Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip

In 1903 America, there were only 150 miles of paved roads, and the landscape was a sparse network of small towns - a delicious enticement for 31-year-old Vermont doctor Horatio Jackson and his two companions, mechanic Sewall Crocker and Bud the dog. Taking a $50 bet, Jackson and company piled into his open-air Winton car and drove from San Francisco to New York City. This lively account of adventures and misadventures - the four-hour detour and the flat tire changed in sub-zero weather - captures Jackson's unquenchable good humor and his love of the open road. Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan do their usual masterful job of weaving excerpts from Jackson's letters to his wife and his financial backer into a literate but zesty story that is quintessentially American.