 Speaker 1: has twenty two horsepower. That's funny. That's really funny. This 302 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:40,879 Speaker 1: this thing topped out at thirty miles per hour. I 303 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:43,080 Speaker 1: don't think that John Deer does that, but that's probably 304 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:45,000 Speaker 1: just because it's cutting grass at the same time. But 305 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:51,080 Speaker 1: imagine imagine traveling the country on a riding lawnmower. Basically 306 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:53,719 Speaker 1: that's about what they were doing. But yes, you're right, 307 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,600 Speaker 1: thirty miles an hour is substantially more. That's what it 308 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:01,800 Speaker 1: could do. Max Ye, no way did they average thirty 309 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:05,399 Speaker 1: miles an hour? Not even close. It was someone, uh 310 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:07,840 Speaker 1: it was it was red, a really good looking car. 311 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:11,360 Speaker 1: You'll only see black and whites. But someone on redditum, 312 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:14,160 Speaker 1: that's the picture I sent you did a very fun 313 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:20,080 Speaker 1: colorized picture of Horatio and Crocker and a third party 314 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:23,119 Speaker 1: to be named later, um and colorized it and it 315 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:27,160 Speaker 1: just it looks awesome. And this car is so cool looking. Yeah, 316 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:29,159 Speaker 1: I don't mean to detract from it. It was a 317 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:33,120 Speaker 1: cool looking car, very cool as far as comfort goes, 318 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:36,240 Speaker 1: it was not at all comfortable. No, I say, we 319 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:38,120 Speaker 1: take a break and then set out on the road 320 00:18:38,119 --> 00:19:06,119 Speaker 1: trip with these guys. Huh oh, let's do it all right. So, 321 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 1: as we will see, there were other car manufacturers planning 322 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:13,760 Speaker 1: to do the same thing at the time, and a 323 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:16,399 Speaker 1: couple of them ended up. You know, it ended up 324 00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:19,199 Speaker 1: sort of being a race against like a corporation versus 325 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:23,480 Speaker 1: a human. Even though he was driving. You know, it's 326 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:25,679 Speaker 1: like a car he built himself. It was a Winton, 327 00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 1: but he was doing it himself with this other guy. 328 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 1: He wasn't fun, he wasn't sponsored. It was about the 329 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:35,399 Speaker 1: spirit of adventure. He all these as we'll see, all 330 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:38,840 Speaker 1: these other companies sent like supplies ahead and the like, 331 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:42,040 Speaker 1: they had teams of mechanics. He didn't have anything to 332 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:46,639 Speaker 1: prove he'd put this together in four days, including buying 333 00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:51,080 Speaker 1: the car, And that's just I really want to get across. 334 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:55,160 Speaker 1: The spirit of this whole thing was just this optimist 335 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:56,959 Speaker 1: who was like, let me see if I can do 336 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:02,280 Speaker 1: this crazy thing. Yeah. So two months after Horatio and 337 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:06,560 Speaker 1: Sewell set out on their trip, Packard sent a team 338 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:08,920 Speaker 1: out and like you said, they were very well outfitted. 339 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:11,800 Speaker 1: They had a mechanic on board. There was gasoline for 340 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 1: them at every stop. Because gasoline was there were no 341 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,840 Speaker 1: gas stations, and definitely there were no gas stations out west. 342 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:21,919 Speaker 1: You would go to the general store and be like, 343 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:25,560 Speaker 1: I'd like a can of your most dangerous volatile liquids please, 344 00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:28,520 Speaker 1: and they would hand you some gasoline and a can, 345 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:30,760 Speaker 1: and you'd buy a few of them to drive around with. 346 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,120 Speaker 1: It was incredibly dangerous, but that's how you didn't run 347 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:37,320 Speaker 1: out of gas. Packard had the advantage of like every 348 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:41,080 Speaker 1: town or every X number of miles, there was gasoline 349 00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:44,080 Speaker 1: waiting for them, So they essentially had gas stations that 350 00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:48,240 Speaker 1: were reserved exclusively for them. Horatio and Sewel did not 351 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:50,960 Speaker 1: have anything remotely like that, and so they got into 352 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:53,639 Speaker 1: all sorts of fun little adventures, like the time that 353 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:57,439 Speaker 1: Sewel Crucker had to bike dozens of miles on a 354 00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:01,280 Speaker 1: borrowed bicycle to go to and fro to fill up 355 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:03,400 Speaker 1: their gas can and bring it back and then fill 356 00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:05,960 Speaker 1: it up again and then bring it back. And that 357 00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:09,080 Speaker 1: must have been there all right, exactly, And it's fun 358 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:11,480 Speaker 1: now in retrospect us talking about it here in twenty 359 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:13,840 Speaker 1: twenty three in the studio. I'm sure it was not 360 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:16,760 Speaker 1: a great day for Suel Crocker. No, I don't think 361 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: they were drawing straws. Ooh you know what I mean. 362 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:21,359 Speaker 1: Like right, the rich thirty one year old with the 363 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:24,960 Speaker 1: head TB is definitely saying, all right, hit the road 364 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:28,520 Speaker 1: on the bike, my friend, were equals in almost every way, 365 00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:31,879 Speaker 1: but hit the trail on the bike, right, all right. 366 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:34,800 Speaker 1: So Packard did so two months later, like he said, 367 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:37,680 Speaker 1: an Oldsmobile did the same thing a month after that. 368 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:41,720 Speaker 1: I believe much the same operation, you know, fully sponsored 369 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:46,239 Speaker 1: and like rigged up in everything. So they threw out 370 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:49,280 Speaker 1: the back seat on this Winton. I don't think we 371 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:53,240 Speaker 1: mentioned this thing could go two hundred and fifty miles 372 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:56,920 Speaker 1: with their tank of fuel, which that was way more 373 00:21:56,920 --> 00:21:59,720 Speaker 1: than I thought. Yeah, for sure, I was super impressed. 