Chapter II: Prologue: 1

I. TRAFFIC IN NEW YORK

My Efforts to Become Americanized--Reflections on New York Traffic--Dissertation on American Roads--Coney Island--Equipment for the Journey 5

II. NEW YORK TO PHILADELPHIA

Companions in Distress--"The Playground of the World"--American Proclivities towards the Superlative--A Lapse into Philosophy--Introduction to the "Detour"--The Good Samaritan Rewarded--Philadelphia--Adventures with a Garage Proprietor 12

III. PHILADELPHIA TO WASHINGTON

Prosperity in New England Villages--Motor-cycling de Luxe--Peregrinations of a "Tin Lizzie"--Insights into the Inner Life of an American Highway--Humouring a Negro--Self-conscious Scruples--Illuminated Signs--Hotel Life in Washington 22

IV. EXCEEDING THE SPEED LIMIT

Experiences of Brick Roads--Approaching the Alleghanies--The Lust for Speed--And Its Consequences--Queer Methods of Enforcing the Law--Stranded 32

V. ACROSS THE ALLEGHANIES

Soliloquies of the Humble Poor--The Subtleties of Advertisement Hoardings--Corn in Egypt--The Peregrinations of an English Sovereign--A Whiff of Good Old London--Appreciation of Nature in America--Lizzie Reports Sick--Lead, kindly Light--Auto-suggestion as an Aid to Sleep 42

VI. THE DIXIE HIGHWAY

I Make the Acquaintance of the Ohio River--Lizzie develops Acute Indigestion--The Irony of Henry Ford--I administer First-aid--Hero-worship to a Rag-and-bone Merchant--A New Use for an Old Tree--The Ubiquitous Columbus--The Friendly Tram--The Dixie Highway--Eulogy to the City of Dayton--My Extravagant Taste for Cake--An alfresco Meal--A Final Burst of Extravagance--Home Once More 51

VII. CINCINNATI AND ONWARDS

Cincinnati--A Memorable Day--Aspersions on an American Repair Shop--Chess-board Roads--The Humour of Decorated Telegraph Poles--Soliloquy on the Pike's Peak Highway--Effects of State Boundary Lines--Indian Corn--A Luxurious Bathe--Indianapolis--The 3 A Club--What Constitutes a Good Road 60

VIII. INDIANA AND ILLINOIS

How Dirt Roads are Cultivated--A Brush with a Road-plough--How Flivvers "get through"--A Bad Patch and a Good Samaritan--The Subtleties of General Merchandise--I attract a Crowd in Springfield--Taken for a Movie Actor--Future Cities of Illinois--Illinois River--The Mississippi at Last--I sleep on a Railway Embankment 70

IX. STORMY WEATHER IN MISSOURI

Hannibal--Infantile Automobilation--Rain in Missouri--I get Annoyed--Railroads v. Highways--Kansas City 83

X. RESULTS OF A BREAKDOWN

Kansas City--I visit Lizzie on her Sick-bed--I visit an Editor in his Lair--Kansas City gets My Story 89

XI. THE SANTA FÉ TRAIL

Westward Again--The Santa Fé Trail--Mosquito Nets--Into the Great Prairies--I sleep in a River--Pie--Prairie Towns--In a Thunderstorm--Colorado Reached--The Map proves not Infallible--A Detour to the Heart of the Rockies--Rain Again 94

XII. THE ROYAL GORGE OF ARKANSAS

A Strange Dwelling--I am Taken for an American--Supper in Style--Sleep in Style--Breakfast and Lunch in Style--The Sun Once Again--Housebuilding at Speed--An Appreciation--The Rockies--Pueblo--Pike's Peak--The Royal Gorge--The Lust for Taking Pictures--Picturesque Names--The Worst Road in America--A Mud Bath--The End of a Perfect Day 106

XIII. IN SOUTHERN COLORADO

Strange Mountain Forms--Trinidad--A Flivver to the Rescue--The Raton Pass--A Wonderful View--At the Feet of the Rockies--A Phantom Road--Prairie-dogs--Companions--Lizzie sheds a Sprocket--A Tiring Search--The Biggest Thing in Mud Lakes--Wagonmound--Argument with a Linemaster 118

XIV. NEW MEXICO

Adventures with a Railway--Stuck Once Again--Assistance from California--House-hunting by Caravan--Las Vegas--A Wonderful Ford--A Mexican Village--Lizzie Clean Again--The Travelling Tinsmith--Santa Fé at Last 132

XV. SANTA FÉ

Santa Fé--Adobe Architecture--The Art Museum--Where Americans Hustle Not--In the Limelight Again 148

XVI. THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY

Departure from Santa Fé--La Bajada Hill--Albuquerque--The Rio Grande--Indians--The Morals of Mountains--Socorro--Camping in the Mountains: A Farmyard Episode 155

XVII. THE PETRIFIED FOREST OF ARIZONA

Magdalena--A Strange Metamorphosis--I Sport a Camp Fire--A Strange Sight--The Petrified Forest of Arizona--Holbrook--Lost in the Arizona Desert--Mosquitoes Again--Winslow--An Ingenious Anti-speeding Stunt--That Cylinder Again!--A New Use for Old Sign-posts--Meteor Mountain--The San Francisco Peaks--Fairy-land--Flagstaff 163

XVIII. THE GRAND CANYON

The Lowell Observatory--Wonders of Mars Hill--Ptomaine Poisoning--Flagstaff Dwellings--Towards the Grand Canyon--A Wonderful Ride--The First Approach of Loneliness--The End of the World--The Greatest of all Natural Wonders 178

XIX. THE MOHAVE DESERT

Lizzie Comes to Grief--Etiquette of the Road--The Tragedy of Peach Springs--Kingman--Desert Vegetation--Yucca--The Art of Rut-riding--The Tomb of a Town--The Colorado Needles--A Marvellous View--Oiled Roads--Ludlow 192

XX. I REACH THE PACIFIC COAST

Comrades in Arms--Lizzie begins to Complain--Death Valley--An Unfortunate Caravan--The End of the Desert--The Cajon Pass--Los Angeles is Startled 210

XXI. LOS ANGELES TO SAN FRANCISCO

Los Angeles--Friendly California--Towards 'Frisco by Night--I Dream a Dream--The Californian Missions--The Salinas Valley--The Last Sleep--Lizzie gives it up Again--The Struggle for 'Frisco--4,950 at last! 224

EPILOGUE 241

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

TO FACE
PAGE

Portrait of the Author _Frontispiece_

A Common Occurrence 26

An Awkward Stretch of Road in Indiana 74

The Midnight Couch 74

The Oldest House in America, at Santa Fé 150

The Art Museum at Santa Fé 150

Pueblo of Taos 158

The Rio Grande, New Mexico 162

A Petrified Leviathan 170

Lizzie in the Petrified Forest, Arizona 170

The Trail to the Grand Canyon 178

The Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff 178

San Francisco Peaks from Flagstaff 178

The Bottom of the Grand Canyon 188

Cactus Trees near San Bernardino 206

In the Mohave Desert 206