On June 13, 1919, ex-RAF pilot C.K. Shepherd rode his Henderson-4 (named "Lizzie") across America, arriving 4,422 miles later in California on August 7th of the same year. It's a fascinating read!
The images above are from an electronic version digitized from, oddly enough, a copy presented to the University of Toronto in 1980 by the Ontario Legislative Library. What the book was doing there will forever remain a mystery. You can download it at the Internet Archive.
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| "Lizzie" |
In 2010, a blogger named Chris decided to trace Shepherd's cross-country journey on a modern motorcycle. Read his adventures at Across America by Motorcycle.
Thanks for posting. In 1989 I got out of the Navy, and my girlfriend and I drove a BMW motorcycle 4126 miles from LA, down into Mexico, and across the gulf states to NC. Good to know about the early days.
ReplyDeleteMust have been a great trip, but I suspect far easier than what Shepherd went through in 1919! In 1978, my girlfriend and I rode my 1974 Norton Commando Roadster from San Diego, up the coast to Vancouver, and then back across the prairies to home in Ontario. The Norton threw us a few mechanical curve balls, which led us to meeting some fantastic folks in the U.S. Anyway, a good test of the relationship, since my girlfriend ended up marrying me and we're still together! And I still have the Norton.
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