The Ride of Her Life

Yesterday (Wednesday), I did something that felt almost naughty - I put aside everything I was supposed to do - e.g., work on May 21st, do exercises, etc. - and I read a book. A fun book that Ellen had just finished, and that she had read a few excerpts from, aloud, for my benefit. It was The Ride of Her Life, by Elizabeth Letts, just released a few weeks ago. It is based on a true story - based on diaries, with perhaps some fictional work by the author to fill in gaps, but also with careful research done by the author - who herself traveled over 10,000 miles tracking down local news stories and living persons who remembered Annie's trip, or the children of people who had met her and told stories of her It is the story of Annie Wilkins, a 64-year-old woman, living in Minot, Maine, who is told by her doctor that she is seriously ill and has not that long to live and that she should move into a nursing home. But that is not what Annie Wilkins wants to do. She wants to see the Pacific ocean before she dies, and so - being of a willful, independent character, she decides to ride her horse, Tarzan, from Minot, Maine, across the country to California! And she does. She has never been out of Maine, and so has very little idea of what it will be like to ride across the country, and she has really no notion of how big the country is, or how she will manage. She assumes she can do odd jobs, sleep by the roadside, manage to find something to eat. So she packs up what she feels she will need and sets out in early November, 1954, with a third party - her dog, Depeche Toi ("Hurry up"). Yes, November. She believes she can head south into warmer climes. And that is what the book is about - that trip. She actually does it. She gets one long ride in a truck, from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, I think it was, because winter weather has made riding a horse impossible in Pennsylvania. Kentucky turns out to not be that warm, either. But she finds people are kind and helpful all along the way. And something happens she was not expecting - she gets media attention, and pretty soon, she is being met when she enters a town, and food and accomodations have already been arranged for her. Not always, of course, but often. The thing that made the book fascinating for me was the fact that the author has a great deal to say about what was happening in the country during this trip - socially, culturally, economically - and that period of time was a very important one for me as well - Annie Wilkins sets out just two weeks before I met Shirley on Thanksgiving weekend, November, 1954, and when we are married nine months later, Annie is approaching Rock Springs, Wyoming. So I was making a journey of sorts myself during the time she was making hers. I have no memory of reading about her - her itinerary came nowhere near me in Chicago, or near Shirley in Pitttsburg, Kansas, but she was mentioned in the national news, so I could have seen a news article about her, but if I did, I have no memory of it. But reading about what was happening in the country during those months, and just reading about what it was like then, both brought back memories, and also told me some things about what the larger context of my life was during that very important time. So, it was a good read, and I read the whole book on Wednesday.

Annie, riding a second horse, Rex, Tarzan, and Depeche Toi going along the edge of a highway somewhere in the United States. See about Rex below.

A close-up of Annie Wilkins

The author, Elizabeth Letts

In Tennessee, Annie acquired a second horse, Rex, to serve as a pack-horse. (In this photo, Annie is riding Rex, which she did sometimes, but he was mostly used as a pack-horse, I think. Depeche Toi is riding on his friend, Tarzan's, back). Rex proved to be an excellant choice as a horse - he was unflappable, not bothered by traffic as Tarzan was, and was a calming influence on Tarzan. Tragically, he was poisoned by water he drank from a stream in California - a farmer up-stream had used a powerful poison to kill rodents and the water Rex drank was laced with that poison, which had run off into the stream, unbeknownst to Annie - or Rex. That was learned only later.