374 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:02,679 Speaker 1: So they ripped out the backseat, which doesn't look like 375 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:06,479 Speaker 1: it was much of one anyway, and packed you know, 376 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:11,200 Speaker 1: cooking kit, tons of rope. Something that would probably be 377 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:14,399 Speaker 1: the most valuable thing in the whole car was a 378 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,760 Speaker 1: pulley system, a block and tackle. Yeah, for sure. They 379 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:20,600 Speaker 1: had a code at camera, they had sleeping bags, they 380 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:22,760 Speaker 1: had a shoveling axe. They had a bunch of guns 381 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:26,239 Speaker 1: and ammunition because they might be hunting for food out 382 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 1: in the middle of nowhere, or just maybe you want 383 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:32,520 Speaker 1: to murder someone, yeah, or just like shooting out of 384 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:36,040 Speaker 1: an untopped car is probably pretty fun when no one's around, 385 00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:39,840 Speaker 1: But that is one. So Yeah, the problem is is 386 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:43,840 Speaker 1: like they weren't experts at tying down their gear. Yeah, 387 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:47,200 Speaker 1: And they would get to like a stop probably basically 388 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:49,879 Speaker 1: every day, and find that something they needed had dropped 389 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:53,119 Speaker 1: off and bounced out at some point like back on 390 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:55,720 Speaker 1: their trail, and that they had gone too far to 391 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:58,600 Speaker 1: go back to try to find it. They lost like 392 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 1: cooking utensils. Horatio lost multiple pairs of his eyeglasses. It's 393 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:06,679 Speaker 1: just crazy to me that they weren't like, put a 394 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:09,040 Speaker 1: tarp on it and wrap the tarp up and then 395 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:12,000 Speaker 1: put rope on the tarp. You know, who knows. But 396 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:14,919 Speaker 1: they did lose a lot of stuff, and luckily, like 397 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:16,840 Speaker 1: you said, they didn't lose that block and tackle. It 398 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:21,439 Speaker 1: would really come into into play multiple times. But they 399 00:23:21,880 --> 00:23:25,720 Speaker 1: made a really good decision early on number one. They 400 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:31,160 Speaker 1: followed I can't remember his first, mister Winton's Alexander Winton's example, 401 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:34,160 Speaker 1: and started out west. So what they would be doing 402 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:36,679 Speaker 1: is getting the hardest part of the trip out of 403 00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: the way first, while the car had very few miles 404 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:44,000 Speaker 1: on it, right, yeah, which was you know, a nice 405 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:47,520 Speaker 1: little copy. But then they made a really really great decision, 406 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:51,119 Speaker 1: and I think the decision that frankly made them a 407 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,760 Speaker 1: success in the end. Did I just spoil it? I guess. 408 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:56,119 Speaker 1: We talked about what a great story it was. It 409 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: wouldn't be great if they conked out in Michigan. True, true, 410 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:03,840 Speaker 1: But they decided to go add hundreds of miles to 411 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:07,680 Speaker 1: their trip by not just taking a right and going 412 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,840 Speaker 1: across the country, but going north up through Oregon to 413 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:16,040 Speaker 1: avoid that Nevada desert, and that, my friend, even though 414 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:19,240 Speaker 1: there were some treacherous mountains that they had to go through, 415 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:25,159 Speaker 1: avoiding that desert I think is what ultimately made them successful. Yeah, 416 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:28,080 Speaker 1: I mean hundreds of miles added to the trip. But 417 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:32,320 Speaker 1: it was incredibly smart because again Winton had bottomed out 418 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:35,040 Speaker 1: in that sand. That sand wasn't going anywhere. At the 419 00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:37,880 Speaker 1: very least. There were wagon trails and stuff up in Oregon, 420 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:41,600 Speaker 1: and they were able to kind of make their way 421 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 1: along these the railroad tracks that were there. So there 422 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,119 Speaker 1: were a railroad right of ways, which is the land 423 00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:51,600 Speaker 1: cleared on either side of a railroad track, and they 424 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:53,840 Speaker 1: would drive on those or if they had to drive 425 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:57,600 Speaker 1: on the railway themselves, and they would they would ride 426 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:01,280 Speaker 1: on railroad bridges in a car that could go thirty 427 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:05,280 Speaker 1: miles per hour max. Yeah, and hoped God that there 428 00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:07,439 Speaker 1: wasn't a train that was going to come. And I 429 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:09,399 Speaker 1: was like, man, I'm so glad. I watched Stand by 430 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:11,320 Speaker 1: Me a couple of days ago, just about to bring 431 00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:13,679 Speaker 1: that up, and he watched it. It's such a great 432 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: part of that movie. And then I was telling you, 433 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:20,679 Speaker 1: like that was a masterpiece, Like that is Rob Briner's masterpiece. 