Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip

This is an extraordinarily well done documentary highlighting the first coast to coast automobile drive.

What an amazing couple of dudes to travel across the country in an open air fliver whose top speed was like 30MPH!

No highways back then. They had to avoid all of Nevada because it was a desert with sand so deep they could get stuck! Added 1,000 miles to their trip to go up through Oregon!

What views they must have had. And how their kidneys survived is a mystery (you'll know hat I mean if you watch the doc).

Most of the people they met on the way had never seen an automobile.

Perhaps the BEST part of this doc is that there are no identity politics or partisan BS.

Just a great doc that demonstrates what made America great. Hope we get back our direction.

Wonderful job, Ken Burns!

As one who was eight when Horatio Nelson Jackson passed away, all I can do is thank him for his pioneering trip.

Even back in 1967, when I cruised across the US in my Mustang, a journey spanning North America was a challenge, sixty four years after HNJ did it with Crocker and Bud and mud holes that passed as roads. Now that I see what conditions were like just after the turn of the century (nineteenth to twentieth), I have an increased appreciation for those who gave it a try.

A wonderful film that really gives one the sense of being there.

All my love to his darling Swipes!

LOVE tom hanks and tom bodett. I was never a fan of adam arkin...(but oddly, I LOVE the timing and wit of alan arkin !) the story of horatio jackson, who bet that he could drive across the nation in an automobile, what we now call the car. Against all odds, like deep mud, broken engines, flat tires, miscellaneous parts. Jackson, his friend, and his dog find a route across murrica before there were paved roadways. Interesting to note that the winston car brand is no more. At one point, they had offered to sponsor jackson, but only if they were in control, so he refused. Good thing he had his own finances! Interesting story. It had taken lewis and clark over two years to cross murrica! Voices supplied by george plimpton and eli wallach. Directed by the amazing ken burns. Story by dayton duncan, who had worked with burns many, many times!

Saw this when it first aired on PBS and have borrowed it from my library at least three times since. My fascination with this adventure never ends.

I recently retired from teaching history and still love watching historical shows. However, some time back, I noticed that watching shows about wars, dead presidents and the like weren't as satisfying as they used to be for me. And, as a result, I started changing the way I taught my students. So, instead of focusing on this, I began to expose kids more and more to social history--the history of the people. This meant learning about how people lived and what it was like for people of all classes--their hobbies, diets, sports,...whatever contributed to life and which were only rarely discussed in any detail in history books. As a result, I noticed I was having a lot more fun and so were the students. Now I am NOT saying the other stuff isn't important--but all of this goes towards learning history.

In light of this, I love odd little documentaries like "Horatio's Drive". It tells an obscure story about a weird man who, on a lark, made a bet he could drive from San Francisco to New York. While this sounds like no big deal, this was 1903--and cars were notoriously prone to breakdown. And, to make things worse, few roads existed and those that did were mostly dirt. And, getting supplies was a nightmare. So much we take for granted today simply didn't exist and you generally don't think of the infrastructure needed for modern life. Well, Horatio and his driving partner certainly learned about this...the hard way.

This is a single-episode documentary from Ken Burns. Like most of his films, it uses a lot of photos and used various camera techniques (such as zooming and and out) and music to make the photos come to life. And, it uses nice narration (from Keith David of all people) and various actors impersonating the people from the story. Some of the actors contributing their voices were Tom Hanks, Adam Arkin, George Plympton and Eli Wallace. And, like all of his films I have seen, it's a top-notch production and a nice case of storytelling. However, I would have to say that the film did have one shortcoming. After a while, the film seemed too long--just like Horatio's drive. Because of this, the film loses a bit of its dramatic punch--though it does appear to strive hard for accuracy--which is admirable.

My favorite part of the show? Bud and his goggles! See the film and you'll know what I mean!