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On this date in 1909, 22 year old Alice Huyler Ramsey arrived in San Francisco, and by so doing, made history. The Housewife and Mother from Hackensack New Jersey became the first woman to drive across the country from New York City to San Francisco. She took two sisters-in-law, and a female family friend with her, but Alice gets all the credit because none of them could drive. Alice was, by any measure, an Intrepid Autoist. She changed 11 tires on her Maxwell 30 during the trip, not to mention cleaning the spark plugs and replacing a brake pedal. They covered 3200 miles in 59 days…only 152 of those miles were on paved roads. The ladies in the Maxwell were embroiled in a manhunt for an escaped murderer in Nebraska…and were surrounded by a native American hunting party..armed with bows and arrows…in Nevada. She wrote a book about the adventure, called “Veil, Duster and Tire Iron.” She settled in Covina, and died there at the age of 97. She drove across the country another 30 times. Exactly the kind of person you want along on a road trip.
Album Notes: Grateful Acknowledgments to Mike Koenig, and Drum 8. Some Musical Motifs Written and Performed by Kevin McLeod, Licensed under Creative Commons “Attribution 3.0″ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ and used here by permission, and with appreciation and thanks. Some audio may be used under the Fair Use Doctrine