434 00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:23,359 Speaker 1: And he's made some pretty great movies, but it is 435 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:27,480 Speaker 1: exponentially better than I even remembered as a kid. I'll 436 00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:29,240 Speaker 1: throw a spinal tap in there, but I a yeah, 437 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:31,280 Speaker 1: have you still not seen that? That's what I'm saying. No, 438 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:33,520 Speaker 1: it's great. That's a great movie. I think When Harry 439 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:36,040 Speaker 1: Met Sally's a great movie. Like there's tons of great 440 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:38,879 Speaker 1: movies Rob Brianer's made, but I think stand By Me 441 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,159 Speaker 1: might be the best. Yeah, it's a great movie. I 442 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,000 Speaker 1: loved that scene when he they put their hands on 443 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,639 Speaker 1: the rail, Yeah, and it just gets real quiet and 444 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:49,120 Speaker 1: they're listening. They were like, do you feel any vibration 445 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:51,120 Speaker 1: at all? And that's probably what these guys were doing, 446 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:54,240 Speaker 1: I'm sure, but they were doing it bumping along in 447 00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:57,760 Speaker 1: their open car. Yeah. Also shout out. I don't know 448 00:25:57,840 --> 00:25:59,840 Speaker 1: Phil Wheaton still listens to us. I know he used to, 449 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:04,359 Speaker 1: but man, all of those kids did a great, great job. 450 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:08,359 Speaker 1: But he really did a magnificent job acting in that movie. 451 00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:11,560 Speaker 1: So way to go Wheaton. Totally listening. Great movie. I 452 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:13,960 Speaker 1: love it. I'm gonna watch it too now. Talking about 453 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:16,040 Speaker 1: it in Vegas, it made me nostalgic for it for sure. 454 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:20,960 Speaker 1: All right, all right, So we are at leave time, 455 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: which was May twenty third, nineteen oh three. It was 456 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:28,160 Speaker 1: a Saturday. Apparently it was a hot spring in California 457 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:32,359 Speaker 1: and it rained that afternoon and they took off from 458 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:36,400 Speaker 1: San Francisco and very quickly blew a tire out. It 459 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:42,119 Speaker 1: was like Romeo Michelle, Yeah, totally. And the chronicle in 460 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:45,080 Speaker 1: San Francisco wasn't even covering it. Basically, the San Francisco 461 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:48,359 Speaker 1: Examiner had a very short little piece about it about 462 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:51,760 Speaker 1: a horseless carriage going from sea to sea. But it 463 00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:54,640 Speaker 1: would build, as you will see with the press as 464 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:57,840 Speaker 1: things went along, but it wasn't well covered at first. 465 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:01,520 Speaker 1: And the tire thing, it was an issue. I mean 466 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:04,680 Speaker 1: that car tires at the time would routinely blow out. 467 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,400 Speaker 1: They had a hard time on the trip finding new tubes. 468 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,560 Speaker 1: They would stock up on used tubes. Whenever they went 469 00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:14,080 Speaker 1: to a town it seemed like that had any kind 470 00:27:14,080 --> 00:27:16,399 Speaker 1: of tubes, they would just buy them, right and you 471 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,960 Speaker 1: know your tubes. Yeah, And it was it was tires 472 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:22,840 Speaker 1: were an issue thatould seemed like one of the main issues. Yeah, 473 00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:26,240 Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah, because I mean you can imagine there's 474 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:29,600 Speaker 1: not people selling car tires because there were so few cars, 475 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:32,520 Speaker 1: and out west they kept encountering people who had never 476 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:36,600 Speaker 1: seen a car. Yeah, I saw mention of that Packard 477 00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:40,119 Speaker 1: team that was riding. I think Tom Fetch was the 478 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:43,320 Speaker 1: Packard guy who was driving the car. And they pulled 479 00:27:43,320 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: into one town that where a murder had just been committed, 480 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:49,399 Speaker 1: and so few people had seen a car in that 481 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:53,320 Speaker 1: town that everybody left the fresh murder scene, including the sheriff, 482 00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:55,080 Speaker 1: to come look at the car that had just rolled 483 00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:57,520 Speaker 1: into town. Like that was like what it was like 484 00:27:57,600 --> 00:27:59,359 Speaker 1: out west of the time. So of course you weren't 485 00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:01,840 Speaker 1: going to find our tires easily. You had to improvise 486 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:04,680 Speaker 1: any way. You could sure an a murdered body out there. 487 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,479 Speaker 1: Back then was the Diamond dozen. Diamond dozen, it's not 488 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:10,360 Speaker 1: going anywhere. That's right, Let's go check out that new car. 489 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:16,399 Speaker 1: It's not going anywhere. So they're going east, they're going 490 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:21,440 Speaker 1: through some treacherous terrain. They're going through the Cascade Mountains. 491 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:24,159 Speaker 1: It's fun in the documentary to hear the diary or 492 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:27,760 Speaker 1: letters home to his wife where he was talking about, 493 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:31,119 Speaker 1: you know, the roads that are basically big enough for 494 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:33,439 Speaker 1: one car, because I can't remember exactly I said it 495 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,520 Speaker 1: but like because nature has made it that way, basically, 496 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:39,440 Speaker 1: like it's a cliff side on the side of a mountain. 497 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:42,760 Speaker 1: So luckily, you know, they're having to share the road 498 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,280 Speaker 1: with stage coaches and horses and stuff like that. Not 499 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:49,080 Speaker 1: really any other cars probably, but they would. It was 500 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,560 Speaker 1: what you would think. They were constantly getting stuck, constantly 501 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:56,960 Speaker 1: blowing tires. They I think the record was eighteen times 502 00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:59,120 Speaker 1: in a day they had to use that block and 503 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:02,080 Speaker 1: tackle to pull themselves out of a ditch or a 504 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:04,520 Speaker 1: river or a mud hole. That must have been the 505 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:07,560 Speaker 1: suckiest day ever. Yeah. And then the maps were an 506 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:10,080 Speaker 1: issue too, right, Yeah, they would have to rely on 507 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,160 Speaker 1: locals for directions. Some when they