She was lying in bed, half-­delirious, when she heard shouting voices cut through the quiet. Depeche Toi sprang up and started wriggling in joyful anticipation. The French boys had snowshoed over to see how Annie and Waldo were holding up. After coming in long enough to recognize the dire conditions at Annie’s farm, one headed down to the main road to call an ambulance, while the other busied about doing farm chores. A few hours later, Annie heard the scrape of the plow. By the time the ambulance finally arrived, she was so weak they had to carry her out. Waldo had always been a hard worker. When he’d been forced to retire from his job on a road crew for the WPA at age seventy-­five, he’d set out to show them that he was not too old to work. He kept up doing day labor, whatever he could find. Before she started traveling she lived on family property in Minot, Maine only a few miles from where she was born. Sadly, her health failed and she was given a diagnosis of terminal cancer (2 to 4 years left, they said). They offered her a place in a rest home. She was in her early sixties. She decided that was not how she wanted to spend the last years of her life. Instead she bought a horse, probably part Morgan, just before he was to be sent to a glue factory. She named him Tarzan and was determined to ride him across the country to California. Her dog would accompany them. The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908. A true story, it shows how much our world has changed since this journey was undertaken. I assumed Annie would spend many nights in the elements, struggling to survive and likely miserable. In contrast, she spent very few nights this way, as the world set out to meet, greet, and treat her. She was provided with stables and corrals for her horses, a bed for herself, along with meals and warmth and companionship from families, law enforcement, and officials in the towns she passed through. She was asked to participate in parades, and became somewhat famous through newspaper articles informing the public of her progress. Her animals were as well treated as she was.

This true life tale of one woman’s unlikely cross-country adventure makes for a light read. In 1954, 63 year old Annie Wilkins, a single person and failed farmer sets out on a journey from Maine to the California coast after being told by her physician she only has two years to live. Annie spent two years in California. She had dinner with Art Linkletter and became a mini celebrity. An inspiration. All over the newspapers. Annie Wilkins lives in rural Maine, and is endeavoring to continue to run the family farm. It hasn’t gone well. Between a series of events beyond her control and an aging body, she falls behind, and then more so, until the bank gives notice of foreclosure. At the same time her lungs aren’t doing well; the doctor gives her two or three years to live, but only if she does so restfully. She is offered a place at the county home, which is essentially a charity lodging for the indigent.Not only is this Annie’s story, it is Midcentury America’s — fueled by a spirit bursting with life after surviving the Depression and two world wars. Both tales woven deftly together by author Elizabeth Letts. Brava!

Next spring and summer, there’d be cattle, pigs and eggs to sell on top of the grain. All they had to do was make it through the harsh Maine winter. In Pennsylvania, Wilkins was put up by a kindly innkeeper in the town of Chadds Ford in the Brandywine River area. A famous resident of both Chadds Ford and of Maine, Andrew Wyeth, came by to meet the eccentric older woman and her horse and they got drunk together, according to the Chadds Ford Historical Society. Damn it all, she was going to see the Pacific Ocean for her mother if it was the last thing she did in this life.I am in my 70's. Reading about a 63 year old woman who had this much gumption was especially heart warming to me.

Annie kissed his little head with tears in her eyes. Two years. She opened the door of her house and stood there, looking around. In the mid 1950s, Annie Wilkins, a 63-year old farmer from Minot, Maine had recovered from pneumonia, but had difficulty breathing. A spot on Annie’s lung might have been tuberculosis or perhaps cancer. Her doctor urged her to, “Live restfully,” and informed her she had two to four years to live. I loved this book! It’s a wonderful non-fiction account of Annie Wilkins and her late-in-life adventure across the United States in the mid 1950’s. I learned quite a bit of history along her journey: the origin of our interstate highway system, the early days of medical insurance (used as an incentive to get workers), the birth of the TV Western, the two great migrations to the West, how local jails were receptive to allowing travelers to spend the night in a cell, and Art Linkletter’s connection to Annie. Some may find that boring, but it is written in such a way that it flowed easily with the story.Annie's entire life was one of hardship and barely hanging on. That describes her trip too because, despite real offers of places to live, she always took to the road again, going after that dream of touching the Pacific Ocean. Annie's grit and determination was inspiring but her stubbornness was also dangerous and the story was often difficult for me to read. The author does a great job of allowing us to travel with Annie and to allow us to be on her long and perilous trip. Given her health situation, she considers her doctor’s advice to live restfully. But how? After a lifetime of hard work, she doesn’t have any savings. Nothing or no one to fall on. Her choices are very limited. About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”: Along the way, Annie found the best in people most of the time. She realized well into her journey that she wasn’t traveling alone, there were many people closely following her travels with hopes of her success. Thanks to deeply sourced research and her own travels along Wilkins’ route, Letts vividly portrays an audacious woman whose optimism, courage, and good humor are to be marveled at and admired. Upbeat and touching, Wilkins’ story is the perfect pandemic escapist read.” — Booklist

Knowing she was about to lose her family farm and with nowhere to turn for help, Annie Wilkins places an ad in the paper for a sturdy horse. After seeing a few, she knew she’d met the perfect match in an older Morgan she named Tarzan. Along with her spunky dog Depeche Toi, Annie hit the road. This true story is quite remarkable. Annie Wilkins has just lost her farm in rural Maine and at age 63 she sets out for California which she has always heard is full of sunshine. She’s got minimal money, her dog, and a trusty horse. In 1954 there was no such thing as internet navigation, so she relies on gas station maps and word of mouth to navigate across the country. I was concerned about her pets, because she decided to make this cross country trek, seemingly without much forethought, and they had no choice but to follow her to follow her. However, I was impressed with the care she took of her animals. Here’s a link to a You Tube interview about the biography of the trip, “The Ride of Her Life” by Elizabeth Letts, who takes You on the journey. Inside the book: Elizabeth Letts (The Ride of A Lifetime), Penguin Random House. A very profound read about the changing landscapes then….and now. The more you know, the more amazed you will be. Just an ordinary woman doing an extraordinary feat. With a beautiful glimpse into an Americana that once was, the author breathes life into the towns and people of 1950’s America. The places Annie would rest for the evening, be it someone’s home, the local jail, a barn, or sometimes just out in a field restored her faith in people and her country.I expect Annie’s story to be given a Hollywood treatment. Wilkins wrote in her book about her desire to light up the silver screen. In the meantime, here are some of the highlights of her journey, beginning with her 4-legged companions.