American Road: The Story of an Epic Transcontinental Journey at the Dawn of the Motor Age

by Pete Davies and Pete Davies

Book Overview

A fascinating account of the greatest road trip in American history. On July 7, 1919, an extraordinary cavalcade of sixty-nine military motor vehicles set off from the White House on an epic journey. Their goal was California, and ahead of them lay 3,250 miles of dirt, mud, rock, and sand. Sixty-two days later they arrived in San Francisco, having averaged just five miles an hour. Known as the First Transcontinental Motor Train, this trip was an adventure,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080506883X
• ISBN13: 9780805068832
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

The Automobile Drives the Future

Pete Davies has done a spectacular job of capturing the enormity of this history-making undertaking. When you consider that less than 100 years ago there were less than 10 miles of paved road in the whole country and contrast that with today, it's mind-boggling what has been accomplished in such a short time.And it's all because the automobile came along and people needed passable roads on which to drive them. The Trans-Continental Convoy held up an unavoidable magnifying glass for the citizens (and politicians) of the US so they would not need to ask, "What's wrong with our roads?" It became crystal clear. If you wanted your town and state to develop, you'd better get on the Good Roads bandwagon.This book was particularly interesting to me because my father drove these trucks during World War One from the automotive centers in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana to Baltimore, using the Lincoln Highway. From Baltimore they were shipped overseas. In one of his letters, he remarked that it had been raining for three days straight, but they got by fairly well because most roads were gravel.Although I'm sure the eastern most portions of the Lincoln Highway were probably in better repair than the western parts, The American Road gave me a good picture of what my father was up against.The next time you drive down the Interstate, you can thank the foresight of some people in Detroit, the keen observation of a young Lt. Col. Dwight Eisenhower, and the sheer grit of the Convoy drivers, for showing the nation what had to be done.

It Feels like you are with them

I saw the author on C-span talking about his book and having driven parts of the Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania it sparked my interest. This book is a good mix of the early auto and rubber industry involvement in the Lincoln Highway Association as well as the adventures of future president Eisenhower. It takes a look at what started our Federal Highway system. Another interesting fact is that 80 years later Utah still hasn't paved all of their part of the Lincoln Highway. Even if you don't like history, you'll like the adventures of the convoy crossing the country. Every truck on today's interstates can trace its roots to this convoy.

Ike's Excellent Adventure

American Road by Pete Davies is the story of the first large group road trip ever taken in the United States. Between July and August 1919, the Army sent a truck convoy from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco along the then largely unpaved Lincoln Highway. Ike was there as a young officer. The truck and tire companies were there assuring good product placement. The Good Roads Movement was there. American citzens were cheering [and booing] and Congress was watching. This was the point in history where highways became a Federal concern. Try to imagine the United States without Route 66 or I-80 and you'll know why this period was a pivotal point in road trip history.American Road is history woven around the travelogue format. As the truck convoy progresses across the country, we learn about the Army's switch to truck transport, the Good Roads Movement, the early history of the auto and tire industries, how the different states were handling their highways, about life in small American towns, and that Ike was a prankster among other things. Even though the transitions aren't always seemless, American Roads is a smooth and comfortable read.I enjoyed American Roads a lot. My biggest complaint [and it's a small, whiny complaint] is that the book skips from McKeesport, Pennsylvania to Wilkinsburg, Pennsyvania and fails to mention the towns in between. I lived ON US 30 [the old Lincoln Highway] between 1976 and 1981 in Forest Hills, Pennsylvania and still have family there, and I wouldn't characterize the area as a place that has the "look of a place whose future has been and gone already." I remember the Lincoln statue in Wilkinsburg. I recommend this book to anyone interested in history, especially the history of US highways, and anyone who enjoys a good travelogue and a good road trip.

A great story--and very readable!

You will find Davies' book to be a highly readable and epic account of the genesis of our nation's road system early in the 20th century as Americans commenced their love affair with the car. His history of the First Transcontinental Motor Train and the Lincoln Highway is well researched, and well deserving of being brought to light, given their impact on the development of the American primary route and interstate systems later on. I learned a lot (now I know how the Lincoln Tunnel in NYC and Lincoln Park in SF got their names), although I was also a bit disappointed that he did not write a more balanced account of the Utah controversy over the placement of the Lincoln Highway, giving only the Lincoln Highway Association's perspective. (Okay, okay...I admit that most readers won't notice that...but hey, I'm a stickler for details!) The book is also timely as we approach the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth, as the centennial provided a context for both the Lincoln Highway and the Lincoln penny! Bravo!

A piece of Americana

While Pete Davies may be a British citizen, he does an effective job in capturing a small segment of Americana in the immediate aftermath of World War I.It is hard to believe in this day and age, that just 80 years ago there was limited amount of good roads in the U.S. and traveling cross country by car would be such a major achievement.The book is actually two stories. The first is the story of the First Transcontinental Motor Train from Washington to San Francisco. The second is the movement to build The Licoln Highway, a national road (or a U.S. Main Street) across the country.Mr. Davies gives a vivid description of capturing post World War I along the route of the motorcade. All through the route both large and small towns planned dances, baseball games and provided food and drink (lemonade since Prohibition had taken effect one week before the tour started) for the soldiers. To many towns this was an event unlike any other. From time to time Mr. Davies also goes into a brief history of towns along the route and in certain instances what it looks like in the 21st century (some have even disappeared). A mysterious Dr. Johnson appears throughout the book giving speeches for the need of good roads and urging for the passage of pending Townsend Act before Congress that called for a national system of highways. While there were many social events along the way, the motorcade involved incredibly hard work. This was especially true west of the Mississippi River and east of Sierra Nevada when the roads were generally unpaved, the weather was relentless, numerous trucks, cars, and motorcycles got stuck in mud and sand requiring to be towed (sometimes by hand) and bridges were not found not be sturdy enough for the motorcade. Besides Dwight Eisenhower who was an Army officer on the cross country journey, several of people associated with the motorcade or the Lincoln Highway are chronicled, many of them had a vested interest in building roads. These include Carl Fisher who built the Indianpolis speedway with bricks, Frank Seiberling the founder of Goodyear Tire & Rubber and Henry Bourne Joy the chairman of Packard Motor Company.The book also delves into feuds along the way among army officers and between Nevada and Utah on the route of the national highway (should it head toward Los Angeles or San Francisco?)Anyone interested in the Lewis & Clark expedition or the building of the first transcontinetal railroad should enjoy American Road. The book is an easy book to read certainly taking less than the two months the motorcade took!