could find locals, a 508 00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:16,000 Speaker 1: lot of times they just had to guess. I saw 509 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:18,560 Speaker 1: again the Packard team started to keep bringing them up. 510 00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:20,840 Speaker 1: I know they're not what the stories about, but they 511 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:23,720 Speaker 1: learned to avoid the nicest roads because out west that 512 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,920 Speaker 1: usually meant that it just dead ended in some rich 513 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:31,600 Speaker 1: person's house. And when you could find locals, they would 514 00:29:31,640 --> 00:29:35,520 Speaker 1: sometimes just literally misguide you. There was one that Horatio 515 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:38,640 Speaker 1: and Sewell ran across a woman on horseback who told 516 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:40,080 Speaker 1: them to get to the next town they should go 517 00:29:40,120 --> 00:29:43,200 Speaker 1: down this road and it dead ended in her family's farm. 518 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:47,360 Speaker 1: It was her driveway. Basically, they came back the way 519 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:49,400 Speaker 1: they went and ran across her again. They're like, why 520 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:51,520 Speaker 1: did you do that? And she's like, oh, my dad 521 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:54,120 Speaker 1: and mom and husband would have wanted to see a car. 522 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:56,960 Speaker 1: They've never seen a car before, so she purposefully sent 523 00:29:57,040 --> 00:29:59,840 Speaker 1: them the wrong way down to dead end, miles down 524 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:03,200 Speaker 1: dead apparently too. And I did not hear that they 525 00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:06,080 Speaker 1: had gotten angry with her or cross even. I think 526 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:08,320 Speaker 1: they probably just said like, good day to you, madam, 527 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:10,960 Speaker 1: right and kept on. They should have said, you don't 528 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:13,280 Speaker 1: know this yet, but one day giving directions will be 529 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:16,240 Speaker 1: very important, and this will not be cool. This is 530 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:19,560 Speaker 1: not going to reflect good on your family. Tina Manson 531 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:28,400 Speaker 1: like Tina, I just loved. Tina was so not a 532 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:31,920 Speaker 1: name back then. Tina Manson, I love it. Great choice. 533 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:35,320 Speaker 1: The breaks were kind of what you would imagine. They 534 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,600 Speaker 1: weren't great, so it was quite thrilling when they would 535 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,160 Speaker 1: get on these downhill runs and they're what a lot 536 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:44,520 Speaker 1: you could do about it? The clutch went out a lot. 537 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:47,280 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, we talked about our our various 538 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:49,520 Speaker 1: van journeys out west We were in a Volkswagen Van 539 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:54,040 Speaker 1: for mine and the mountains killed it. Like we had 540 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:58,880 Speaker 1: to get a rental jeep Cherokee and Nevada for the 541 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 1: whole second half of the trip because going through the 542 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:06,120 Speaker 1: mountains literally killed his. And it wasn't like a brand 543 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:08,320 Speaker 1: new vwvan. It wasn't one of the old ones, but 544 00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:11,200 Speaker 1: it was like the Vanagan. But like it drove us 545 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:14,280 Speaker 1: from Atlanta to the mountains just fine, and the mountains 546 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:17,280 Speaker 1: killed it. So imagine what the mountains did to the 547 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:22,239 Speaker 1: clutch system on this, you know, lawnmower. Basically. Yeah, I 548 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:25,040 Speaker 1: have to admit, until today I did not know what 549 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:27,880 Speaker 1: a clutch did. I knew that the clutches the thing 550 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:31,520 Speaker 1: you push into shift gears, never understood why the reason 551 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:33,680 Speaker 1: why you push in is because you actually want to 552 00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:37,360 Speaker 1: stop the clutch from working temporarily. Yeah. What the clutches. 553 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:42,240 Speaker 1: It transmits the motor power or the motor's torque to 554 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:46,400 Speaker 1: the transmission, which in turn turns the axle to the 555 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:50,680 Speaker 1: tires the wheels, Right, that's my understanding of it. And 556 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:53,040 Speaker 1: when you're pressing in the clutch, what you're really doing 557 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 1: is keeping that transfer from taking place so that you 558 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,120 Speaker 1: can go into another gear and then you let the 559 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:02,440 Speaker 1: clutch out in that transfer begins again. So, yes, the 560 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:07,440 Speaker 1: clutch is an extremely important instrument. The car does not 561 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,640 Speaker 1: go without it, and apparently Suel Crocker had to fix 562 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:13,080 Speaker 1: that thing almost as many times as they used the 563 00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:15,600 Speaker 1: block and tackle to pull themselves out of mud. Well 564 00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:18,120 Speaker 1: he was worth his weight, wasn't, Oh boy, Yeah he was. 565 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:22,600 Speaker 1: They did have one modification they made, like on the 566 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:25,040 Speaker 1: way there, as they added a head lamp and a 567 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:26,960 Speaker 1: seed lean head lamp so they could drive at night, 568 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:29,320 Speaker 1: because he wanted to make up time, you know, because 569 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:32,520 Speaker 1: there were times when they had to go to a 570 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:35,240 Speaker 1: town and wait for I think one of them was 571 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:39,400 Speaker 1: like three or four days where they're waiting, ironically for 572 00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:41,520 Speaker 1: a stage coach to show up with parts that they 573 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:45,440 Speaker 1: had ordered. There were times when a stage coach or 574 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:49,120 Speaker 1: a guy on a horse would pull them out ironically. Again. Yeah, 575 00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:52,600 Speaker 1: And I didn't get the impression that Horatio was trying 576 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:55,360 Speaker 1: to prove that horses were obsolete. No, I don't think 577 00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:57,040 Speaker 1: so at all. I think he still saw it as 578 00:32:57,040 --> 00:32:59,520 Speaker 1: pretty ironic that he still relied on horses in this 579 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:02,760 Speaker 1: horse carriage. Yeah, I don't think he threw shade even 580 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:06,840 Speaker 1: when blacksmiths would make repairs. They pointed out in the 581 00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:09,120 Speaker 1: documentary that I think it was in one of his 582 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:11,720 Speaker 1: letters he said it like the irony wasn't lost on him. 583 00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:14,120 Speaker 1: But I don't think he was like, you're not gonna 584 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 1: have a job in a few years, sucker, right right, 585 00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:22,200 Speaker 1: that's what segue maker said to people on foot, didn't 586 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:24,560 Speaker 1: the adventure the segue drive off a cliff on a segue. 