After riding two days and a night under leg power or rather over it, I reached New York in the middle of the afternoon on July 6. I made frequent stops to rest and I attracted more than a little attention but I was too tired to care.

The 1908 New York to Paris Race was an automobile competition consisting of drivers attempting to travel from New York to Paris. This was a considerable challenge given the state of automobile technology and road infrastructure at the time. Only three of six contestants completed the course. The winner was the American team, driving a 1907 Thomas Flyer.

This is how it came about. I was writing copy for an advertising agency in Chicago when I was offered a job as rewrite man on a magazine in San Francisco. When I got to San Francisco the first staff member my new boss introduced me to was Elisabeth. As the boss and I entered the room, she was sitting at a desk with a window at her back. She was wearing a dark red blouse. Something went tick somewhere inside of me, and I knew that something had happened.