Two Wheels North: Bicycling the West Coast in 1909 Book

Two boys on a bike trip are sure to find adventure. Send them off into the wilds of the American West, and it's a safe bet adventure will find them. In 1909, Vic McDaniel and Ray Francisco, just out of high school, set out from Santa Rosa, California, on second-hand bikes, bound for the great Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle. With excitement in their hearts and a good luck billiken in their bedroll, they pedaled, pushed, and walked a thousand miles north for fifty-four days. Camp was wherever, whenever the sun was gone; food was an occasional meal from a kindly farm wife and what they could fish, hunt, or glean. Vic and Ray reported their adventures to their hometown newspaper. And adventures they had, traveling on dusty roads, roads of logs, of planks, even of corn stalks, and often no roads at all. They met their share of memorable characters, from a young girl who stole Ray's heart to a pin-striped hustler who tried to pick Vic's pocket. They survived a grizzly's nocturnal visit and the sudden terror of a snake bite. They held their breaths crossing railroad trestles over treacherous canyons, and discovered that a railroad tunnel doesn't offer safe passage when you're halfway through and a train comes along. Evelyn Gibb, Vic's daughter, has drawn on her father's recollections to tell this incredible story in his voice. Readers of all ages will find themselves pulled into the resolute push to complete the trek. Two Wheels North is a captivating account of a journey that today we can only dream about--one that finds two boys on the road not only to Seattle, but also to manhood.