The Ride of Her Life: The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America

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A sixty three year old lady from Maine gets up on a horse in 1953, grabs her little dog, and the three of them ride to California. There is a whole lot of “south” of Maine that isn’t warm in the winter either, which she soon found out. She did not have a pre-planned trip, no map, and very little money—no hotel reservations, credit cards, or GPS.

A love story on so many levels--from the menagerie that was with her every step of the way, to the kindness of strangers who opened their homes to help Annie complete this ride of her life--this book will tear at your heartstrings from beginning to end.Letts honors her subjects--Wilkins, 1950s America, and that moment when range gave way to road, and horse to car--with an author's hand and a historian's eye. She received many offers--a permanent home at a riding stable in New Jersey, a job at a gas station in rural Kentucky, even a marriage proposal from a Wyoming rancher who loved animals as much as she did. Between 1901 and 1911, William Wilkins moved his Post Office and grocery business to the present Post Office building. Hers was a deeply emotional journey, providing her with new families in the human and natural worlds.

She had no money and no family, she had just lost her farm, and her doctor had given her only two years to live. Harriet’s parents were local wheelwright (and at one time victualler), Edmund Chaplin and his wife Elizabeth nèe Barnard. Purchased with the little money Annie made from the sale of her family’s farm she inherited during the Great Depression. Even when sought out as a contestant on Art Linkletter’s long-running TV show, People Are Funny, Annie took celebrity in stride. The census confirms that 67 year old widower and postmaster William Wilkins occupies The Post Office, comprising six rooms.At 64 and with just 2-4 years left to live, she sets off with just a few dollars, no bank account and just the basic belongings she can carry on horseback and heads west across America. Given that the 1911 census describes Bertie as a butcher, cycle dealer, farmer and postman and his household occupied 6 rooms, I have no doubt that Bertie and his household occupied the whole of the premises which adjoined The Crown. The 1942 Great Ellingham Invasion Committee Record lists Mr and Mrs Everett with three children and ‘Mr Spencer’ at Church Farm in Great Ellingham. I care deeply about issues that affect women and children, and especially those who are fleeing danger. Along the way, she met ordinary people and celebrities—from Andrew Wyeth (who sketched Tarzan) to Art Linkletter and Groucho Marx.