The Ride of Her Life

NATIONAL BESTSELLER ΓÇó The triumphant true story of a woman who rode her horse across America in the 1950s,fulfilling her dying wish to see the Pacific Oceanfrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Horse and The Eighty-Dollar Champion ΓÇ£The gift Elizabeth Letts has is that she makes you feel you are the one taking this trip. This is a book we can enjoy always but especially need now.ΓÇ¥ΓÇöElizabeth Bergauthor of The Story of Arthur Truluv In 1954sixty-three-year-old Maine farmer Annie Wilkins embarked on an impossible journey. She had no money and no familyshe had just lost her farmand her doctor had given her only two years to live. But Annie wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died. She ignored her doctorΓÇÖs advice to move into the county charity home. Insteadshe bought a cast-off brown gelding named Tarzandonned menΓÇÖs dungareesand headed south in mid-Novemberhoping to beat the snow. Annie had little idea what to expect beyond her rural crossroads; she didnΓÇÖt even have a map. But she did have her ex-racehorseher faithful muttand her own unfailing belief that Americans would treat a stranger with kindness. AnnieTarzanand her dogDepeche Toirode straight into a world transformed by the rapid construction of modern highways. Between 1954 and 1956the three travelers pushed through blizzardsforded riversclimbed mountainsand clung to the narrow shoulder as cars whipped by them at terrifying speeds. Annie rode more than four thousand milesthrough AmericaΓÇÖs big cities and small towns. Along the wayshe met ordinary people and celebritiesΓÇöfrom Andrew Wyeth (who sketched Tarzan) to Art Linkletter and Groucho Marx. She received many offersΓÇöa permanent home at a riding stable in New Jerseya job at a gas station in rural Kentuckyeven a marriage proposal from a Wyoming rancher. In a decade when car ownership nearly tripledwhen televisionΓÇÖs influence was expanding fastwhen homeowners began locking their doorsAnnie and her four-footed companions inspired an outpouring of neighborliness in a rapidly changing world.