Horatio's Drive: America's First Road Trip Dayton Duncan & Ken Burns, 2003.

In 1903, Horatio Nelson Jackson made a bet that he could drive a car from San Francisco to New York in under 90 days. With pots of money and determination, he did it. Amazing to think how difficult long-distance travel was in those days, when roads weren't marked because the only people who used them either lived there or knew them as part of their job (like stagecoach drivers, I imagine). The coolest part of the book are reproductions of old guide books which had photos of unmarked crossroads with big arrows showing which way to turn, and lists of directions (very much like the turn-by-turn descriptions from Mapquest). I also like the photos of the mascot bulldog wearing his goggles. Jackson got charged up to $3 a gallon for gasoline!