Annie did that too. She was living in extreme poverty which continued throughout her cross-country journey. It was surprising how she survived largely because of the kindness of strangers who took joy in the opportunity to help her, stable her horse and provide her food and sleeping accommodations. That was what America was like in the 1950's before TV taught us to distrust everybody after watching dozens of frightening crime shows. The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America – Elizabeth Letts I found it crazy and naive that she thought she could just ride a horse across the US without any real provisions like food and money, no plans to stay anywhere along the way, or what she would do to survive once she reached California. Annie Wilkins is a strong female character. In the 20th century, she doesn’t fit the norm. She is divorced twice and doesn’t attend church. She is not devout or docile. She is funny and bold. At the age of sixty-three, she decides to leave Maine and travel across the country to California without any modern day conveniences. Annie met some famous people and became famous herself, once her story was published as a human interest in local newspapers. She got numerous job offers and even an offer of marriage.

Not only is this Annie’s story, it is Midcentury America’s — fueled by a spirit bursting with life after surviving the Depression and two world wars. Both tales woven deftly together by author Elizabeth Letts. Brava! Given her health situation, she considers her doctor’s advice to live restfully. But how? After a lifetime of hard work, she doesn’t have any savings. Nothing or no one to fall on. Her choices are very limited. During her stay in Waverley, Tennessee, she shared stories of sleeping in prisons and hotels, emphasizing the great kindness and generosity she experienced from the people she encountered. She also expressed pride in her new life as a “tramp of fate.”Well, great start to the story - and great idea, for Annie. She had no husband, children, or other living family members. All alone in the world she decided it was time to live her final dream despite all the nay-sayers and discouragers who try to keep people from living. She was a strong woman and she became stronger along the way. With her little dog, Depeche Toi and her horse Tarzan, they set off West with no map. Annie figured people along the journey would help them find their way west. The trio were able to spend the night in barns and homes of strangers, who often fed them and recommended other places to stay on their journey ahead. Elizabeth Letts’ new installment in history of the horse world book (look, I just made that up. It isn’t an official series, but it should be because she is one of the authors who writes it) is about Annie Wilkins’s trip. It isn’t a biography, more like a travel biography - a history of a trip. Trusting to her own toughness and will, she was convinced she would be fine as she was sure there was still a spirit of friendliness and empathy from the American people. Indeed, in so many cases her belief turned out to be true, as Annie was met with so many accolades and stayed and was cared for in so many homes across the roads she traveled, becoming a celebrity.

Along the way, she made friends who offered her a place to lay her head at night, a place to sit and share a meal with someone, as well as water for Depeche Toi and Tarzan. She carried their kindness, as well as their stories, with her as she continued her journey, adding more stories of more people, their wisdom, their insights into places along the way, and even friends she should stop and stay with in her travels. As her journey came to the attention of a journalist, her journey became one that fascinated everyone. People would run out to greet her, cities would offer her a place to stay, she became a celebrity of sorts, and met a few people of note along her journey. She met a man named Andy and his wife Betsy in a tavern on her journey who asked if she was the woman riding her horse from Maine, and invited her to join them for dinner. The next morning when she went to get her horse, she found this man sketching Tarzan, Depeche Toi happily beside him. Later, she would find out just who he was, but in her rush, just looking to get on the road, it never occurred to her that this sketch could hold value for anyone but her. Along the way, Annie found the best in people most of the time. She realized well into her journey that she wasn’t traveling alone, there were many people closely following her travels with hopes of her success. In Pennsylvania, Wilkins was put up by a kindly innkeeper in the town of Chadds Ford in the Brandywine River area. A famous resident of both Chadds Ford and of Maine, Andrew Wyeth, came by to meet the eccentric older woman and her horse and they got drunk together, according to the Chadds Ford Historical Society.

If you like nearly lost causes, horses, American travel, American trivia, history, and adventure, you must read this book. Although I will say that it drags in some places and it does not have a happy ending for all concerned, but it is still well worth your time. The media catches wind of her story and there are frequent parades and speeches in many small towns along the way. This one was meticulously researched, and I definitely enjoyed learning more about down-to-earth Annie Wilkins. Thanks to deeply sourced research and her own travels along Wilkins' route, Letts vividly portrays an audacious woman whose optimism, courage, and good humor are to be marveled at and admired. Upbeat and touching, Wilkins' story is the perfect pandemic escapist read.” — Booklist Throughout her voyage, Annie, accompanied by Tarzan, Rex, and Depeche-Toi, braved challenges such as crossing snowy mountains, avoiding poisonous snakes, and surviving flash floods while traversing Idaho. Annie Wilkins was not a woman of the world. She lived her life quietly, working from dawn to dusk at her farm, but at age sixty-three, she made a decision that would impact her life and the lives of countless others. Annie decided to travel from her home in Maine cross country to California.

The triumphant true story of a woman who rode her horse across America in the 1950s, fulfilling her dying wish to see the Pacific Ocean, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of THE PERFECT HORSE andTHE EIGHTY-DOLLAR CHAMPION. Annie Wilkins lives in rural Maine, and is endeavoring to continue to run the family farm. It hasn’t gone well. Between a series of events beyond her control and an aging body, she falls behind, and then more so, until the bank gives notice of foreclosure. At the same time her lungs aren’t doing well; the doctor gives her two or three years to live, but only if she does so restfully. She is offered a place at the county home, which is essentially a charity lodging for the indigent.

Elizabeth Letts

The incredible true story of a woman who rode her horse across America in the 1950s, fulfilling her dying wish to see the Pacific Ocean, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Horse and The Eighty-Dollar Champion .