Louis Chevrolet and Barney Oldfield kicked up clouds of dust when they weren’t mired in mud as they raced over the National Old Tails Road in the 1914 Desert Classic. This was at a time when the motorist often shared the road with horsedrawn freight wagons, and in rural Arizona, even stagecoaches.

Services for the automobilist, especially in the west and southwest, were limited and sparse. In Edsel Ford’s travel journal entry from July 1915, he chronicles the repair of a broken axle shaft. It required a hike of more than four miles for parts and tools.

Lodging was as much a challenge for the motorist as it had been for overland travelers on the Beale Wagon Road or Santa Fe Trail. Edsel noted finding a lodging house in Williams, Arizona where he and his three traveling companions slept in one room that doubled as a kennel when there were no guests. Another traveler in this era detailed in their journal a “first rate hotel.” The owner proudly proclaimed that the sheets were changed every month.

Grand Adventures

A cross-country trip by automobile was truly an epic adventure. On July 15, Edsel ended the journal entry and noted “a good day’s run, 136 miles.” That hot dusty drive between Williams and Kingman, Arizona had started in the morning and ended at the Brunswick Hotel at midnight. It included “another” broken spring on the Stutz and a flat tire on the Ford.

It isn’t amazing that people attempted to drive from coast to coast. But the number of people that made the trip is astounding. In 1915 it was estimated that more than 20,000 people drove to California over the National Old Trails Road to attend the Panama Pacific Exposition.

This was just twelve years after Dr. Jackson completed the first successful cross-country trip by automobile. That ‘drive” had taken more than sixty days!

Good Manners and Grand Adventures

One of these travelers was “Miss Manners.” For decades the mere mention of Emily Post conjured thoughts of formal dinners, and the proper way to behave when confronted with an awkward social situation. Her name was synonymous with good manners.

Before publication of her acclaimed book Etiquette: In Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home in 1922 she wrote another bestseller. By Motor to the Golden Gate illustrated with photographs from her adventure was published in 1916. Post chronicled the trials, tribulations, and grand adventure that was a cross-country road trip at the time.

Her book today is a treasured time capsule. It provides a glimpse into an American being transformed by immigration and technology as well as the challenges associated with being a motorist in 1915. Fortunately, it has been reprinted and is available through Amazona and at good bookstores.

The Time Capsule

She approached her journey along the Lincoln Highway, and National Old Trails Road in the southwest, with a writer’s curiosity. She observed the landscape, the communities along the route, and the accommodation available to travelers. Post noted in detail the differences between the America she knew and the America unfolding beyond her familiar surroundings.

As Post was a well-known New York City socialite and accomplished journalist, her trip was commissioned by Collier’s Weekly magazine. Her son, Edwin “Ned” Main Post Jr, a Harvard University student, served as both the driver and mechanic for the near month-long odyssey. They were accompanied by Alice Beadleston, a cousin.

Even though Post meticulously detailed many aspects, there is a mystery as to the make and model of car driven on her trip. In an interview she noted that the name of the manufacturer was intentionally omitted.

A Brutal Reality

But to accommodate three passengers, tools, and a massive amount of luggage fitting their societal standing that Post would later call a “perfect nuisance”, a large powerful car was selected. But the luxury boulevard cruiser proved to be ill suited for the arduous journey.

The brutal road conditions led to an increasing number of repairs as Post and her companions journeyed west. By the time they reached Winslow in eastern Arizona, the car was no longer drivable. It was loaded onto a railcar and shipped to Los Angeles for extensive repairs. They then continued the trip by driving south to San Diego and eventually up the coast to San Francisco.

An Endorsement

If you are a fan of road trips, I highly recommend reading By Motor To The Golden Gate. Her detailed accounts are word pictures of rural communities transitioning to a world dominated by automobiles. In these pages we see railroad hotels adapting to the needs of a new kind of traveler. And we also vicariously experience quagmire roads, roadside repairs and camping in the wilderness. This was the dawning of the great American road trip.

Emily Post’s account of her amazing road trip also offers a fascinating contrast with the public image she would later acquire. In 1915 the woman who become acclaimed as an authority on etiquette was a keen observer of a changing world. She was also an adventurous traveler willing to leave familiar and comfortable surroundings behind.

Her road trip was not simply a drive from New York to California. It was a chance to experience America outside of her social circle, record its character, and share those observations with readers. In that respect, she was doing what every travel writer aspires to, inspire a reader to pack a bag, fill the tank, and head down the highway into the unknown.

An Epic Adventure

Like Jim Hinckley’s America, Post was telling people where to go, and why the journey was worth making.

In the next installment in this series, I will share the story of the Buchanan sisters. Their epic trips on motorcycles are the stuff of legend. Also on the schedule, sharing the story of Bessie Stringfield. This is also an inspirational tale as she overcame grueling road conditions and deeply ingrained racial prejudices.