587 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:28,320 Speaker 1: Oh that sounds like an urban legend, but is maybe 588 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:31,120 Speaker 1: one that's just crazy enough to be true. I have 589 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:33,240 Speaker 1: to look that up. Should we take a break, Yes, 590 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:35,239 Speaker 1: we look, we'll take a break and look that up. 591 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:37,680 Speaker 1: All right, we'll be back here with the truth right 592 00:33:37,720 --> 00:34:05,920 Speaker 1: after this star. Okay, we're back and Chuck it's true, 593 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:10,919 Speaker 1: BBC says it. Yeah. Wow. Jimmy Hezeldin was sixty two 594 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:15,160 Speaker 1: when he rode off a cliff on his company's segues. 595 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:20,640 Speaker 1: It killed him, obviously, Yes, in West Yorkshire. That's sad. Yeah, 596 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:25,399 Speaker 1: but my god, that's quite a legend. It is. It's 597 00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:27,200 Speaker 1: like Fabio getting hit in the face with a duck 598 00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 1: on a roller coaster. What no, you know that? No, 599 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:37,320 Speaker 1: Fabio on a roller coaster, a duck flew across his 600 00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:42,000 Speaker 1: path and hit him in the face and killed him. No, no, no, okay, 601 00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:44,520 Speaker 1: but it's uh, it's one of these pictures on the 602 00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:47,080 Speaker 1: Internet where you're like, oh, that's got to be fake, 603 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:51,799 Speaker 1: and it's and it really happened, poor Fabio. I know, 604 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:53,880 Speaker 1: I feel bad for the guy, but it was also like, 605 00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:58,080 Speaker 1: of all the people to get for this to happen too, 606 00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:01,440 Speaker 1: it was just it was pretty rich. Yeah, I can imagine, 607 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:04,560 Speaker 1: what is he a jerk? No? No, no no, he okay, 608 00:35:04,719 --> 00:35:06,840 Speaker 1: but he's Fabio and like, you know, that kind of 609 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:12,239 Speaker 1: stuff didn't happened to Fabio Dan, me too, totally with 610 00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:14,640 Speaker 1: you on that. Did you look up that picture? I'm 611 00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:18,960 Speaker 1: watching the video right now. I can't not chuck. Maybe 612 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:21,600 Speaker 1: we'll have an episode someday where we just tell each 613 00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:24,239 Speaker 1: other internet memes and the other one will look it 614 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:28,160 Speaker 1: up and then react on Mike, and that's how we'll 615 00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:30,680 Speaker 1: do it. Okay, stuff stuff you shouldn't I couldn't care 616 00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:32,759 Speaker 1: less about. We'll be the name of that stuff you 617 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:36,000 Speaker 1: really probably shouldn't bother listening to. All right, So let's 618 00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 1: pick up with the trip. It sounds like we're painting 619 00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:42,080 Speaker 1: and ed. I'm glad he pointed this out. It sounds 620 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:44,800 Speaker 1: like we're painting a picture of an awful time because 621 00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:46,680 Speaker 1: of all of the delays and all of the things 622 00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:48,920 Speaker 1: that happened. They knew what they were in for with this. 623 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:50,640 Speaker 1: They didn't think it was going to be a pleasure cruise. 624 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:54,399 Speaker 1: It was also a great fun adventure. Like these guys 625 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:57,160 Speaker 1: were having a great time. They were seeing things that 626 00:35:57,239 --> 00:36:00,359 Speaker 1: few people had ever even seen in person before, even 627 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:04,680 Speaker 1: by horse at times. And they had no schedule. I mean, 628 00:36:04,680 --> 00:36:07,359 Speaker 1: they were trying to beat this ninety day thing. But 629 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:09,640 Speaker 1: like I get the feeling he really just wanted to 630 00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:12,400 Speaker 1: finish the trip, so you know, he had money. They 631 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:14,560 Speaker 1: were staying in hotels, they were staying with people along 632 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,440 Speaker 1: the way who opened their homes to them. They were 633 00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,960 Speaker 1: driving about two hours at a time, and it seemed 634 00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:23,520 Speaker 1: like they were they were having fun at the same time. 635 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:26,359 Speaker 1: I have that same impression too, for sure. And plus, 636 00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:29,600 Speaker 1: don't forget Seuel Crocker was making some pretty good money too. Yeah, 637 00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:31,759 Speaker 1: well I didn't find that. What was he getting paid. 638 00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:35,239 Speaker 1: I didn't see either, But we can go ahead and 639 00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:39,320 Speaker 1: say at the end they tallied up how much Horatio 640 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:43,640 Speaker 1: Jackson spent on the trip, and this included Crocker's pay. 641 00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:46,319 Speaker 1: It was about eight grant back in nineteen o three, 642 00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:50,640 Speaker 1: which is a two hundred and sixty seven grand today money. 