I remember the day, in late October 1995, when my father handed me a page torn from one of those throw-away airplane magazines he brought home from his trip to the Hershey swap meet.  It was an article about four women who drove a 1909 Maxwell from New York to San Francisco.  I’m sure the article caught his interest, because he was restoring his 1906 Maxwell at the time.

When he handed me the page, he said I might consider doing the same drive in 2009, as the 100th anniversary of this event. I read the article about Alice Ramsey and her adventure… and, I put it away. After all, 2009 was 14 years away, and I wasn’t even sure he was serious.  The article did pique my interest, because it was a historically significant accomplishment by a woman.  In 1909, women, in general, did not drive cars, let alone set out across the country to drive 3800 miles on dirt and mud.

I was impressed.

In June of 2003, while living in California, I saw a television news clip that announced the start of the 100th anniversary of Horatio Jackson’s trip as the first person to drive a car across the U.S.  The trip was leaving San Francisco, in a 1903 Winton, and heading to New York on the same route that Jackson drove. This brought back my father’s idea of recreating Alice Ramsey’s drive.  So, I called him and asked him if he was serious.

“I am, if you are” he said.

So we started making plans.

Dad called Tom Thoburn, in Pennsylvania, and asked him if he knew where we could find a 1909 Maxwell DA touring car.  In talking with Tom, my dad found out that it had long been a dream of Tom’s to recreate this historic drive.  But, unfortunately, he was not in very good health and told my dad he wished we could do it for him.  Tom wished my dad luck and said he would see what he could do to support this venture.

A week later, my dad received a package in the mail from Terry Huston, Tom Thoburn’s daughter.  In the envelope, a copy of Alice’s book Veil, Duster and Tire Iron was accompanied by a letter from Terry that explained that Tom wanted to donate this book to support our dream.

This was the spark that we needed to get our passion burning to do this adventure.

Since that time, we have been working feverishly to restore the 1909 Maxwell DA. With some missing parts donated to us, and others bought from other Maxwell owners or at Hershey, the car is now completed and ready to go!

We start our cross-country trip on June 9, 2009 from 1930 Broadway Ave., in New York City.  We plan to stick as close as possible to Alice’s original route. We will stay in most of the same towns on the same date, 100 years later. I will be driving, and two friends of mine will be along to navigate and help with all the work. We will have an empty seat in the car for occasional passengers, but they will all have to be women.

My boyfriend and my brother put a website together, in December of 2006, and presented it to my dad at Christmas. You can check it out at www.AliceRamsey.org.  My younger brother is filming all the work and preparation as well as the entire drive in hopes of it becoming a television program similar to the Ken Burns PBS specials.

I am not too sure what I’ve gotten myself into, but I have learned to trust all the wonderful people who have supported me this far and the ones I’m sure I’ll meet along the journey. This has been a team effort from the beginning and will be one until the end.

My dad says we will do the drive in memory of Tom and Tina Thoburn. Please come along and join us.

Emily Anderson, Seattle, WA. AliceRamsey.org

Alice’s book has been republished in a paperback, allowing her story to be readily available for people to read. It is now titledAlice’s Drive, published by Patrice Press; it includes more pages about her route, places where she stayed and the 100th Centennial Drive.

Video containing more information on Alice's historic drive and Emily's upcoming adventure can be viewed by clicking here: Alice Ramsey Centennial Drive and More on the Alice Ramsey Centennial Drive .

Edited by: Becky McLaughlin

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