George A. Wyman and His Incredible Journey
The first person to cross America on a motorized vehicle was George Wyman of San Francisco, California. Wyman made his trip in 1903 when there weren’t many roads in America and making even more difficult, he did on a motor bicycle, his brand new 1902 ‘California’ brand motorbike.
Wyman Left San Francisco and headed east riding, pushing, pulling and sometimes carrying his motor bicycle, and made the trip to New York City in 50 days. Without many roads crossing the country in 1903, Wyman made more than half of his trip bumping up and down over railroad ties as he followed the trans-continental line.
In a magazine of the time, "The Motorcycle', Wyman wrote articles about his journey but the magazine was short-lived and Wyman never got the credit he was due for accomplishing such a feat. Making his trip even more amazing, when the first cross country automobile ride took place shortly after Wyman’s motor bike trip, he made it in better time.
It wasn’t until 1979, when Road Rider magazine found and published Wyman articles about the trip, did his amazing travels get some well-deserved press. Still he seemed to be forgotten again until the articles came out again in ‘The Antique Motorcycle’ publication. But even with that, George A. Wyman’s incredible achievement is still mostly forgotten.
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