643 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:55,319 Speaker 1: So if you think about it, hotels, food supplies, gas, 644 00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:59,000 Speaker 1: car parts, repairs, that still leaves a pretty decent amount 645 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:00,879 Speaker 1: for Suel Crocker, and I hope you got a big 646 00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:04,080 Speaker 1: chunk of that. I hope so too, Chuck. I cannot, 647 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:07,600 Speaker 1: for the love of life find the stupid picture of 648 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:10,200 Speaker 1: Fabio getting hit in the face. I found some ABC 649 00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:14,759 Speaker 1: report and it just shows him going into the roller 650 00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,239 Speaker 1: coaster station after the ride, just faces all bloody and 651 00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:20,799 Speaker 1: he looks really upset, but nothing about the actual hit. 652 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:24,000 Speaker 1: You know. I wonder if I what I saw was 653 00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:27,560 Speaker 1: a faked recreation of that, and there is only a 654 00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:29,880 Speaker 1: before and and after that would make sense that it 655 00:37:29,880 --> 00:37:34,359 Speaker 1: looked photoshop, then I'm sorry. I just had to head 656 00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:37,360 Speaker 1: to circle back on that because my disappointment was palpable. 657 00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:40,600 Speaker 1: Oh boy. So they're making their way out west or 658 00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:44,680 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, back east, and it's funny they say, back east, 659 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:49,120 Speaker 1: out west, up north, down south. So they're back. They're 660 00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:54,759 Speaker 1: heading back east and they come to Idaho. When I 661 00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:59,320 Speaker 1: mentioned a third party in that photograph. We were holding 662 00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:02,399 Speaker 1: out for this surprise and Caldwell, Idaho. They left without 663 00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,279 Speaker 1: Jackson's coat, turned back to go get it, and this 664 00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:09,240 Speaker 1: guy said, here, I have this pit bull named Bud 665 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:13,360 Speaker 1: and he wants to go with you and be your mascot. 666 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:16,640 Speaker 1: And they said, hop aboard Bud, and all of a sudden, 667 00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:19,560 Speaker 1: they have this beautiful white pit bull in between the 668 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:22,520 Speaker 1: two of them. Yeah, he's routinely described as a bulldog, 669 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:25,560 Speaker 1: but he's pretty clearly a pit bull. He's a pity 670 00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:29,200 Speaker 1: and he's beautiful. And like, if this story couldn't get 671 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:32,239 Speaker 1: any better, now you have a pit bull in between you. 672 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:35,920 Speaker 1: And they made him doggles to protect his little eyes, 673 00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:39,840 Speaker 1: and there's a wonderful photo of it in the documentary. Yeah, 674 00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:42,319 Speaker 1: so they were, you know, like you said, they were 675 00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:44,440 Speaker 1: getting pressed as they went from town to town, and 676 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:46,439 Speaker 1: they were like, oh my god, a car. There's people 677 00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:49,320 Speaker 1: actually trying to use it to cross the United States 678 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:52,839 Speaker 1: in that car. When Bud joined it, people just went 679 00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:57,440 Speaker 1: berserk over this whole thing, in part because he was 680 00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:00,440 Speaker 1: wearing these goggles, but also he very quickly learned how 681 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:02,560 Speaker 1: to ride in the car, he went look ahead. He 682 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:05,320 Speaker 1: loved it to look for rots or bumps or whatever, 683 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:07,960 Speaker 1: and would like brace himself like he just took to 684 00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:11,799 Speaker 1: it very easily and became like this great mascot. So 685 00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:14,959 Speaker 1: everybody started to really find out about this when when 686 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:17,640 Speaker 1: Bud joined and I don't get the impression that Sewel 687 00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:21,479 Speaker 1: or Horatio were the least bit jealous. No, he paid 688 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:24,880 Speaker 1: him fifteen dollars, which is five hundred dollars today for 689 00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:28,160 Speaker 1: this dog. And Crocker said, hey, adopt, don't shop, And 690 00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:31,040 Speaker 1: Jackson said, what does that mean, right, and he said, no, 691 00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:34,839 Speaker 1: don't worry about it. That comes later. Right. So they're 692 00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:40,319 Speaker 1: getting all us press thanks to Bud. They make their 693 00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:43,799 Speaker 1: way through sort of that toughest stretch of terrain, they're 694 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:47,319 Speaker 1: running out of food. They finally sort of cross out 695 00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:51,120 Speaker 1: of the mountains and they're like, all right, that was 696 00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:54,560 Speaker 1: sort of it, like we think this is not literally 697 00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:57,839 Speaker 1: but this is sort of downhill from here. And he 698 00:39:57,960 --> 00:39:59,880 Speaker 1: in his letters he was saying, I've never felt more 699 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,799 Speaker 1: confident now that we're going to make it to New York. 700 00:40:02,840 --> 00:40:06,040 Speaker 1: And this is when they were in like Wyoming. Yeah, 701 00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:09,320 Speaker 1: and then once they got to Omaha, it really got easier. 702 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:12,760 Speaker 1: And then after Omaha, Chicago, and then after Chicago, probably 703 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:15,960 Speaker 1: Cleveland or something like that, maybe in Indianapolis in between, 704 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:19,400 Speaker 1: like the city after city just started to pop up 705 00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:21,839 Speaker 1: and they were getting closer and closer, and there were 706 00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:26,279 Speaker 1: much better roads. The railroad ride of ways were just beautiful. 