“June the ninth, 1909 was the actual date of the start of my historic automobile trek from New York to San Francisco. My husband’s two sisters, Nettie Powell and Margaret Atwood, and a younger, unattached friend, Hermine Jahns were my companions.

“By this time there was no longer even hope that we would have a pleasant day for our take-off. It was pouring rain!”

“I am a subscriber to the policy expressed by Cornelia Otis Skinner who says ‘If you’re going to go, go!’ We were there to start a trip which was to bring me the distinction of being the first woman to drive an automobile from New York to San Francisco. We had a job to do. So let’s get at it, I thought somewhat impatiently.”

Excerpted from the book “Veil, Duster and Tire Iron” by Alice Huyler Ramsey (1961).