Overview

A true labor of love, author William Cook has reproduced his grandmother's (Hepzy Moore Cook) narrative of the day-to-day rigors in early twentieth century vacation travel by automobile. The journals describe in great detail, a more remote, less accessible nation that existed ninety years ago during the dawn of America's love affair with the car. The oldest of the two journals written by Hepzy Moore Cook chronicles a challenging and sometimes very hazardous journey by automobile taken by her, the author's grandfather, Dr. William A. Cook and father, Ralph Moore Cook in August, 1920 from Vermillion, South Dakota to Yellowstone National Park and back again to Vermillion, covering 3,180 grueling miles in the process.

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9781620068144

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This fascinating book by author William Cook has four components to it. Firstly a brief history and development of the American automobile industry together with the road network across the country, secondly a narrative set in diary form of a 3,180.00 mile car journey made by his grandparents in 1920 from Vermillion, South Dakota to Yellowstone National Park and back again to Vermillion, thirdly another car journey made in 1927 from Ohio through the southern states to Alabama and back and finally a history of the Cook family themselves with the remarkable fact that his grandfather lived to be over 100 years old. What I liked is how it gave you a real sense of what an adventure it was to travel on the roads of the time before the completion of the interstate highway system. Without handy hotels and motels there was no alternative but camping and the car was liable to constant repairs mainly due to the nature of the roads. The trip through the southern states I found quite uncomfortable reading at times as segregation was still in place in schools and shops and the teaching of evolution was outlawed in Tennessee state schools prior to the Scopes trial of 1925. The effects of the civil war were still felt and a number of battle sites were visited. I certainly enjoyed this read which for me was both educational and enlightening.

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