707 00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:29,799 Speaker 1: Sitting there for the picking. They started to really yeah, 708 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:32,759 Speaker 1: they started to really make some pretty good time. Yeah. 709 00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:36,719 Speaker 1: I think how many miles did they top out at 710 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:40,360 Speaker 1: the day. I feel like it was like seventy something, 711 00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:43,640 Speaker 1: which is not too bad. I don't remember actually, I 712 00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:46,880 Speaker 1: think the documentary said seventy seventy something miles in a 713 00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:49,399 Speaker 1: single day, like when they were kind of cruising, Which 714 00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:52,960 Speaker 1: that's awesome. That's good time for that car. Yeah, that's 715 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:55,839 Speaker 1: not bad at all, especially considering it maxed out at 716 00:40:55,840 --> 00:40:58,880 Speaker 1: thirty miles an hour. Yeah, so that was just like 717 00:40:58,920 --> 00:41:01,120 Speaker 1: a two and a half hour day for them. Yeah, 718 00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:04,600 Speaker 1: sure so, but that that really does go to point 719 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:07,440 Speaker 1: out like just how slow they were going because of 720 00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:11,080 Speaker 1: things like breaking down and waiting for parts and just 721 00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:15,520 Speaker 1: the roads being terrible. And I mentioned Cleveland too. They 722 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:18,399 Speaker 1: actually when they showed up in Cleveland, that's where the 723 00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:23,279 Speaker 1: Winton Motor Carriage Company was located, and we didn't say 724 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:26,360 Speaker 1: I don't think that Winton had by this time heard 725 00:41:26,440 --> 00:41:29,000 Speaker 1: about the whole trip and that they were actually making 726 00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:32,799 Speaker 1: pretty good headway, right, Yeah, so he got he sort 727 00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:35,960 Speaker 1: of officially offered to kind of sponsor them from that 728 00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:40,400 Speaker 1: point on, and Jackson turned him down. He was like, no, 729 00:41:40,680 --> 00:41:44,399 Speaker 1: I've got Packard an Oldsmobile behind me, and I don't 730 00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:47,680 Speaker 1: want this to become like a corporate sponsored thing. Like 731 00:41:47,719 --> 00:41:49,279 Speaker 1: we've made it this far, we can make it the 732 00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:51,120 Speaker 1: rest of the way. And they did go by the 733 00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:53,600 Speaker 1: factory and they got some fanfare and I think they 734 00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:55,520 Speaker 1: helped him out with fixing this car up and stuff. 735 00:41:55,520 --> 00:42:00,040 Speaker 1: But they got free beer cousies exactly, refrigerator magots, and 736 00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:03,080 Speaker 1: they were on their way. Yeah, I'm sure they probably 737 00:42:03,080 --> 00:42:04,920 Speaker 1: fixed the car up a little bit. But Winton was 738 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:08,400 Speaker 1: talking like, we'll have gas like every hundred miles for 739 00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:11,080 Speaker 1: you kind of thing. We'll send a technician to ride 740 00:42:11,120 --> 00:42:13,560 Speaker 1: along with you. I'm sure the idea of adding a 741 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:16,880 Speaker 1: third stranger or a stranger to this mix by this 742 00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:20,080 Speaker 1: time would is just unthinkable. So yeah, they turned them down, 743 00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:22,839 Speaker 1: but they made it through Cleveland. They made it all 744 00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:25,319 Speaker 1: the way to Buffalo. It wasn't until Buffalo, New York 745 00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:29,080 Speaker 1: that they had the worst wreck that they had, where 746 00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:33,160 Speaker 1: all three of them sewell, Horatio and Bud were ejected 747 00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:37,720 Speaker 1: from the car because they hit something. Horatio only mentions 748 00:42:37,719 --> 00:42:40,880 Speaker 1: it as a hidden obstruction, so I'm not sure if 749 00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:42,920 Speaker 1: you ever knew what it was. But none of them 750 00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:45,000 Speaker 1: were injured in the car was okay, So they just 751 00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:48,239 Speaker 1: kept on keeping on. So take us home. When did 752 00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:52,560 Speaker 1: they pulled into Manhattan? Didn't They? Finally on July twenty six, 753 00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:56,520 Speaker 1: at four thirty am, sixty three days, twelve hours and 754 00:42:56,719 --> 00:42:59,839 Speaker 1: thirty minutes after they set out from San Francisco, they 755 00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:04,920 Speaker 1: made it to Manhattan, New York, and her ratio Nelson 756 00:43:05,040 --> 00:43:07,399 Speaker 1: Jackson won his bet, which, by the way, he never 757 00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:11,680 Speaker 1: collected on. Oh, I was curious about that he didn't. Nope, 758 00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:15,560 Speaker 1: what a stand up guy. Yeah, or he's like, I'm 759 00:43:15,600 --> 00:43:19,160 Speaker 1: never going out west against too long. Have a ride, 760 00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:22,160 Speaker 1: uh and there to greet him where it was a 761 00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:25,960 Speaker 1: throngs of press and journalist people from the Winton Car 762 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:30,759 Speaker 1: Company and swipes the old girl herself right there. Yeah, 763 00:43:30,760 --> 00:43:32,960 Speaker 1: that's so cool. I love that they had like a 764 00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:35,400 Speaker 1: great relationship and he had a great relationship with Seoul, 765 00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:38,280 Speaker 1: and everybody loved Budd. If you're wondering what happened to Bud, 766 00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:40,680 Speaker 1: Bud lived out the rest of his days on the 767 00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:47,320 Speaker 1: Jackson farm in Vermont. Like, right, he really got lost 768 00:43:47,360 --> 00:43:49,920 Speaker 1: and died, right, No, he really did live out his 769 00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:53,440 Speaker 1: days there. That's great. Jackson went on to live a 770 00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:57,000 Speaker 1: very interesting life after this, even he had a number 771 00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:01,719 Speaker 1: of businesses that he ran. He joined the military in 772 00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:05,759 Speaker 1: World War One in his forties and apparently became a 773 00:44:05,800 --> 00:44:10,759 Speaker 1: decorated veteran. Probably collected tobacco baseball cards at the time, 774 00:44:11,080 --> 00:44:14,120 Speaker 1: probably so so. Yeah. I think he ran for governor 775 00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:16,200 Speaker 1: and lost governor of Vermont at one time in loss. 776 00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:17,879 Speaker 1: I don't know how he lost. I don't know who 777 00:44:17,880 --> 00:44:19,520 Speaker 1: in the world would vote for someone else other than 778 00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:24,759 Speaker 1: this guy. Right, and donated that car the Vermont to 779 00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:28,680 Speaker 1: the Smithsonian which and those doggles. Ed has seen this 780 00:44:28,719 --> 00:44:31,600 Speaker 1: in person? I don't think I have, even though I've 781 00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:33,919 Speaker 1: been there, so or maybe I didn't. I just didn't 782 00:44:33,960 --> 00:44:37,400 Speaker 1: know the story at the time. Maybe it seems like 783 00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:39,880 Speaker 1: you'd be able to recall a car like that. I 784 00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:43,920 Speaker 1: don't know. I've been to a lot of museums, seen 785 00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:47,520 Speaker 1: a lot of old cars, right. Sadly, Suel Crocker. He 786 00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:52,360 Speaker 1: died young. He contracted an illness and died in nineteen thirteen, 787 00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:56,000 Speaker 1: so he was about forty, no thirties something, early thirties. 