Journey started May 23, 1903
Jackson and Crocker departed San Francisco on Saturday, May 23, 1903, during a hot spring afternoon that turned rainy — and almost immediately blew a tire.
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May 23, 1903: The Departure and Early Challenges
At 32:13 · chapter starts 26:20
May 23, 1903 was a warm Saturday that turned rainy in the afternoon — and that didn't stop Jackson and Crocker from heading east. The San Francisco Examiner ran a brief note about a horseless carriage attempting a sea-to-sea journey; the Chronicle ignored it entirely. Almost immediately, a tire blew out, setting the tone for the western leg. Tires were a constant headache: the roads were brutal, replacement tubes were nearly impossible to find out west (because almost no one had cars), and the two men learned to stockpile used tubes whenever they hit a town. Gear fell off the car at regular intervals — cooking utensils, multiple pairs of Jackson's eyeglasses — lost forever somewhere back along the trail. And then there was the question of where to go: rather than cutting straight east, they made the critical decision to head north through Oregon and into Idaho, adding hundreds of miles but sidestepping the Nevada desert that had already doomed Winton.
The Oregon Detour: The Decision That Made the Trip Possible
Jackson and Crocker added hundreds of miles to their route by heading north through Oregon instead of cutting straight east — specifically to dodge the Nevada desert that had stranded Alexander Winton two years earlier. It was almost certainly the decision that got them to New York.
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