A Well Traveled Pooch and a Give Away!

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So you all know how I stumble upon things while I’m researching for a book. Well, my current book is no exception. In Dear Miss LeBlanc, one family in my fictitious town of Clear Creek has a car. Now it’s 1903 so they are the only car owners.  Cattle Ranchers, they quickly learn that you can’t use a car to check on the herds. It can cause the cattle to stampede. But it was fine to take to town or to go visiting. What kind of car is it? A 1903 Winton. My characters call it JW for Jefferson, (their step-father) and Winton.


While researching cars of 1903, I discovered an interesting road trip involving a Winton and a dog. His name was Bud, and he was a pitbull purchased by Horatio Nelson Jackson, a doctor from Vermont who bet a guy fifty bucks he could drive a car across America. No mean feat back in 1903. Cars back then weren’t exactly built for off roading. Horatio and a man named Sewell Crocker (a bicyclist and machinist) outfitted a Winton for the trip and left San Fransisco on May 23, 1903. They had 90 days to get to New York and win the bet.

Horatio went north then cut across Oregon to Idaho where he purchased Bud. He even outfitted him with a pair of goggles to keep the dust from his eyes!

Bud became a well traveled pooch and got to see his new owner ask locals for directions (a lot) and sometimes get wrong ones. They traveled across open prairie, over rocky trails where they had to get out and remove  more than a few rocks on occasion, and followed trails that ran alongside train tracks. The going was slow, and some of the wrong directions they were given led to the culprit’s relatives so they could see the car and of course, Bud. After all, who wouldn’t want to see a dog wearing a pair of goggles?

The Winton averaged 71 miles a day, so when they got bad directions, it could waste a lot of time, even whole days. And things didn’t alway go right and parts had to be replaced. When that happened they had to ask the Winton Motor Company for parts they needed then wait for them to arrive by train. On July 12th they reached Nebraska which had more paved roads and voila! They were doing 250 miles a day! The three made it to New York in 63 days, didn’t collect their fifty dollars, and frankly, didn’t care. They were the first to drive across the country in a car and let’s face it. That fifty bucks wouldn’t have put a dent in the eight thousand dollars Horatio forked out for the trip. The first three thousand went to purchasing and outfitting the car alone.

Personally, I love road trips and have done a few. The last one was from Oregon to Deadwood South Dakota with my daughter over a year ago for a book event. It was great fun! And I got inspiration for an entire series along the way! When was the last time you took a road trip? Where did you go? I’m giving away a free e-copy of Dear Miss LeBlanc to one lucky commenter! Here’s a little more about the book:


Fantine LeBlanc is the assistant to the famous matchmaker, Mrs. Pettigrew. The job came with a lot of perks, one of which was getting to travel with Madame Pettigrew to the famous little town of Clear Creek. And they weren’t going alone. Madame was bringing Gibbs the butler and Mr. Tugs, her ancient gardener along. Toss in members of the Colorado Adventure Club, a few extra guests, and the trip was going to be an adventure indeed. Clear Creek may never survive it. Or, was it going to be the other way around? Clear Creek was full of more than a few oddities. When the residents fancy themselves better matchmakers than Mrs. Pettigrew, they set out to prove it and with hilarious results. Enjoy this sweet, clean romance as only Kit Morgan can deliver!

 

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USA Today bestselling author Kit Morgan is the author of over 180 books of historical and contemporary western romance! Her stories are fun, sweet stories full of love, laughter, and just a little bit of mayhem! Kit creates her stories in her little log cabin in the woods in the Pacific Northwest. An avid reader and knitter, when not writing, she can be found with either a book or a pair of knitting needles in her hands! Oh, and the occasional smidge of chocolate!

33 thoughts on “A Well Traveled Pooch and a Give Away!”

  1. I have taken many road trips, including one that covered much of the U.S.from North Carolina to Oregon in a northern route and then a southern route from California back to North Carolina. In that trip, I completed going to all 50 states. My husband’s family live in Missouri, so we’ve traveled from NC to there quite often. Also, a daughter lives in Dallas, TX, and that’s the last road trip we took. We plan to leave again for there in early December.