788 00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:58,120 Speaker 1: I think he's thirty one. He had been sent to 789 00:44:58,480 --> 00:45:02,600 Speaker 1: um Mexico, I think, to protect some land during the 790 00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:07,800 Speaker 1: revolution there, and he the stress of it killed him, essentially, 791 00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:10,759 Speaker 1: is how I saw it. Geez. That's really sad, I 792 00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:12,839 Speaker 1: know it is. So that's really the only big sad 793 00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:15,880 Speaker 1: thing that happened, aside from Bud getting ejected from the 794 00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:19,480 Speaker 1: car in Buffalo, New York. A nice little cherry on 795 00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:22,160 Speaker 1: top here that ed found. Two was six years after 796 00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:25,200 Speaker 1: this trip, a woman named Alice Ramsey and three of 797 00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:29,839 Speaker 1: her friends became the first woman and women to accomplish 798 00:45:29,920 --> 00:45:34,719 Speaker 1: this same thing. They were sponsored by Maxwell Briscoe, an automaker, 799 00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:37,440 Speaker 1: and they did the trip in fifty nine days in 800 00:45:38,600 --> 00:45:43,000 Speaker 1: basically the same or maybe just barely slightly better conditions 801 00:45:43,640 --> 00:45:49,920 Speaker 1: than Jackson and Crocker did it in. So they pulled 802 00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:52,760 Speaker 1: it off, and they kind of encountered the same issues, 803 00:45:53,239 --> 00:45:54,799 Speaker 1: and they got a lot of press at the time, 804 00:45:54,840 --> 00:45:57,880 Speaker 1: and obviously did a lot to advance, you know, the 805 00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:01,719 Speaker 1: shine a light on what women were capable of doing, 806 00:46:01,719 --> 00:46:06,360 Speaker 1: which was driving a car through terrible circumstances for fifty 807 00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:11,280 Speaker 1: nine days, right exactly, Also despite being described as pretty 808 00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:14,920 Speaker 1: in every single article that was for sure about them 809 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:19,120 Speaker 1: at the time. Yeah. So one other thing that was 810 00:46:19,160 --> 00:46:21,280 Speaker 1: a kind of a note about this is that thirty 811 00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:25,320 Speaker 1: years after her Ratio and Sewell and Bud made their trip, 812 00:46:25,920 --> 00:46:30,680 Speaker 1: the record was set that stood for decades. Fifty four hours, 813 00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:35,000 Speaker 1: so two and a half days. Guy named Irwin Cannonball Baker, 814 00:46:35,560 --> 00:46:39,760 Speaker 1: we had a famous run from New York to LA 815 00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:42,560 Speaker 1: and I think about forty years after that, in the 816 00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:46,080 Speaker 1: early seventies, Car and Driver magazine editors said, this Cannonball 817 00:46:46,080 --> 00:46:49,000 Speaker 1: Baker guy, he deserves his own his own place in history. 818 00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:52,399 Speaker 1: So we're going to commemorate him with a recreation of 819 00:46:52,480 --> 00:46:56,080 Speaker 1: his run. We're gonna call it the Cannonball Run. That's right. 820 00:46:56,239 --> 00:46:58,000 Speaker 1: And if you want to learn more about that, we 821 00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:00,759 Speaker 1: was that a two parter, was just a one quarter 822 00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:03,880 Speaker 1: I think it was probably one of our fifteen minute episodes. No, 823 00:47:04,120 --> 00:47:05,839 Speaker 1: that was a good one. It was a good one. 824 00:47:05,840 --> 00:47:08,239 Speaker 1: I'm just saying we're real short back then. I can't 825 00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:11,680 Speaker 1: believe I just didn't talk that much back then that 826 00:47:11,760 --> 00:47:14,359 Speaker 1: we could actually record an episode that was fifteen minutes long. 827 00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:17,200 Speaker 1: I think we probably talked for fifteen minutes about Burt Reynolds. 828 00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:21,799 Speaker 1: Probably probably, but that was probably the episode two. Yeah, 829 00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:27,160 Speaker 1: you're right, you got anything else? Uh No, I don't either, 830 00:47:27,360 --> 00:47:31,959 Speaker 1: which means it's time for a listener Mayo. I'm gonna 831 00:47:31,960 --> 00:47:36,399 Speaker 1: call this shortwood sweet Amazon factoid. Okay, hey, guys, About 832 00:47:36,400 --> 00:47:37,759 Speaker 1: a quarter of the way in through the episode, at 833 00:47:37,760 --> 00:47:41,359 Speaker 1: the moment, the episode reminded me of our trip up 834 00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:44,960 Speaker 1: the Amazon to I don't know, is that Manaus or 835 00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:48,160 Speaker 1: Manou's m A n A u s. I think Manaus 836 00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:53,279 Speaker 1: manous and back on a Viking ocean cruise, he said, Surprisingly, 837 00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:55,840 Speaker 1: ocean cruise ships can go that far about a thousand miles. 838 00:47:56,080 --> 00:47:58,799 Speaker 1: Who knew on the cruise, Our Amazon guy told us 839 00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:00,840 Speaker 1: that what I think is a greatest bit of trivia 840 00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:04,480 Speaker 1: I've ever heard. The volume of water leaving the mouth 841 00:48:04,640 --> 00:48:07,919 Speaker 1: of the Amazon is equal to the volume of water 842 00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:13,200 Speaker 1: going over Niagara Falls Victoria Falls. I'm going to do 843 00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:16,680 Speaker 1: my best with my pronunciation on this falls in South America. 844 00:48:17,239 --> 00:48:21,600 Speaker 1: Iguazu perhaps very nice for South American listeners should write 845 00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:23,759 Speaker 1: in and let us know. Right so, it is the 846 00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:25,759 Speaker 1: volume of water leaving the mouth of the Amazon is 847 00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:30,120 Speaker 1: equal to those three giant falls times twelve. Wow. I 848 00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:32,879 Speaker 1: was not expecting that extra little bit of math right there. 849 00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:35,200 Speaker 1: I think that's what makes it amazing. That's from Rich Pope. 850 00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:38,680 Speaker 1: Thanks Rich Pope. Great name too, really gets it across, 851 00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:42,040 Speaker 1: Rich Pope. Yeah, good to meet you, you know. Yeah, 852 00:48:42,120 --> 00:48:44,800 Speaker 1: I agree. Well, it's good to meet you to Rich Pope. 853 00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:46,440 Speaker 1: And if you want to be like Rich Pope, you 854 00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:49,480 Speaker 1: can email us as well. Send it off to stuff 855 00:48:49,600 --> 00:48:56,080 Speaker 1: Podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com. Stuff you Should Know is 856 00:48:56,080 --> 00:48:59,520 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, 857 00:48:59,719 --> 00:49:03,160 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 858 00:49:03,239 --> 00:49:04,200 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.