August 7th was a day of obscure arrivals. In 1909, today marked the end of a 3800 mile journey by automobile undertaken by a woman (who dragged her sisters-in-law along for the ride). It took her 59 days, but Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends became the first women to drive from New York City to San Francisco.
And not to be outdone in the eccentricity department, Thor Heyerdahl's raft the Kon-Tiki, made entirely of balsa wood, reached the Tuamotu Islands in the South Pacific after a 101-day, 4300 mile journey across the Pacific Ocean. He was trying to prove that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America. Obviously, he proved that they could have. Not that they would have.
No comments:
Post a Comment