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

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I wondered whether that it was at this time that the Post Office was sold, having been owned by members of the Wilkins family for nearly sixty years. It’s a story of hope, courage, belief in oneself, determination and sheer grit that takes her on a year-long journey through a fast-changing America in the early fifties. 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.

Annie Wilkins: 62-year-old Maine single farmer diagnosed with TB expected to live only two to four years.I think the full, blended sound a band can make is something really special that other ensembles can’t quite match. Her father, who had come to act as an interim pastor at the First Congregational Church, Hamilton, died a year or so after his arrival.

The social side of banding is also great, especially being able to make friends with people from other backgrounds and age groups. This poignant, inspiring story is not just about a woman choosing to live instead of die, but also about an America that no longer exists. One of the most unique examples of a cross-country voyage occurred in the 1950s when a 63-year-old woman who had just been diagnosed with a terminal illness rode 7,000 miles coast to coast on her horses with no other company except for her dog.The poetry seems to have had a fairly wide circulation and Wayside flowers was reviewed as far away as Chicago.

Perhaps it was the fortitude she learned on her journey across country that strengthened her, not only in body, but in soul. On October 10th 2011, Rhydr departed from Philo California to make the same journey Mesannie made 57 years earlier (only this time, west to east). As Annie trudged through blizzards, forded rivers, climbed mountains, and clung to the narrow shoulder as cars whipped by her at terrifying speeds, she captured the imagination of an apprehensive Cold War America. Clip-clopping” at the pace of three to four miles an hour, they shared newly constructed turnpikes (and backroads) with cars and trucks whizzing by when a “single older woman without family or employment faced few and stark choices. Between 1954 and 1956, the three travelers pushed through blizzards, forded rivers, climbed mountains, and clung to the narrow shoulder as cars whipped by them at terrifying speeds.

We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize.

Between 1954 and 1956, Annie, Tarzan, and her dog, Depeche Toi, journeyed more than 4,000 miles, through America's big cities and small towns, meeting ordinary people and celebrities--from Andrew Wyeth (who sketched Tarzan) to Art Linkletter and Groucho Marx. Later, the town gathered for dinner, conversation, and a screening of the 2003 documentary on Mesannie Wilkins. My passions are horses and all animals, my children, singing in a choir, and long road trips through the backroads of America. Instead, she bought a cast-off brown gelding named Tarzan, donned men's dungarees, and headed south in mid-November, hoping to beat the snow. I have no doubt that Annie is still working for (or with) her father and living with him at the Post Office.Almost destitute, with no living relatives and recovering from an illness, her doctors had given her no more than two years to live. Harriett Annie Wilkins was born in Bath, Somerset, England, the daughter of John Wilkins, a clergyman, and Harriet Sockett Francis Wilkins.