  3. We generally take road trips for traveling. This past summer we took a college tour road trip which was short of 4k miles round trip. All the way to Austin and back, covering a lot of the South and mostly SEC schools.

    • Now that’s a different sort of road trip, Denise. But how fun. I have a book buried in storage that involves a road trip with book stores! Half of which are probably closed but it would still be fun to do.

  4. Whenever my grandchildren reach their ninth birthday, they are gifted a Great Adventure which includes a two-week road trip with me. My first grandchild explored the Grand Canyon after following Route 66 through 6 states. The second enjoyed a trip through the Smokies, traveling through 5 states. The third saw sights in the Ozarks and along the Gulf coast as we traveled through 5 states. And the fourth traveled through 6 states culminating in Michigan where we visited Mackinac Island and the Upper Peninsula.

  6. It depends of what the criteria is, three years ago we draw 5 hours to visit family and 4 years ago drove 10 hours to watch a grandson graduate from high schoo.

  7. My husband and I just got back from Maine having driven 4,100 miles. The leaf peepers were out in full force. The scenery was beyond gorgeous! Now we are home blowing our own leaves preparing for winter. Your book cover is beautiful.

  8. first of November 2015 hubs and I took his parents from West Central Indiana to Peoria, AZ in less than 2 days!

  9. I love road trips, but mine aren’t that long! The last one I went on was back in March, when my oldest sister and I went to visit our aunt. We left from my sister’s house in Orlando and drove to NW GA, about 45 minutes south of Chattanooga, TN.

  10. Good morning, Kit! Fun story. But I’m curious – why didn’t they collect the $50? I have to agree – that’s pennies for all they went through. 🙂

    Looking forward to our road trip to Deadwood!!

    • Been to Deadwood twice. The first time was much more enjoyable as it was still like the old west in appearance. However, the last time which was about 10 years ago, much had been modernized and they also had added many gambling establishments. The graveyard was still the same, thankfully, but it was too much change when you had seen it before. Hope you have a wonderful time. You might want to visit Lead also which is fairly near. We visited the factory/showroom for the Black Hills Gold jewelry. It is extremely interesting. Of course, you just have to purchase some gorgeous pieces of hand made art/jewelry while there.

  12. We, my husband and I, have taken several trips. Especially out west to Jackson Hole, WY, Great Falls, MT twice and the Black Hills in South Dakota, as well as Branson, MO. these trips were before we took a job which was 9 1/2 years of traveling for work which took us from Maine down to Florida, then west as north as Illinois and down into all the states, ending up in Arizona. Just a tiny piece of CA and most of Las Vegas. There are only 3 states we have not visited, Alaska, Oregon and Idaho. Hawaii was for my 44th birthday and I never wanted to leave. All trips were by personal car, except Hawaii of course. Our life has been full of adventures. We saw many parts of these United States we would not have seen if not for work. A paid vacation so to speak. 🙂

  13. I haven’t been on a long road trip for several years, but I have been on several short trips. The last one was to Elizabeth City, N.C. from Williamston, N.C. about 60 miles. My husband wanted to go to buy a piece of farming equipment.

  14. welcome today. this is a fun post. oh but this sounds like a great book. thanks for the chance. I have taken many road trips in my life. Mom would pack all of us five kids in the station wagon, no seat belts then. LOL and we would be off to a relatives or a friend of my mom. we had many adventures along the way. Even when I was in high school and after, mom, myself and my little sister would take turns driving. Then when April and I got married, that didnt stop mom. The dads had to work so mom, my sister and her two kiddos and me and my two kiddos would all go on a “journey”. many happy memories

  15. I enjoy a good road trip. The last one I took was with my Mom a couple years ago and we went down south to Tennessee to see various historical plantations and sites. It was a lot of fun and we saw interesting things along the way too.

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