Are We There Yet?The First Road Trip Across America
Review posted August 26, 2025.
Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2025. 44 pages.
Review written July 21, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
This totally fun picture book tells the true story of the first team - including a dog - to ride in a car all the way across America.
The caption on the first page sets the tone:
This is the absolutely true story of a ridiculous journey that started as a bet, turned into a race, and ended in a - well, hang on, and see how it turns out.
They start by explaining why the bet that Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson made in 1903 was foolish: not many paved roads, no highways, no cross-country road maps, and iffy quality of equipment. What's more, Jackson didn't even have a car or know how to drive!
He wasn't daunted. He bought a used Winton Touring Car, and hired twenty-two-year-old Sewall Crocker to come along and teach him to drive.
It lacked the luxuries we expect in today's cars - things like a windshield, seat belts, mirrors, doors, a trunk, or a roof.
Of course, every good road trip needs a dog! So a little ways down the road, they purchased a dog named Bud. They got Bud goggles to match their own (remember, no windshields) - and the pictures get all the cuter from there on out.
The trip was completely different from travel today. Plenty of stories of breakdowns, getting stuck in the mud, and important things flying out of the car when it got up to high speed - thirty miles an hour or so.
Of course, when other teams got wind of it and tried to cross the country first, this added a nice dose of competition.
And the whole story is told in a thoroughly entertaining format with pictures that add to the fun. There's some nice back matter to put it in context. Makes me want to take a trip to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and find Bud's glasses.