Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson agreed to a wager that made road-trip history on May 19, 1903. He proposed to drive across the continent within three months. He wanted to disprove the belief that over long distances “the automobile was an unreliable novelty.” Although he had learned to drive only a few weeks earlier, Jackson was enthusiastic about the new vehicles. He thought he could succeed where earlier transcontinental trips in 1899 and 1901 had failed miserably.
The wealthy
