My novella “ZOLA’S CROSS-COUNTRY
ADVENTURE” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection is about a
courageous young woman in 1904 who attempts to be the first woman to drive from
coast to coast. She was inspired to do so when she heard stories of the first
successful automobile trip across the country.
In 1903, a man named Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson became the first person to drive across the country. His transcontinental trek in 1903 is an actual historical event. Jackson took a fifty dollar bet that he could make it across the country in an automobile in ninety days or less.
Four days after making the bet, having bought
an automobile and supplies, he set out on his historic expedition. He, along
with his chauffeur/mechanic, Sewall Crocker, traveled from San Francisco to New
York City in a twenty-horsepower Winton automobile. Along the way, Horatio
bought a dog named Bud who enjoyed the trip immensely. Dr. Jackson and Mr.
Crocker left San Francisco on Saturday, May 23, and arrived in New York on
Sunday, July 26, at four thirty in the morning, completing the first American
cross-country road trip. The journey took sixty-three days, twelve hours, and
thirty minutes. Two other two-man teams left California in the following weeks
of the same year, but Dr. Jackson’s team was the first to make it. Other
endeavors to drive across the country in an automobile had been attempted in
years prior to Jackson’s trip without success. I thought it only natural for
ladies to follow suit and join in the fun.
He named his Winton the Vermont, so I too had
my characters name their Winton. They chose the Atlantic, so the Atlantic and
Pacific could meet.
Dr. Jackson’s trek had shown the possibility
of the automobile and that it could do far more than people realized and that
it was here to stay.
Jackson began a tradition that people for
generations to come would follow—The Road Trip.
In 1944, Jackson donated his 1903 Winton to
the Smithsonian Institution
Happy Adventuring!
Love Is One of Life’s Greatest Adventures
Seven daring damsels don’t let the norms of
their eras hold them back. Along the way these women attract the attention of
men who admire their bravery and determination, but will they let love grow out
of the adventures?
Releases December 1, 2018
MARY DAVIS is a bestselling,
award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and
contemporary themes. She has five titles releasing in 2018; "Holly
& Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection in
January, Courting Her Amish Heart in
March, The Widow’s Plight in July, Courting Her Secret Heart September,
& “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in MISSAdventure Brides Collection in December. She is
a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.
Mary lives in the
Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-four years and two cats. She
has three adult children and two incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her
online at:
1 comment:
Can't wait to read this collection about seven daring damsels!
dkstevensne AT outlook Dot Com
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